What do you feed your pigs daily?

[cavy-cool-crazy]

Usually, each of my piggies get:

2 sprigs of Parsley
1 leaf of Romaine lettuce
Half an inch of carrot
1 inch of cucumber
Small handful of kale (when it's available)
1 piece of babycorn

What else can I feed them daily? I can't find endive or cilantro in any of the supermarkets in UK. I know bell peppers are fine for them to eat every day, but I offered Charlie & Tuppy some red pepper (just the fleshy part) a while ago and they refused to eat it. Are there different types of peppers that piggies can have?

 

[alfieiheartu]

When I had my piggies they got:
-Grass (sometimes when we took them outside)
-1-2 baby carrots
-string beans
-strawberry tops
-then of course pellets

Some of those things changed around and all but I can't really remember to well it was abotu a year ago.
OH I CAN"T WAIT TIL I GET MY NEW GUINEA PIG. (not yelling)

 

[aqh88]

I have heard of some piggies liking hot peppers but I don't know how good it is for them. Mine like
Cilantro
leaf lettuce
boston (butter) lettuce
an occasional radish
orange bell peppers
squash
celery leaves(stems are choking hazards)
eggplant

They won't eat green bell peppers and consider red or yellow acceptable if they aren't from Hyvee. I'm not sure how they can tell.
I know there's more I've fed them but I can't remember. For fruits they love blueberries and kiwi. Will eat a little apples, oranges, or tomatos. Refuse any type of melon.

 

[aqh88]

hmm.. it won't let me edit... Well I forgot they also eat basil and catnip. I have some growing in pots in front of the window. Guinea pigs dislike herbs in the mint family but otherwise herbs can be a tasty treat.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Mint can be fed to pigs, whether they eat it or not depends on the pigs personal tastes.

cavy-cool-crazy-what you are feeding your pigs daily is not an ideal daily diet. Some of the foods you're giving are high in calcium. I would change the parsley to cilantro (called coriander in the UK). Cilantro has much less calcium, Vitamin A and oxalic acid in it. Kale also has a high amount of calcium, a super high amount of Vitamin A and contains oxalic acid as well. Corn of any kind has little nutritional value. Corn of any type is best fed 1-2 times a week. Your best bet would be to feed more lettuces and different types of lettuces (endive, curly endive aka chicory, butterhead lettuce, red or green leaf lettuce, radicchio), keep trying with the bell pepper and try different colors, try swiss chard/red chard, coriander, fresh grass and other edible forages and zucchini on a daily basis. You can feed 1 baby carrot per day and 1-2 cherry tomatos per day, but cucumber is best fed 2-4 times per week.

The trick with new foods is to keep giving it to them in small portions over several days time and to leave it in the cage for a few hours. That's how I got my pigs to eat many of the things they now eat. The only two things that they have ever refused to eat are oranges and collard greens.

Last but not least, hot peppers of any variety really should not be fed to piggies.

 

[cavy-cool-crazy]

Ok, thanks Ly. I'll try them with the foods you mentioned and see how they get on.

 

[Percy's Mom]

Percy's current diet is romaine, curly endive (chickory), belgian endive, red leaf, cilantro (coriander), red/yellow/orange bell pepper, an occasional baby carrot or slice of cucumber, canteloupe a couple of times a week, and leaves from celery, radishes, and carrots. He's not big on things that aren't leafy, but I'm still trying for green beans, zucchini, squash, and other fruits.

 

[RubyPiggie2]

My pigs daily feed is:

swiss chard (I hope this is OK as a daily feed?)
Romaine/red leaf/green leaf/boston
Green/red/yellow/orange peppers (every other day sometimes, usually everyday) 1/8 slice each pig
cilantro
cucumber (every other day, every two days somewhere around there)
apples (every 3 days)
watermelon rinds(every other day)
carrots (1 baby every 2-3 days)
corn husks/silk
corn (1-2 week)
cabbage (one a week)
pole beans
snow beans when they're grown and we can pick them

That's basically what I give them, but I mix it up every day (if I have enough for them to mix up), and I really want to try endive and red swiss chard. Are those high in anything? I'm cutting out anything that is high in calcium as my pellets are alfalfa-based, but I AM getting oxbow cavy cuisine.

