Diet What veggies do you all feed your guineas?

[kelly86]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum.
I have had my oldest guinea for almost 4 years, and my youngest guinea since February.
I'm looking for inspiration for what veggies to feed them.
They seem perfectly healthy so I'm hoping they are already eating a healthy diet, but it's always good to get advice.
Currently they eat a small amount of spinach, cucumber and a carrot each daily.
They don't like tomatoes.
Occasionally, I let them have a strawberry or grape each, and they enjoy watermelon rind as a treat.
I also grew parsley in the summer, I read that is good for them in small amounts and they did enjoy that too.
I read thst you have to be careful of fruit due to the high sugar content.
They have unlimited hay, I read this is meant to be 70% of their diet or something like that.
Their teeth seem in good shape.
They tend to chew their wooden bedroom, which is fine if it helps their teeth.
I've tried special chew sticks for guineas, I think they are willow?
They don't touch them.
They are currently in their indoor hutch for the winter, in the summer they have a large 2 tier hutch to live in.
My boys get them out everyday for play and exercise, and they have a run on the grass that they use.
Just looking for tips, if there is anything to improve etc..

 

[bpatters]

Spinach is far too high in calcium and oxalic acid to be a major part of their diet. They need some sort of lettuce -- red or green leaf lettuces are fine, but I'd avoid romaine because some pigs develop bladder stones when eating it.

They need a good source of vitamin C, and bell peppers are great for that.

You can teach them to eat almost any vegetable by dicing it extremely fine and sprinkling it over something they will eat, like their pellets. They'll eventually get used to the taste, and then eat the veg by itself.

 

[kelly86]

Thank you for the info, I'll definitely swap out the spinach for lettuce and introduce the peppers daily.
I did forget to mention that they do eat those too.

 

[4boipigs]

Nowadays, I don't feed veggies as often (a little bit every day or every other day) and I avoid/feed sparingly anything with a lot of calcium. My first pair of boars developed bad stones, and I was feeding a lot of spinach back then! I mix it up - whatever Amazon Fresh can bring me.

 

[kelly86]

Thank you,
I'm sorry to hear about your first guineas.
I've reduced their veggies and swapped to lettuce, Bell peppers (green and yellow) and cucumber as their main veggies.

 

[Anawilliam850]

Hi! I give to them

• Carrots and carrot tops
• Bell peppers (all colors)
• Cucumber
• Zucchini
• Squash

 

[kelly86]

Hi! I give to them

• Carrots and carrot tops
• Bell peppers (all colors)
• Cucumber
• Zucchini
• Squash

Thank you for your help