Guinea pigs

[watermelon1]

So I've bought two boars on Tuesday
Last week, I've been reading that too much of green vegetables are bad for them so I've just wanting to know what do you feed your guinea pigs on a daily basis ?

We feed ours Guinea pig pellets and about half a cup full each of romaine lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cucumber and a few times a week we add tomato's, a slice of apple and sliced up strawberries and endless amounts of hay because they need a lot of that and it's an important part of their diet

Volume wise about the same as above, daily ours get some of green peppers, spring greens, cucumber and lettuce, which has to be a definite green colour. They get kale or spinach a couple of times a week and carrots, red peppers, apples, parsley, mint, other herbs, as an occasional treat. The favourite is spinach and herbs, with cucumber a close second, and one of them has a thing about apples. Plus nuggets and endless timothy hay.

Ours are outdoors in the spring/ summer/ autumn, so grass and some veg peel. In the winter they are indoors and have hay, nuggets and veg peelings.

You’ll start seeing dandelions as a valuable feed crop! When they were not outside, I’d make a cup of salad between them every other day. However, while the weather is ok, they much preferred time outside each day.

Well I've been trying them with small amounts, they live spinach which I only gave them 4 leafs each, they don't do cucumber even with the skin off, they love broccoli & they don't eat peppers or small amount of banana they are very fussy! & obviously when it's not raining they are in the garden on the grass until they have to come back in the house, they have unlimited fresh hay every day, and pellets.

Dark green vegetables like kale , cavolo nero , spinach , watercress , parsley all contain oxalates and calcium which increases the risk of bladder stones or sludge .

If you give a variety of colour then they'll get everything but not too much of one (if that makes sense )

Red/green/yellow/orange peppers
Celery leaves (not the strings )
Ours loved those little red topped lollo rosso or romaine ( don't give them iceberg its too watery)
Herbs in small amounts
Carrots and parsnips , swede/turnip (but they are high in sugar)
Sweetcorn in leaf
Watermelon /rind
Banana (slice in skin)
Apple (small bits )

Our little Abby boar like a bit of raw beetroot (not the leaves though)
And sprouts !

Aside from bedding hay they liked some RediGrass in winter and loved dandelions .
A plate of fresh cut grass was much appreciated
They loved the tops of strawberries and the odd grape .

We had eight pigs over eight years they all had their favourites and things they'd only eat to fend off impending starvation.

Always unlimited hay (or hay cookies in summer) water and pellets .

They didn't like (because they are fussy)

Carrot peelings - only carrots with the leaves "Mum these leafy carrots have too much carrot on them"
Lambs lettuce -if I bought a bag of spinach watercress and lambs lettuce they left this
Pumpkin
Oranges

Now you need to post a Pigture thems the rules

We have one lady pig left and she has parsley and a grape for breakfast , cucumber and carrot for lunch , kale and spinach for tea and parsley for supper alongside her normal food , 2 types of hay and hay cakes .

@70isaLimitNotaTarget well it's been a tough few days they've been trying abit of everything and I'm getting to grips on what they like and what they don't like! They are very fussy! Kale, cucumber, banana & peppers they are not eating they just drag them out of the bowl
And leave them which k have to scoop them out but they love spinach, carrots, romaine lettuce, sprouts! They are the most adorable little fussy boys ever!

Oh they are gorgeous boys @watermelon1 the one on the right is looking accusingly "are you eating and I;m not"?

Boars are lovely cuddle monsters .
Just make sure they have a lot of room , one of the main causes of boars getting The Strop is being cooped up .
Our first two ( DD had one , DS had the other but I claimed the little boar as DS wasn't a good PiggieDad) were 1yo brothers . They had a shed made into a PigHouse by DH.
They had a huge haybox bed the haybox was 3'x3' made from an old cupboard with the door as the lid and one side open to give a 3' long escape space) we knew they slept in the same box but opposite sides .
Indoors they didn't like their cage but if they each had a cardboard haybox they tolerated it . We ended up buying metal pen sides then C&C grids ,

They had a nasty fight after too much coriander so that was banned and they were ok with parsley (herbs are like crack cocaine to guinea-pigs) .

The bigger boar was very protective he didn't like it if his brother was away from him. When we put them back into the clean Pighouse he stood at the edge of the haybox , did a huge pee , then dived in. A few seconds later , the 2nd boy ran through the pee (urgh) and followed . Much squeaking and purring as they rumbled about

Always make sure their boxes or hiding spaces have two doors so one cannot trap the other .
Two water bottles is ideal too .
They need space to get out of each others faces .

When the little boar died , we got a baby boar piglet (who grew huge and became the Alpha) . He took the haybox and the older boy had a wicker hedgehog house which the younger one never went into .

Boars will squabble but if you can pre-empt things you can prevent a lot .

When ours got the hump we bathed them , good strong scented shampoo , (Gorgeous Guineas) it puts them in a bad mood with you , makes them smell neutral . We cleaned the Pighouse and moved things about to confuse them ( it isn't hard , they are lovely but not bright . That's part of their charm )

Ours basically became our recycling bin! They got all and any of our peelings. Loved cauliflower stalks. Carrots, salads, courgette ends, broccoli stalks. Put on grass most days, lots of hay, guinea pig mix. Their absolute favourite was dandelions. No need for weed killer, they ate the lot, and I purposely left some in our flower beds to pick the flowers which they adored.

That's a lovely pic, thanks OP, ours are fussy too, will not touch most fruit, dandelions or broccoli/cauliflower. We can't get them outside, but they have a massive indoor run and love the handfuls of grass i pull for them when on walks.

Our two sows love romaine lettuce, spinach, cucumber, celery and peppers, carrot, broccoli, and sprouts. Cucumber is definitely their favourite.

Fruit wise they have the occasional strawberry or watermelon. Sometimes a small cherry tomato each.

Herbs they love coriander, basil and parsley.

They love dandelion leaves and fresh grass. If you are giving cut fresh grass then cut it by hand. Do not use grass cut by a lawnmower as it has started to ferment and can cause gut issues.

Ours live indoors in a C&C cage. Every week I change the cage around, take out hideys and replace with different ones. I always keep their water bottle in the same place though.

They have an outdoor run in the garden for dry days, with hideys in. They love going outside and know when I click open the pet carrier that they are going outside.

One of the nicest things about guinea-pigs is you'll find yourself checking the veg/salad aisles in the supermarket or market .

Waitrose is a good source of exotic veg- I bought cavelo nero and pea shoots in the reduced bit . Herbs like mint , parsley (curly as preference but flat would be hoovered up too)
I grew peashoots on the kitchen windowsill , just some dried peas on damp paper towel and harvest when ready .

The market had bunches of spinach and whole sweetcorn with leaves , much cheaper but need used quicker .

It always made my supermarket trolley look virtuous when I bought the piggy veg