Looking for a chat with some other pig owners.
We've had ours for a few weeks now and just looking for reassurance.
We still have them in their hutch indoors. I intended to put them outside but not so sure now. I think I am being a bit PFBGP about them which I didn't expect 
. I keep waiting for the weather to improve but so far it's been too wet/cold/windy.
Food wise I think they have reached a toddler stage - they are picky about their muesli and leaving some parts in favour of others. I think a plain food is recommended but they don't have it in local pet shop.
Also they seem to love parsley, cucumber and spinach but I'm not sure these are the best foods for them. I know cucumber is high in water and parsley and spinach have a lot of calcium. My gps are only 2 months old so are the higher calcium foods ok at this age?
They have refused to eat peppers of any colour. They did eat carrot but rejected it the last few times I tried it. The same with broccoli, after eating it the first few times they won't eat it now.
They like lettuce, is this better than spinach?
I haven't tried parsnip, cauliflower, or other veg yet. Any recommendations?
Sorry this is so long. I have more questions so I'll pop back later.
Thanks
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Small pets
Anyone around for some guinea pig chat?
plus2new · 21/05/2014 19:38
Hi plus2 yes we can chat about guinea-pigs all night and day here
There are loads and loads of threads to browse through- GP food, GP behaviour (good and bad), their body language and vocals (they have such a range, it's not just 'squeak' )
The thread guineapiglet mentioned is in celebration of all the new piggies to SuperFurryAnimals and what they like.
I always give veg for breakfast and supper (GPs are active dusk and dawn and will spend the later hours doing their pooh eating nice but it's essential)
It depends where you are in the country, my boys went out to their Pighouse (it's a wooden Playhouse so enclosed, we can open the re-inforced window for them ) in late March IIRC, the weather was nice but they still had a heater at night while it was chilly. Mine are adults though and have very deep hay bedding to snuggle in.
They are very individual when it comes to food, and will turn their snouts up at things they previously ate happily.
When you do let let out on the grass make sure they are secure against predators, have shelter and restrict them to an hour to begin with to avoid bloat. Build up slowly.
Weigh your guinea-pigs regularly, keep a check on their weight- it's a good indicator if something is amiss healthwise.
Make sure they always have clean water daily , even if they don't drink it, it's there for them.
I'm sure before long we'll need some "Hot Weather Hogs" threads. They suffer heatstroke easily and are at risk of flystrike but both can be avoided (but it's difficult to completely eliminate the risk )
I got GP3 as a 6 weeker, he was already eating Burgess Excell but if you do need to change food, mix it with the original to get them used to it.
I gave the new boy Alfalfa hay for the first couple of weeks , but they can't have this as adults (unless pg or feeding) as it's too high in calcium.
You do need to be careful with calcium rich food, they are prone to kidney stones.
Mine won't entertain carrot unless it's got the leaves. Or green pepper. Or celery stalks but love celery leaves.
But they are lovely little animals , chatty, friendly. And when they popcorn , you can forgive them anything.
Yes GP3 , 30 seconds popcorning round the run excuses you for peeing on me last week
Not only short legs and low slung bellies , their faces are right in their bedding so you need to be aware of respiratory risk.
That's why things like sawdust and woodshavings aren't recommended ( and What The Jeff is lemon/lavender scented shavings all about? Just clean the cage more often 
)
If you have fleece or VetBed, wash in neutral non scented (I use Ecover or those wash ball thingies. OK they don't get the washing clean but piggies don't complain about the odd pooh stain )
Our vet told us to give them what is available naturally - lots of hay, fresh grass, vegetables such as lettuce, cucumber and celery daily, other vegetables such as spanich, parsley, tomato, grapes and carrot occasionally.
You might want to weight them to make sure one piggie is not eating all the food.
We have two middle age rescue guinea pigs at home. They love their lettuce and parsley. They would not touch any bell pepper.
DD and I took the piggies supper out tonight. GP3 was sitting on the empty breakfast plate.
"Oh, look, if he was in Peru he'd be lunch, he's already on a plate" (GP3 would be a good meal for 2 
)
DD gave me a Death Stare
Smoothpig looks like he'd be a good meal for a large family but I suspect most of it is fat. The small amount of meat would probably just taste of cucumber. I think Scruffy is mainly gristle. Better just get meat from the supermarket instead
. Got to go this morning as they've just given me their list - 4 tubs of parsley, 12 cucumbers ......
I googled something about guinea pig food recently and was a bit 
to see spit roasted guinea pigs! That was NOT what I was looking for.
Frantic close tabbing ensued before the dc noticed and thought I was thinking of cooking their pets
Keep the picture in case your pigs misbehave and need to be reminded what a good life they have
It never hurts to remind them that in another time zone they'd be on a plate.
Though there's a video on YouTube that DD was watching - dozens, possibly hundreds of guineas in a large concrete pen surging forward for grain. No veg in evidence.
You can only hope that they'd all eat and escape unscathed.......but I don't think that's the case 
Though it just shows the difference between pet cavy, food cavy and wild cavy.
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