Do your guinea pigs like courgettes, and can dandelion leaves be dried?

[clippityclop]

If it's not snowing I was thinking of sorting out the greenhouse this weekend and planting some stuff for the guineas to share. I know they're easy to grow but are courgettes are safe for gps to eat? I also have access to a gorgeous crop of dandelions and mixed variety of grass and wondered if I could make a sort of hay with them? All suggestions welcome!

[cherrypepsimax]

Yes and nettles! They love them dried out. You can dry any safe forage like plantain, coltsfoot etc.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Mine were meh at courgettes but really liked marrow (I took the seeds out)

I haven't tried drying leaves but I did treat them to one of those herbal/grass bags and they completely ignored it . Even when I tried soaking it.
Turned their collective judgey little noses up.

[EastMidsGPs]

We tried courgettes when human grew to many, we weren't impressed. We do get bags of the dried herbal stuff and we like most and especially the ones with dried marigolds in them. Suffice to say if human decides to grow and then dry marigold flowers, we'd decide we no longer like them ... Just because we can

[clippityclop]

Nettles? Crikey... I've got a courgette lurking in the fridge actually so know I know it won't actually kill them I'll give it a go. Marigolds are a good idea, I'll get some of those going on the patio where I let the ladies potter about. Slaves we are, slaves. Thank you!

[FernieB]

Gingerpig nibbled all round the edges of a courgette once then decided it wasn't for him and has never even sniffed another. Scruffy thinks it's 'foreign muck' and won't touch it. I also wouldn't bother going to the trouble of drying stuff for them. They're like toddlers - the more effort you put into the meal, the less likely they are to eat it

[grumpysquash]

My two do not like courgettes at all, but they love dandelion leaves. They prefer them fresh though. We grew a patch of green celery one year and they ate all of that :)

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I think my ratbags ate the marrow because it was slightly sticky "Ha! we can make a fantastic mess while getting one of our 15 5-a-Day"

Their chins (all twelve of them, they are very lardy) were manky !

[clippityclop]

Well, that went down well then, not! They gave the courgette the same looks they gave strawberries last summer. "What do you call that funny looking thing then? Shift it quick and make with the parsley!"

[OohMrDarcy]

courgette is the only thing my guineas have refused to eat - EVER... they won't even taste it... they have a sniff and walk off in disgust.. I've stopped bothering to try and get them to like it now!

[InternationalHouseofToast]

Ours hate courgettes. Their favourites are green beans, green pepper and parseley. We've bought dried dandelions before, but the boys hated them and refused to eat them, but dried fresh ones might go down better.

[whatthefucksaninkynonk]

Another one whose piggies won't eat courgettes. They're supposed to be safe for them but how anyone ever found this out is beyond me.