Feeding Fruit/Veg Scraps to Save

[heart<3]

Hi all.

I was thinking of giving my guinea pigs more fruit and vegetable peels to save money. I was wondering which are safest and most suitable to be fed often. I mostly give them banana and orange peels which they love. Any other suggestions?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I apologise if i am misunderstanding your post - but You should not replace their basis of their veg diet with peelings. The veggies that they need daily can’t be peeled in any event - things like lettuce, pepper and herbs forming the daily basis.

Fruit should only ever be a very occasional treat and no more than once a week.

 

[heart<3]

Oh sorry! I meant more so as a smaller portion of the diet. Things like lettuce, wheatgrass, cucumbers, and celery are the main portion of their veg, but I like adding herbs, sometimes fruit etc. For that smaller portion, I was wondering how suitable and how often certain fruit and vegetable peels are. This way I don't have to buy things only for the guinea pigs that I don't eat, and since I use it as well, it's less likely to go bad sooner.

 

[fluffysal]

Mine love banana peel (not the banana!) And melon rind. These are maybe once a month treats though.

 

[Mrs Tiggy Winkle]

Mine loved the tiny little bit left in the bottom of the banana peel, it's not as sweet as the rest of the banana. Only from organic bananas though.
I was never very sure about giving them much banana peel, but they liked the stringy bits you can take off the banana. Melon rind, including watermelon rind. If you peel your carrots, that should be OK too, so long as you wash the carrots before peeling.

I would give my piggies the top and end of my carrots too, just the bits you cut off normally. Same with other types of veg - like beet root, cucumber, or lettuce - the stump. And in summer tiny, tiny little bits of apricot or half a grape divided round the guinea pigs - so yeah definitely, I gave mine kitchen scraps, as well as what I was buying in addition.

I never would have tried orange peel on my guineas!

Another thing I did to save money, was ask for scraps at the end of the farmer's market. I don't know if there's one near you that you go to. Some of what they throw out is good for humans too!