Guinea pig's portion size for veg?!

[MrsRogerSterling]

I have 4 girl guinea pig's who have veg twice a day (sometimes more) in addition to fresh hay and pellets.

What is the correct amount of veg for them to eat in one go? I mean they would eat and eat and eat if I kept putting veg in all day but I worry I am feeding them too much.

I'm honestly not sure about a correct portion size for piggies. My boys would eat endlessly if possible. Most veggies are predominantly water so won't affect their waistline. The best thing to do is keep an eye on their poo output. If it ever appears a bit too sloppy then reduce the veg a bit until it reverts to normal pellets. Root veg like carrots, parsnips, beetroot etc are more calorific than the salad stuff, so limit those if you're concerned about their weight. Sometimes over winter one of my boys loses a bit of weight, so I feed him up with root veg.

Should have said, you could weigh them and keep a note of their weights so you know if there's any fluctuations. Usually the first sign a pig is not well is weight loss so it is useful to keep a check on them. I weigh mine (kitchen scales) every couple of weeks.

Thanks, yes I think I will start weighing them.

They don't seem to chubby at the moment.

As an example in the morning I will de seed one pepper and give them that with a carrot or a couple of celery sticks and a handful of salad leaves, that is between 4 of them. Then I will sometimes if I am home throw in a green bean and a cherry tomatoe each around lunch time. Then in the evening they would have the same amount as the morning but varying veg depending on what's in the fridge. Does that seem too much?

Veg they have is, kale, broccoli, peppers, celery, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, salad leaves, corn on the cob, spinach the odd sprout. They love herbs..basil, parsley and coriander always go down well. Very occasional slice of apple or a plum with the stone out!

I'm sure I read somewhere that they were supposed to have a tea cup portion of veg every day. Your gp diet sounds similar to what I feed my four piggies.

Your piggy diet sounds fine to me. If anything they are having less than my 2 girls. However my piggies are pretty weighty and I have been trying to cut down veg since going from 3 sows to 2 sows. One sow is a fat solid little chunk the other looks bigger but a lot of it is water retention. They are both senior ladies.

Great, I shall just carry on as we are then. Laughing at guinea pigs being described as senior ladies!!

My 3 adults have a shallow stainless steel dog dish ( so they can all share nicely and it's easy to clean )

I give them 4-5 veg choices twice a day so about a bowlfull.

YY to keeping an eye on their pooh and weight (pooh not si easy if there are 4 bottoms but we find ours do pooh nests so we can keep track)

If I give a carrot with leaves, a half pepper, 2" peice of chicory, handful of kale and some herbs, then it gives them variety and there will be something they all like
Then maybe for supper they'll have different herbs, half a red topped baby lettuce, handful of spinach/watercress and rocket salad and a sweetcorn cobette.

They have loads of hay and two scoops pf pellets.

99% of the time everything is gone unless it;s cauli leaves or turnip peel that I put in to trick them into the bowl being full.

Kale is eaten last as protest "to keep us regular" they sigh.

If they have grass then I give them less veg/more hay

Although it is hard to overfeed them, I do wonder how they get so lardy on veg

I did read somewhere that they are meant to have their veg at night but mine would be up all night whittering when I want them to quietly pooh eat and sleep.

I have 2 girls and they get a 'takeaway tub' of veg you know the ones you get from the Chinese in the morning and at night.

They live indoors in the back bedroom and as soon as we get up in the morning they hear us come out of our room and start squeaking at us. Sometimes they start again when I get home from work or school with the kids. I make them wait until at least 6pm for their tea though or figure they'll be even more starving by morning!

Bump for glen