Veggies

Piggies&buns said:
I disagree it should be in a feeder. Large loose piles of hay provide a lot of benefits for enrichment and foraging. Hay is so much more than just a food source. It doesn’t matter if it gets urinated on. Wet hay should be removed daily and topped up with fresh hay.
I haven’t used hay racks or feeders in 35 years of small animal keeping.
I literally fill my hutches with hay, it is in no way restricted. Sometimes I struggle to find my piggies - they’ve nestled themselves in the hay for eating, sleeping in.

Pellets absolutely do not need to be in a bowl. Not using a bowl and scattering it amongst hay piles provides more opportunities for foraging. It means that their meal times are exercise for body and brain. Sitting mindlessly eating from a bowl removes all need to use their brains to find their food.
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How I'm
nlkiser198343 said:
A lot of sources said most of there hay should be in a feeder because if they pee on it they don't eat it. At first I had a metal one but I heard these logs were better because it's also a tunnel. They also say there pellets should be in a bowl but they don't like the bowl. I got a lot of my info from scottysanimals YouTube channel at LA guinea pig rescue. Same guy advises 1 and 1/2 cup to 2 cups of veggies for guineas tho so idk. Everybody's got different info. They kinda make there own piles of hay
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How often do I need to clean all the poop out of there cage because ive been cleaning all of it out of there play side twice a day and I just feel like it would be hard to get all of it with piles of hay. Is it ok to just pick out what I see then daily and then just throw all of it away when I do my weekly cage cleaning maybe? Fleece blankets I've been doing every 2-3 days. Maybe I can push it off a week tho?
 
nlkiser198343 said:
How I'm
How often do I need to clean all the poop out of there cage because ive been cleaning all of it out of there play side twice a day and I just feel like it would be hard to get all of it with piles of hay. Is it ok to just pick out what I see then daily and then just throw all of it away when I do my weekly cage cleaning maybe? Fleece blankets I've been doing every 2-3 days. Maybe I can push it off a week tho?
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Mine are fully bedded on hay with an absorbent layer underneath (i mostly use snowflake softchip or megazorb).
First thing I do is remove any areas of wet hay. I then lift the hay which is being left in as it’s not wet to expose the bedding underneath. Any areas of wet bedding are removed along with as many poops as I can get (It’s not always all of them). I use a small garden scoop to do it now (much easier as it is small and can be targeted to remove just the necessary areas). The absorbent bedding is topped up and the hay which is being kept put back down along with topping up with more fresh hay. It takes me about five minutes per cage.
I then do a full cage clean about every five days.

Fleece usually does need to be changed more often though.
 
My piggies getting as much sunlight as they can on a cloudy day. Brownie and skitz. Brownies bigger and lazier than skitz and he just sits there when I pet him. I think he's still scared tho. Skitz runs around like crazy and runs when I try to pet him. It was 2 weeks ago today I found them outside where there original owners left them. So sometimes I wonder if they have ptsd.
 

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Sorry for coming back to this but still a little confused on how to accurately weigh a cup. When I tried converting 8 ounces which is one cup it said something like 220 something grams which was a real lot. Then I read somewhere here that it should be 50 grams. I don't think the cup measures lettuce and that's mostly what I have right now
 
nlkiser198343 said:
Sorry for coming back to this but still a little confused on how to accurately weigh a cup. When I tried converting 8 ounces which is one cup it said something like 220 something grams which was a real lot. Then I read somewhere here that it should be 50 grams. I don't think the cup measures lettuce and that's mostly what I have right now
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You cannot go by weight at all given the different densities of veg.

Please do look at the feeding guide which has been linked in. It shows pictures of suggested amounts. For each piggy you are looking at approx - one lettuce leaf, a slice of bell pepper, approx 1cm thick chunk of cucumber, a few sprigs of coriander.
 
