First Time Guinea Pig Owner Advice

[Bee&Charley]

Hi! This is my first time owning guinea pigs...I've had my girls (Bee and Charley) for a little over a month now. They turned exactly 11 weeks old yesterday. I had a couple questions that googling hasn't been able to clear up for me...is it possible to overfeed them veggies? I know certain ones are only recommended a couple times a week but for the daily ones (romaine lettuce, bell peppers) should it be kept to strictly a cup per day? Are there certain vegetable that are best for guinea pigs around this age? For hay, do they still need alfalfa hay if they have alfalfa in their pellets? I'm feeding them Oxbow Essentials Young Guinea Pig pellets. (They're also getting unlimited Oxbow Timothy hay of course.)

In terms of hair trims, how do you know if you should trim their fur? They're sisters but Charley's fur is definitely longer/curlier than Bee's. Sorry for so many questions, I just want to give them the best care possible.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hay is the most important part of the diet and it’s that which they need to be filling up on.

Veg is one cup per pig per day. I will be honest though, mine do get a little more than that but they are considerably older and used to it. If you wildly overfeed veg consistently though then you risk upsetting their digestive system and causing them to not eat enough hay.
Make sure you introduce any new veggies slowly so as to not overload their systems.
Fresh dog pee free grass can be introduced slowly to them.

They don’t need alfalfa at all, nor do they need alfalfa containing pellets (they are a marketing gimmick, piggies can be fed normal grass/timothy adult pellets from birth). Alfalfa is useful for pregnant sows to boost their reserves or piggies under three weeks of age (before they are weaned) but after that alfalfa is not something they should be eating. It’s not a grass hay and is too high in calcium.
If you are giving alfalfa containing pellets, then please do not feed additional alfalfa as it will be wildly overdoing it. Ensure they are only get one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day (please don’t go by what the packaging says as they recommend far far too much). Ensure they are off the alfalfa containing pellets by 16 weeks of age and instead feed them a timothy or grass based pellet and only give one tablespoon per pig per day.
Pellets are the least healthy part of the diet.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Long haired piggies may need their hair kept short around their back end.
If you post pictures of them we may be able to help a bit further once we have seen the piggies!

An Illustrated Guide to Hair Cutting

New Owners' Essential Information and Practical Tips Starter Collection

 

[Roselina]

Hello Bee&Charley you’ve had the best advice from Piggies&buns.
Hay is the most important - enjoy your girls and any pictures would be lovely

 

[Engel]

Welcome to the forum! I don't have anything else to add as I think @Piggies&buns has covered it all. I wouldn't worry about trimming your piggies hair unless it's touching and dragging on the floor. My one sow has longer hair near her bum but her hair is well away from the floor. I was expecting to trim it as it kept getting longer, but I think it's just at it genetically determined length (she is now an adult and almost stopped growing).

I agree with @Roselina though, pictures would be nice.

 

[Merab]

Welcome to the forum.
@Piggies&buns has given you excellent advice.
Please keep asking questions as this is a great place to learn.
We would love pictures

 

[Bill & Ted]

Welcome to the forum
Would love to see a photo of your little piggies

 

[Bee&Charley]

Thank you so much for the advice and welcoming words! I don't feed them too much more vegetables than they're supposed to have...I've read 50 grams per day per pig is the guideline...I split 50 grams between them in the morning and then again at night but sometimes it's closer to 60 or 65 grams so I wasn't sure if that was too much...they just really like their vegetables lol.
For the alfalfa pellets, I've read that babies under 6 months need the extra calcium and calories. This isn't actually necessary? I'm not challenging your advice, I genuinely want to know so I can switch their food if it isn't something that's good for them. Do you have any recommendations for the best pellets to switch them to?
They definitely eat mainly their hay and I make sure it's constantly filled (I only give them Timothy, I was giving them Kaytee Timothy hay originally but I switched to the Oxbow brand since it seemed better quality.)

Here are some pictures of my girls...Charley is the one with longer brown and white fur, Bee has the golden and dark brown stripes. I'm mostly concerned if Charley would need her fur trimmed at all. I'm open to any advice or tips since I'm still new to this and I want to give them the best care possible!

 

[Roselina]

Oh what beautiful girls
Sounds like you’re doing just fine !
Diet Guides

This is a guide for diet including pellets. Always gradually change the girls over to new pellets.
I don’t have any experience of long haired piggies but someone will come along with that info.

 

[Piggies&buns]

They definitely don’t need alfalfa. It’s not something which needs to be in their diet - my understanding is that it is used in farm animals to help rapid growth. That isn’t what you want in piggies in any event!
You can give the pellets in small amounts if you wish but it isn’t necessary and you certainly wouldn’t want to be giving them until 6 months of age.

She may need her hair trimming if it grows longer in time and if it starts dragging on the ground, picking up bits of bedding, getting matted or gets soiled around her back end with urine etc.

 

[Freela]

Awwww... they're super cute! Adorable!

There's no particular reason to give youngish pigs alfalfa pellets. It's sometimes recommended as it is calorically denser, but it's something that should definitely be stopped after the first few months because the calcium content is high enough to cause potential bladder stone issues. I've honestly never given any of my baby pigs alfalfa at all except the first pair where both were babies because I was always introducing a baby to an adult and I really didn't want the adult getting the extra calcium. All did quite well on timothy hay and a timothy-based pellet from day one, even the really little ones!

You may have to trim fur on the longer-haired pigs once it gets long enough to touch the ground/get tangled around the back legs or matted. I always just used scissors and bribed the pig to sit still and eat a treat. Some of my pigs didn't care about hair cuts, others acted like I was trying to murder them... I did generally find trimming fur a lot less stressful than leaving it longer and trying to brush out mats or knots, however!

 

[Bee&Charley]

Sorry for the late reply but I just wanted to thank everyone again for their replies! I've switched them (gradually!) from the alfalfa pellets to timothy based pellets and they've done really well with the change! I have had to trim some of Charley's fur and she tolerated it perfectly which was a little surprising...I expected her to protest at least a little! I'm also really curious what other think their breeds are because it's interesting to me that their fur is so different even though they're sisters.

 

[Ruth1]

Do you brush them? I would give my pair a brush along with the weekly weigh in and then if needs be trim off any dirty fur. Mine are sisters too and have different hair types. I was just asking the vet about that last week when they went for a nail trim - she said that’s completely possible - just whatever way the genes worked.

Your girls are lovely! Health to enjoy them!

 

[Merab]

Sorry for the late reply but I just wanted to thank everyone again for their replies! I've switched them (gradually!) from the alfalfa pellets to timothy based pellets and they've done really well with the change! I have had to trim some of Charley's fur and she tolerated it perfectly which was a little surprising...I expected her to protest at least a little! I'm also really curious what other think their breeds are because it's interesting to me that their fur is so different even though they're sisters.

Keziah and Jemimah were sisters fro the same litter.
Keziah was a smooth haired tri colour with distinct markings, Jemimah was a teddy with fuzzy markings and fuzzy colours

Your piggies are so beautiful.
There is a fur trimming guide on the forum written by @Betsy - it has pictures too.
I’m not technically literate enough to link it for you but someone else will

 

[weepweeps]

An Illustrated Guide to Hair Cutting