Time for a Guinea-Pig Food Thread. We have lots of new piggies joining the Super Furry Animal Team

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As all Guinea-Pig Slaves know, these little furries are very particular when it comes to their food.

Yes, they need their Vitamin C
Yes they have things they cannot eat
Yes they have things that they shouldn't eat alot of.

Mine use this information to be very judgey about what I give them. And sometimes I buy parsley from Supermarket S that they hoover up. But buy it from Supermarket M , they turn their noses up.

So.....are we sitting comfortably. We'll begin.

We have GP1, smooth boar 3.6yo
GP3, Rex boar 10 months
We did have GP2 (brother of the smooth ) Abby type (now RIP)

GP2 loved watermelon,grapes,strawberries,sweetcorn (especially with the leaves) beetroot,sprouts, leaves from the willow tree. He also had terrible gas vom , and if he had a day eating grass he had to have hay and pellets for supper , no veg .

GP1 loves grass, dandelions but not clover. Leaves from the pear tree.Parsley, he'd sell his mother for parsley. Carrots but only the ones with leaves, normal ones get left, leaf ones get devoured.
Watermelon, sweetcorn, spinach/rocket/watercress salad
Red /yellow/orange pepper but not green (so much that his pee went peach )
Banana

GP3 loves grass, yellow pepper, brocilli, dandelions, green beans,rocket, celery leaves but not the stalks.
Apple

GP1 has a liking for Cornetto cones

The aren't allowed coriander , it makes them narky.
They don't like mint, basil,

So, add to the list, the more the merrier (and I know there are pigs with eccentric tastes out there)

It is quite hard to tell just how 'robust' they are as they are also very fluffy. I was on the large side as a teenager and remember being utterly mortified when my sister bought be a fridge magnet that said 'I'm not plump. I'm fluffy.' Not great for a 15 year old's self esteem, but apt for my pigs. My friend suggested I google how to do a condition check on a gp which was likely to involve things like assessing how well you could feel their spine, but I just couldn't quite summon the emotional energy to worry that much.

I worry about picking dandelions for mine, unless it's from my own garden, as I don't know what they've been sprayed with - but obviously if you know the source, that's fine. But I don't see why they shouldn't have them wet.

I would say wet is fine. Mine would normally drag them through suspicious puddles in their cage and then eat them so clean rainwater should be okay

Well, I offered parsnip.
They did NOT approve

Between that error of judgement and having bathed them the other day, my name is mud just now at GPTowers.

Must try harder.

My GPs do NOT like asparagus - who knew ! They sniffed it, and then kicked it around the run a bit until I took the hint and removed it...

Hm.
Today mine got some cantaloupe melon peel with plenty of actual melon left on.
They liked the green hard rind, but left the yummy orange melon bits.
Weirdos

Bumping this thread for the new piggies

Hi, Just joining! Mine like banana peel, melon rind, red pepper, kale, lettuce, clover, baby sweetcorn...

Looking for ideas...

My new Rescue girls (GP4 and GP5 ) eat everything that is put in front of them except carrots (they are last resort food and normally appear with the odd toothmark in them)
They hide their plates under the hay when they've finished but always leave a few droppings as a "Thanks Mum"

They love grass and have been like locusts, then go in at night for a supper plate of veg.
(Both girls had litters before I got them, I think they're still "eating for 2" but I need to get some beef on them before they meet up with GP3 )

Are you trying to get them up to a "fighting weight" 70?

Someone recommended banana peel for the potassium and my pigs have gobbled it up!

Having only had GPs a few weeks, I wonder what to do about fresh grass in winter?

GP5 reckons she'll keep her 'Bantam Weight' to run away from GP3 (she's half his bodyweight so she will be the one to rule I reckon)

He purrs when he meets up with them at cuddle time (DH usually cuddles GP3, DD and I cuddle the sows) they have supervised nose-to-nose "hello"

I gave mine banana today and it was well recieved.

ItHas in winter, I still manage to cut some grass with scissors (not always easy and I have to run it under the tap to take the chill off, but I'm "Barking Mad Scissor Woman" )
Or try Readi-Grass ?
It's not like hay, it's short, green, almost malty smelling. GP1 scoffed it, GP2 sneezed,
GP1 used to get a little clear nostril drip with fresh grass (he was checked out by Rodentologist) possible hayfever-type. Didn't stop him eating grass.

