Guinea pig veg?

[zeebeedee]

So DH and DS3 went to P@H for some fish to add to the tank, and came home with 2 adopted Guinea Pigs (plus cage, food bedding etc etc)

They are lovely but shy girls, now called Bluebell and Snowdrop! - no pics cos they only come out to grab the spinach and scuttle back into their bed/hide!

I have had piggies before when I was a kid, but wanted to check what kind of veg we should be feeding them in addition to their nuggets? P@H said not grass? and I know they're not supposed to have bulbs - onions etc - and limit the root reg and fruit as it's too sugary, but is that it? They've had loads of spinach so far, and some parsley and red pepper. Can they have cucumber? celery?

Yes Milli and 70, it was my lovely little Scruffypig who only ate green veg/fruit. He was a bit of an oddball. His friend Smoothpig ate the full rainbow but Scruffy just picked out the green stuff. Luckily my two now eat pretty much anything except strawberries. Despite other people's pigs loving them, none of mine have ever given a strawberry more than an experimental lick, quickly followed by a rapid retreat as it's clearly trying to murder them!

Madampig's current fave is broccoli - she can't get enough of it. Gingerpig loves his spinach and celery leaves and will use his considerable rear end to block his wife in her igloo so she can't see when such delicacies arrive.

Apart from that, they eat lettuce, kale, parsley, basil, lavender, cucumber, tomato, peppers (green is preferred), carrot, melon rind, apple, grapes and dandelion leaves. Current Bun only eats kale and carrot - he's a bit set in his ways

Fernie they can have the green pepper from here that is only eaten in an absolute emergency

Now the weather has cheered up I've been getting my 2 out onto the grass every day - they don't stop eating.

They do seem to eat an awful lot and are getting a bit fat !

Guinea pigs are brilliant pets - so cute and friendly.

Definitely plenty of hay every day, in their bedding and in a hay trough

Ours loved parsley, dandelions, green beans, carrots, red pepper, apples
They'd nibble small amounts of broccoli, broccoli stalk, butternut squash and cabbage leaf too.
And they loved going out into the garden to mow the lawn for us.

If they heard me chopping veg in the kitchen they'd start to whistle and sing. So cute.

Well they've been out in the garden a bit now - only for short periods, as the 'run' is cobbled together with planks etc, and doesn't have a top and we (and all our neighbours) have cats, so they need to be supervised!! They seem pretty suspicious of the grass, and rather stick to the paving slabs at one edge! We have had more cuddles now, and they don't seem to mind being held, once you've got them

Mine are sulking as it has started to rain here and their outdoor playtime gas been curtailed.
They have been pacified with some picked dandelions - they love dandelions, but even though our grass ( it long ago stopped resembling a lawn) is full of them, guinea pigs apparently do not do picking

Ours protest about being picked up, until you've got them too .

Picked grass is better than growing grass too.

DD enables the pigs by picking them 'lions'. These animals who can lower their very-close-to-the-floor little faces another centimetre and be face first into grass.

No, they like to have 'lion flowers picked for them to hoover up like spaghetti then spit out the flower bit.

In Summer she feeds them cucumber and watermelon to keep them hydrated, they completely ignore a bowl of water of course.

are getting a bit fat !

Your piggies will have the RSPCA/ Paul O'Grady/ The Lennard Brothers from VetSchool on speed dial who will ping back an InstaMessage that scientifically there is No Such Thing as Guinea-Pig Fat.

Its insulation and storage of fat soluble vitamins

Guinea-Pig Guru Peter Gurney would say don't let your guineas get too fat , but we'll ignore him for now

** BTW your guinea-pigs are experts at hacking email accounts so the messages to feed them till they pop will be from the pigs .