Hay

mls18

mls18

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I know that it says online that guinea pigs should have 6 pounds of hay a month, but does that include all the hay that's wasted or just what they need to eat? I give them big piles of hay but I end up throwing out a majority of it since it's peed on. I get 40-pound boxes for 80 dollars, and they only last two months. Shouldn't it be lasting more than that? How much do other people's guinea pigs eat?
 
I may be wrong, but I don't think guinea pigs have to eat a set amount of hay each month, they just eat as much as they eat. Some days, my piggy munches through a LOT of hay, while other days he doesn't eat as much. I might be wrong, since I've never herd that guinea pigs should have 6 pounds of hay every month.
It does sound like you go through a bit too much hay, but it depends on how many guinea pigs do you have. ?
I have one guinea pig, and he goes through 1 kg of hay every one and a half to two months. (1 kg = 2.20462 pounds)
 
Natalie Clancy said:
I may be wrong, but I don't think guinea pigs have to eat a set amount of hay each month, they just eat as much as they eat. Some days, my piggy munches through a LOT of hay, while other days he doesn't eat as much. I might be wrong, since I've never herd that guinea pigs should have 6 pounds of hay every month.
It does sound like you go through a bit too much hay, but it depends on how many guinea pigs do you have. ?
I have one guinea pig, and he goes through 1 kg of hay every one and a half to two months. (1 kg = 2.20462 pounds)
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Thanks so much! I have two, and oh woww that's a lot less than mine.
 
I also give him pellets and supplement his hay with grass, so I think that helps him not eat so much hay.
Maybe you can try giving your piggies a small pile of hay and see how much they eat, then top it up as they need it. This may help keep hay wastage down.
 
Natalie Clancy said:
I also give him pellets and supplement his hay with grass, so I think that helps him not eat so much hay.
Maybe you can try giving your piggies a small pile of hay and see how much they eat, then top it up as they need it. This may help keep hay wastage down.
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Ok thanks so much!
 
Hay is the main part of their diet. There is no set amount that they should be eating but they need to be eating enough hay to maintain their weight.

We use kg in the UK so I’ll talk about both measurements

Your usage converts to
18kg in 8 weeks (40lbs)
2.25kg or 4lbs per week for two piggies.

I can’t do a completely accurate calculation as I have five animals eating hay but trying to calculate it down just for my pair of piggies works out to approximately 1.6kg or 3.5lbs per week. (Actually in reality it’s probably a little more than that when certain bedding factors are taken into account across all my animals)
I buy 20kg, or 44lbs, which lasts all my animals four weeks

However, it’s not exact for anybody and never will be - there are going to be variations in set up and some will use more hay than others due to the way they serve it.
Those lovely large piles of hay you give provide enrichment for the piggies as they can forage freely, run through, sleep in the hay etc. It may feel like you are ‘wasting’ it and going through a lot but those large piles of hay are so much more than just food so try not to think of it as wasted hay - it’s been completely used for fun and enrichment and doing what piggies want to do in big piles of hay.
My own two piggies live in my shed and due to that I use lots of hay as their whole hutch is filled with it, and a pile of it is also put out in the shed floor for them. It gets spread around, topped up daily, pooped on etc and yes most of what I give them will be thrown away but that’s ok, they’ve enjoyed having It
 
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I've got two piggies, and I would say that they probably consume 3-4.5 lbs (approx. 1.5-2 kg) of hay in about two weeks. They get piles pretty much any time we walk through ... either because we're walking through the house or when called ... There's certainly a layer at the bottom of the cage that gets scooped and tossed every couple days. They get to do some hay diving, but we don't fill the space with hay (because of how excited freshly added hay gets them). My long furred piggy/dustmop prefers dining on an arranged pile to diving, also, so she's quite happy with a heap to munch rather than a cageful; I've had other piggies whose favorite game was hay submarine: dive! dive! dive!
 
I've seen statements like that or they should eat a hay pile that's equivalent to the size of them. Ultimately they should eat as much hay as possible. Which i know is a vague answer. Each piggy will eat different amounts and it's also dependant on age and other factors. I have 8 pigs and they can eat 40kg+ (88lbs+) of hay a month. That's about 2.5kg (5.5lbs) of hay for 2 pigs per week, or 10kg (22lbs) of hay for 2 pigs a month. So if I still had 2 pigs I'd be getting through the same amount of hay as you.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Hay is the main part of their diet. There is no set amount that they should be eating but they need to be eating enough hay to maintain their weight.

We use kg in the UK so I’ll talk about both measurements

Your usage converts to
18kg in 8 weeks (40lbs)
2.25kg or 4lbs per week for two piggies.

I can’t do a completely accurate calculation as I have five animals eating hay but trying to calculate it down just for my pair of piggies works out to approximately 1.6kg or 3.5lbs per week. (Actually in reality it’s probably a little more than that when certain bedding factors are taken into account across all my animals)
I buy 20kg, or 44lbs, which lasts all my animals four weeks

However, it’s not exact for anybody and never will be - there are going to be variations in set up and some will use more hay than others due to the way they serve it.
Those lovely large piles of hay you give provide enrichment for the piggies as they can forage freely, run through, sleep in the hay etc. It may feel like you are ‘wasting’ it and going through a lot but those large piles of hay are so much more than just food so try not to think of it as wasted hay - it’s been completely used for fun and enrichment and doing what piggies want to do in big piles of hay.
My own two piggies live in my shed and due to that I use lots of hay as their whole hutch is filled with it, and a pile of it is also put out in the shed floor for them. It gets spread around, topped up daily, pooped on etc and yes most of what I give them will be thrown away but that’s ok, they’ve enjoyed having It
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply! I understand now thanks :)
 
Princess Dustmop said:
I've got two piggies, and I would say that they probably consume 3-4.5 lbs (approx. 1.5-2 kg) of hay in about two weeks. They get piles pretty much any time we walk through ... either because we're walking through the house or when called ... There's certainly a layer at the bottom of the cage that gets scooped and tossed every couple days. They get to do some hay diving, but we don't fill the space with hay (because of how excited freshly added hay gets them). My long furred piggy/dustmop prefers dining on an arranged pile to diving, also, so she's quite happy with a heap to munch rather than a cageful; I've had other piggies whose favorite game was hay submarine: dive! dive! dive!
Click to expand...
Oh ok, glad to know I'm not the only one wasting so much! Thanks for the reply
 
Engel said:
I've seen statements like that or they should eat a hay pile that's equivalent to the size of them. Ultimately they should eat as much hay as possible. Which i know is a vague answer. Each piggy will eat different amounts and it's also dependant on age and other factors. I have 8 pigs and they can eat 40kg+ (88lbs+) of hay a month. That's about 2.5kg (5.5lbs) of hay for 2 pigs per week, or 10kg (22lbs) of hay for 2 pigs a month. So if I still had 2 pigs I'd be getting through the same amount of hay as you.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much! I feel a bit better now about how much hay they go through, thanks!
 
We get through at least 4kg of hay a month (two boys), and quite often have to buy a top-up when the monthly box runs out! How much of that is eaten and how much is played with/peed on/slept in/generally thrown out though , I don't know! I guess about 40%..!
 
Two_Wheeks said:
We get through at least 4kg of hay a month (two boys), and quite often have to buy a top-up when the monthly box runs out! How much of that is eaten and how much is played with/peed on/slept in/generally thrown out though , I don't know! I guess about 40%..!
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Oh ok thanks so much!
 
I get hay from a farm 20kg bales,use one a month for 11 piggies.i chuck loads in.i used 2 bales a month when they lived outside.i buy hay box Timothy hay as a treat hay....it does not last long!
 
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