Also, I'm wondering if THIS is okay for them to eat. It's long and has more of a stem then leaves, but the leaves are very curly and leafy.
(broken link removed)

 

[aqh88]

I've always heard from people they won't eat mint. None of my 7 would. I guess there could be a few out there that like mint just like there are a few that like hot peppers. Rolo won't try new food unless I wiggle it between her lips. Then she sets her teeth on it and sits there for a minute before taking a small bite. Once Rolo decides if it's good the others will try it but if she doesn't eat some it will sit in the cage day after day for weeks. Kale and mustard greens failed that way. Rolo won't touch the stuff and no amount of coaxing got the other 2 girls to try it. The boys though will try about anything and eat nearly everything. Sometimes they'll only nibble on a new food for a couple days but a few weeks later you can't feed it out fast enough. The more variety they get the more likely they are to try new things.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Also, I'm wondering if THIS is okay for them to eat. It's long and has more of a stem then leaves, but the leaves are very curly and leafy.

What's the name of it? I can't tell what variety of lettuce it is.

 

[RubyPiggie2]

I have no clue. I was wondering if anyone knew.

 

[aqh88]

Ruby I'm pretty sure I have that growing in my garden. I planted all leaf lettuces since they grow best here. That one grows in the first of the 4 rows but I can't remember what exact variety it was.

 

[mab0615]

Ruby, it depends on where you get it. It goes by curly endive or chickory. My pigs love it.

 

[RubyPiggie2]

Oh, so that is curly endive.. Cool... So I know it's okay for my piggies. Thanks!

 

[Piglet]

1) 1 leaf of Romaine Lettuce
2) An inch of carrot
3) A few sprigs of parsley
4) A salad mix consisting of lambs lettuce + Endive
5) Handfull of Kale
6) 1/4 ball pepper
7) Several handfulls of fresh grass

Thats what I give to each pig

 

[The Magic Taco]

Their mix, sometimes my homegrown sprouts and a carrot every few days. (Oops... Well not EXACTLY daily...)
Is there anything else I could give them that's pretty inexpensive?

 

[Rachy1412]

I feed these to my pigs on a daily basis:

• Half a head of romaine
• A whole curly/round lettuce
• Cabbage
• 5 chinese lettuce leaves
• Couple of sprigs of Parsley
• Handful of corriander
• Carrots
• 3 halfs of bell peppers
• celery
• swede
• cucumber

Every other week I feed Spinach and once a week I feed apples. They don't like mint, oranges, grapes, strawberries, pears, bananas.. so I am a bit stuck on what fruit to give them! In one day I feed an overall of 14-15 cups of veg a day, which is alot; but 5 of those cups are for my rabbits as well.

 

[Percy's Mom]

so I am a bit stuck on what fruit to give them! In one day I feed an overall of 14-15 cups of veg a day, which is alot; but 5 of those cups are for my rabbits as well.

Maybe try canteloupe, honeydew, or watermelon. How many piggies do you have Rachy?

 

[Rachy1412]

I've never heard of canteloupe but I will try and find some! I gave them some hondeydew yesterday and it was gone within 5 seconds flat! I have 10 pigs and three rabbits! Nice big family!

 

[Ziggysmom]

I have 2 pigs. Each gets 1 huge romaine leaf with a handfull of cilantro or spinnach or 5 0r 6 slices of red/green bell pepper 2x a day. A couple times a week, they get 2 baby carrots each. I also give them the salad mix that looks like weeds? I'm guessing now that this is not enough? They won't eat oranges or green beans. I'm going to give them a bunch more today and try apples (been afraid to try).