Oh a piggie thread! Hello everyone.
We have 3 pigs. DS has a smooth haired ginger piggie called ruby-red-eye. Dd1 has a Rex called Fifi, and dd2 has a white/tan/brown smooth haired pig called Lightening (we lost her in the garden the day we bought her and she was sooo quick she was a nightmare to catch - hence the name). They are all girls.
They love grass and dandelions, their summer cage has a run attached and they are outside in it nearly all day munching the grass, it needs moving every day or they turn the ground bald. As for veg they love broccoli and apples the best, also celery and carrots and cucumber. Won't touch asparagus or tomatoes and will eat cabbage leaves but with the same reluctance as teenagers. Nor are they that excited about parsley, which is odd as I thought that was like piggie crack.

bump for Daisybell

Thank you

I gave them carrots, broccoli, a baby sweetcorn and a sugarsnap pea at tea time. Its all gone. They've got some pellets and plenty of hay left. Is that ok for them overnight?

Pellets, hay and water will keep them occupied overnight, mine trough their vegs (hoover it up) breakfast and supper.
You can gauge tomorrow how much they eat (my bag of Burgess Excell pellets says 30g-50g per piggie )

(Evening time is when they do their pooh eating too - nice )

Loads of ideas here for things to try!

Mine are loving going outside for grass every day just now - I'm not going to have to get the lawnmower out as they're keeping it short very nicely . They are also doing a great job of getting rid of the dandelions in my lawn!

Inside they like broccoli and really love carrot. I also tried giving them the stem from the broccoli and that vanished at high speed! Will need to try banana, cucumber and melon.

I rarely have to mow my lawn now. I just move the run around and let the pigs do the work.

70 (and anyone else who can help) - which foods do I give them to chub them up? They're looking a bit less substantial than normal (probably a normal weight). Current Bun is also looking a bit leaner but he's done a moult which takes it out of buns. Wondering if the same applies to GPs.

They all probably a sensible weight now but I'm just not used to it as my furry pets are normally portly .

Fernie my little Abby used to love beetroot (not leaves) and sweetcorn in leaves.
GP1 went lean in his later months, he loved banana and nice fancy pants hay ( Readi Grass is nice )
Couple of grapes (cuttedup of course )
Root veg is high in natural sugar , though mine only like the carrots with leaves (fussy) maybe they're nicer because they tend to be smaller not so woody.
I think they all go through a lean phase when they get older

At the moment, our girls eat everything they are little locusts, but putting on nice steady weight.
They love chicory and mint which the boars didn't.

Thanks 70 - I'll see if I can persuade Scruffy to try some non green food .

Mine do eat lavender and smell lovely after - do your girls have lovely breath after their mint?

Oooh I forgot about Scruffy and his Lean Green Eating Machine habits (that does make fattening food a challenge)

The laydeez smell lovely after eating mint (I would suggest GP3 indulges but he like aroma de pooh breath

Back in my horse riding days (and GPs digestion is quite similar to ponies) the smaller Native types (Highland/Dartmoor/Exmoor/Shetland) used to get really quite tubby on grass .
So you might need to cultivate some garden for year round grass cutting.

We planted an area by the Pighouse with brand new grass seeds. It'll be a while before they can use it (DH will rig up a doorway and attatch the small run)

Can you protect a portion of lawn over winter, to stop it being mowed and let it grow? (I'm foraging at the edge of the fence in January , it grows better there . The things I do for these animals )

My grass grows like mad so no problems getting that. I'm getting some green grapes tomorrow as well.

Hello, I am a new piggie mummy as of today. Gps are Peruvian cross sows. They are outdoors in a hutch set up just as lovely guinea pig breeder told me but they seem absolutely terrified. I will be leaving them alone for two days as instructed. Btw what kind of parsley is the piggy crack parsley?

Hi Nolda welcome to Super Furry Animals

Your piggies will be terrified - they are in a new environment, new owners, new noises, new smells. The only familiar thing they have is each other.
So chat to them , feed them. Accept that they will leg it at the slightest noise. (When DD and I got our two Rescue sows, I could not catch them , especially GP5. I thought the Rescuer was going to say "Bloody hell, you;re not having them" but we got our lovely GP3 from the same Rescue so she could tell he was looked after )

Parsley - they love it. We give curly and flat leaf.
My girls like mint, my boar doesn't.

It's coriander that turned my previous boars into serial killers, they gorged on it (I thought Hmm, looks like parsley, I'll try that . It wasn't )
A few sprigs is fine, it's quite high in calcium, so don't overdo it.

There's lots of New Piggie Mums on here now. Lots of food threads/bedding/care,

Lovely to see new pigs appearing.

Breaking news the Gps like carrots ! All other yummy veggies etc have been ignored as scary alien objects. The day before yesterday one piece of carrot had been slightly gnawed; yesterday all carrots gone. Our gps are only babies so maybe haven't seen many different veggies. It's like weaning my dc all over again.