Owners of Guinea Pigs - I need you

[Fabster]

Having spent ages checking if my piggies can have celery can you all list what you feed your piggies please and also pointers as to what they can't eat would be useful too.

Thank you from FabsterBoyPiggy and FabsterGirlPiggy as well as me.

[clayre]

mine have, lettuce, spinich, carrots, cucumber, broccoli, melon (all kinds), apple, pear, sprouts, cabbage, corn on the cob, curly kale.

Im not sure what they cant have other than loads of lettuce apperntly, mine love it and havent been affected by eating it

[MedusaHead]

Mine eat carrots, french beans, cabbage, cucumber, brocolli, cauliflower, lettuce, dandelion leaves.

I think too much lettuce gives them upset stomachs.

I was worried today putting mine in their run as there were toadstools growing on the lawn. They are still alive this evening though (phew).

[fruitshootsandheaves]

ours have this as we were told to give them a complete food or they just eat the bits they want and don't get a balanced diet and them become fussy.

They are out on grass most days

they like broccolli, carrots, apple

I never give them lettuce, not good for them apparently.

SILs guinea pig love weetabix

HTH

[Fabster]

Thank you.

I bought them some lettuce but gave it to DS1 when I read they shouldn't have it.

I am going to weigh their cereal tomorrow as I filled it up and it seemed to go really quickly. I might have been spoiling them a bit.

[Summersoon]

I believe that potatoes are a no-no.

Mine also loves fresh herbs (basil, parsley etc.) - he is a very spoilt well looked after guinea-pg

In Spring and Summer, he loves dandelion.
He also loves timothy grass and hay which he eats by the fistful.

He will not, on the other hand, eat broccoli, nor will he touch those expensive all-in-one green pellets that the vet tells me are better quality than commercial muesli and supposed to prevent selective feeding. One day I tried them on him: he tried to tip his bowl over, another day I gave him a mixture of that and the muesli, only to find in the evening that he had quite carefully separated the undesirable pellets in one half of the bowl and eaten clean the other half with the muesli.....

[Fabster]

Toast?!? Warm, cold, buttered, with jam???

Do they like weetabix dry?

I felt really guilty using the parsley that I had bought for the piggies the other day.

[Fabster]

I am quite surprised how many piggies are being fed feeds that are listed as dangerous in my guinea pig book.

[Sagacious]

Ours eat:

Brocolli (absolute favorite)
Timothy hay
Grass (in warm weather the run is put on it and they nibble all day)
Curly kale
Carrots
Celery
Sweetcorn
Pellet stuff (recommended by vet)
Museli type GP mix (bought from local shop not branded)
Apple
Melon

They turn their noses up at peppers but thats about it.

[Sagacious]

Museli type mix was bought in a panic when usual pellets were N/A

Seems to consist of dried vegetables mainly and I add a tablespoonfull into the usual pellet mix.

[CarGirl]

all I can remember is that rhubarb leaves are poisonous.

[Sagacious]

The timothy hay is usually mixed in with dandelion (burgess excel herbage irrc)

[OnlyWantsOneFartleBerry]

african violets are very bad, as are aloe vera plant.

Dandelions can give them the shits, and lettuce can cause bad stomach cramps if over fed.

[fruitshootsandheaves]

why would you be feeding them african violets?

[bruffin]

ours are out most of the day on the grass

but they also eat

curly kale
carrot
banana
apple
cabbage/spring greens
timothy hay
parsley and coriander
guinea pig pellets
melon
cauliflower leaves and carrot tops.

and their biggest favorite is cucumber. There is nothing so cute as a guinea pif fight over cucumber

the banana and melon they actually prefer the skins

[peanutbutterkid]

Not Rhubarb, that's the biggie.

Cheap quality Lettuce (iceberg) can be very watery without nutrients; they end up filling up on it without getting enough of nutrients they do need.

Fibers in celery may get tangled in the digestive tract, I read, although I don't know if that's true. I think celery might be okay if cut up into quite small pieces.

Other big thing is lots and lots of hay; should have it all the time, really, they can't have too much. And they need a source of vitamin C daily. Potato and Broccoli stalks are good for that.

Any nightshade thing that is bad for us is bad for them, too: so potatoes are okay if it's bit of potato that are good enough for you to eat, too, but not roots or the green bits of potatoes or tomatoes, etc.

[Fabster]

Now I am even more confused as you are recommending things I have been told to avoid.

[peanutbutterkid]

Having said that, my GPs used to love to nibble on tomato & potato plant leaves in the garden (I realised belatedly). I had kittens imagining their livers packing it in but they got away with it .

[OnlyWantsOneFartleBerry]

O I was told when I got my first GP from the RSPCA that anything that comes from a bulb is bad. very bad

[MedusaHead]

Mine like carrot peelings. If I put carrot peelings and whole carrot pieces in they will only eat the peelings.

I had never heard of Timothy Hay before and have just been looking on the Pets at Home website. Which one would you recommend? Do you get the 'herbage' one? The other one looks just like normal hay is this correct?

Also, is anyone still putting their gp's out in their runs on the grass. I have been when the grass isn't really wet, (ie yesterday), but one of mine has really long hair and I worry about her getting damp and too cold. They seem to love it though. I feel guilty if they spend all day in their hutch.

For a supposedly low maintenance animal I seem to spend a lot of time worrying about them. They are gorgeous though.

Another question - last one - when they make a chattering noise does that mean 'I've had enough' as I read this in a book somewhere. Because one of mine makes this noise as soon as I pick her up. Maybe she is just a grumpy one.

[clayre]

mine are noe fighting over grapes, i think oneof mine has no sense of taste and just eats everything!

[sanfairyann]

mine have even eaten rhubarb leaves to no ill effect (helped themselves when out in garden - I thought I'd picked it all). won't touch mint though. weird pigs.
they love parsley and coriander which we grow for them, cucumber, carrots and grapes are faves

[Summersoon]

@ Medusa

re the chattering noise: our previous guinea-pig would begin to chatter if he was sitting on me and needed the loo - it was my 30 second warning - he was a very thoughtful guinea-pig! The current one doesn't do this - although in fairness I must say that he has also never had an accident on me. He chatters and also squeaks, while standing against the bars of his cage, when he hears/smells me washing lettuce or other fruit/veg for and he reckons I am not doing it quickly enough because I am chatting to DH or DD or for some other reason not completely focused on feeding him...

I now think that guinea-pig speak can vary slightly from pig to pig1

[bonkerz]

watery veg like lettuce, celery and cucumber can give the guineas runny poo which can lead to wet tail!