That looks more like a chilli pepper? Don't give that to your piggies! It's not a bell pepper. These are bell peppers

bell-peppers-in-season.jpg
 
Betsy said:
That looks more like a chilli pepper? Don't give that to your piggies! It's not a bell pepper. These are bell peppers

bell-peppers-in-season.jpg
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Oh no I'm stupid and was told it was bell pepper. They've been eating it for a few days. My grandmother uses it for chili and said it was bell pepper. It didn't taste spicy really just bitter. I'll have to get grocery shopping myself and make sure. I get an endless supply of green leaf lettuce from my job
 
nlkiser198343 said:
Idk how big chili peppers are but these are sliced. I'm not giving them anymore tho till I know for sure and get my own
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If they are sliced they may be bell peppers. Green bell pepper does taste a bit bitter compared to the others. As long as your piggies are happily bimbling around doing bimbly piggie stuff they'll be OK.
 
So many people look at me like I'm crazy for looking all this up online and going to these lengths for my guinea pigs. Just curious how people claim they had there guinea pigs for up to 9 years without ever giving them veggies and overcompensating with pellets. I would imagine there animals aren't very happy or maybe there giving them those pellets with assorted dried veggies which are still bad
 
You're not crazy you're a responsible pet owner who wants the best for their pets.

It annoys me that guinea pigs are still seen as children's pets and throw away pets when they certainly are not. They also don't have the same value as a dog or a cat. Guinea pigs are amazing little animals who pack a lot of personality into those small bodies. You get out as much as you put in.
 
Betsy said:
You're not crazy you're a responsible pet owner who wants the best for their pets.

It annoys me that guinea pigs are still seen as children's pets and throw away pets when they certainly are not. They also don't have the same value as a dog or a cat. Guinea pigs are amazing little animals who pack a lot of personality into those small bodies. You get out as much as you put in.
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Right I remind people in my house I do this because there not just here for there entertainment. There are pets and we should provide for their needs and wants not ours.
 
Betsy said:
You're not crazy you're a responsible pet owner who wants the best for their pets.

It annoys me that guinea pigs are still seen as children's pets and throw away pets when they certainly are not. They also don't have the same value as a dog or a cat. Guinea pigs are amazing little animals who pack a lot of personality into those small bodies. You get out as much as you put in.
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If my cat needed this much care and treatment I'd do it for him to but cats are alot easier to take care of. I'm sure guinea pigs will get easier eventually to once I get a routine. I think that's where people go wrong comparing them to other animals
 
nlkiser198343 said:
If my cat needed this much care and treatment I'd do it for him to but cats are alot easier to take care of. I'm sure guinea pigs will get easier eventually to once I get a routine. I think that's where people go wrong comparing them to other animals
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People do compare animals to others and its not correct! You are learning about a completely new species when you take on animals you've never looked after before. It takes a while to get the hang of it whichever animals it may be.
 
I think you are doing a great job researching into the best care to provide for your piggies, it can be very confusing when there is so much contradictory information out there. The feeding guides on here are great but you can follow them without getting too hung up on exactness, for example as I only feed nuggets once a week, I give a bit more veg than it says. Its a case of being aware of what is good/better for them and tweaking things to suit what works best for you.
 
nlkiser198343 said:
How often can I feed tomato and how big of a slice?
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Tomato is a fruit so falls into the same category - ok to feed as a very small amount as an occasional treat but does not need to be in the diet.
One very thin slice and certainly no more than once a week.

The acidity is it can risk cheilitis (a lip infection which in advanced stages can be fatal)
 
One or 2 leaves of lettuce, 1 or 2 cm slices of bell pepper, 3-4 sprigs of cilantro, and cm slice of cucumber. That's what I give each of them now with 1 tablespoon each of pellets. Some days I only do 1 tablespoon between the 2 of them and I have soft meadow hay for them to play in more and Timothy hay in hay bags and stuffed in toilet paper rolls. There new cage comes tomorrow. Having 2 cages will be so much easier during cleaning. They seem to like hay hidden in things but I don't pack it like I was before but I also leave them piles.
 
Lexi and Thea love finding their pellets which I scatter feed and hide in various places. Lexi particularly gets very excited when she finds some pellets. I also do the same for the veg. It helps stimulate their little brains if they have to find their food and encourages foraging.
 
Betsy said:
Lexi and Thea love finding their pellets which I scatter feed and hide in various places. Lexi particularly gets very excited when she finds some pellets. I also do the same for the veg. It helps stimulate their little brains if they have to find their food and encourages foraging.
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I scatter there pellets now to. I hang there lettuce from the top of the cage so they stretch to get it
 
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