guinnea pig owners/previous owners!!!

[steppy104]

i was just wondering what everyone else treats their guinnea pigs to, so that maybe i can get some ideas so i can put some variety to my piggies diet.

what i current give him as a treat is a salad. the salad contains 1 orange treat for Gpigs broken into 3, mostly grass from the greenest patch in the yard, some lettuce, broccoli, about a half a handfull of his normal food, and some carrots.

my gpig is pretty new....only had him for about a week or 2 now...and this salad that i give him has gotten him to come to me immediatly when he's in his playpen. he see's me walkin up with a paper plate full of goodies, and he runs to the side waiting for me to give it to him. he used to be iffy about approaching it, but now he goes to it immediatly. he used to hate me, and now he approaches me!


oh ya...a question for the piggy owners....if you have ever gotten your piggy a exersize ball, did you have to teach them to use it? i put mine in the ball and he just sits there....and eventually starts squeakin...anyway i can teach him how to use the ball?

 

[The-Wolf]

My niece has three cavies and they get fed all sorts of fresh fruit and veg.
runner beans, corn on the cob, carrots, brocolli, lettuce, apple, strawberries,
blackberries, blueberries.
I will point out these are, as you say, treats and in no way should be given to often (especially the berries). I hope this gives you some ideas.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I have to disagree. Fresh fruit/veg should be given daily as part of their diet and should not be considered a treat. Hay and dried foods are complemetary to this diet.

I get packets of treats from pet shops for my 3 guinea pigs, they especially like the fruit sticks and packets of fruit cruchy things. They also like bread but this should not be given often, if at all.



Oh, if by 'excercise ball' you mean those things people put hamsters in I would seriously advise you to not use those. They are cruel for hamsters never mind anything else. They are unable to get out of them if they want to as well as being small. If that is not what you are talking about, then please explain.

 

[The-Wolf]

I was trying to say that overfeeding of these rich foods, if not used to it will result in sever diahorreah(sp), as always i failed to type what is in my head better

Anyway, as with all diets, moderation is the key.

 

[steppy104]

i heard someone who knows a vet person say that too many fruits are bad....i forgot why though.

the ball that i have isn't small at all actually....they come in different sizes for different things. the one i have is way bigger than him. i bought the ball for him so that i could let him loose outside or in the house without worrying about him getting into little areas such as undr the fridge or behind furniture. i haven't been using it though because he can't figure the thing out.

he got the hang of it one day....when i had him outside in it. took him a while, but he figured it out....the only problem was that when he got to the grass, he couldn't move, or wouldn't move because he was too busy eating the grass through the air hole things.

i don't plan on making veggies his normal food...they rot too easily, and he likes his regular food...he's not rejecting it or anything. so far i've been giving him a nice sized salad once a day...he usually doesn't eat it all, so i put it in the fridge, and let him have more later on.

runner beans, corn on the cob, carrots, brocolli, lettuce, apple, strawberries,
blackberries, blueberries.

what are runner beans? never heard of that.....i was thinkin bout corn...cooked, or fresh off the cob? my mom was thinking bout apples, but i don't want to take a chance on feeding him any fruits.

does anyone know anything about tomatoes?

what are some definate NO!'s on feeding him? the gpigs i used to have liked these little white flower things that grow in our yard, but i'm avoiding letting him have that since i don't know what it is.

just went to the store and got him a wood chew...don't need a buck tooth piggy! lol.

i was also thinking about a leash for him....but i'm really iffy about that because gpigs have a ticklish spot right where the body collar goes....does anyone use these and have input on it?

 

[The-Wolf]

runner beans

EDIT
uncooked corn on the cob

 

[steppy104]

oooh!!! those beans! lol.........i'm slow

thanks

 

[SailfinGirl]

Lettuce can seriously mess guinea pigs up...there's too much water comntent. Just to be on the afe side I never feed mine lettuce. Cabbage, Corn on the cob, cucumber they love. Mine adore apples and tomatoes, although they usually just eat the skin off the apples.

Bread and milk is good for pregnant guinea pigs.

I've got a guinea pig book, hurrah for me, and I'l put down what it says...

Fresh vegetables are essential for their vitamin C supply, as they cannot make their own.

Apparently, pretty much any vegetables we ea are fine, but spinach and lettuce must not be over done becuase of their high acid content (spinach) and laudanum content which has little food value (lettuce).

Also, no potatoes, as if there is any green in them it could be toxic.

Yes...
Cauliflower leaves, broccoli, kale, chicory, celery, spring greens, cabbage, carrot, beetroot, parsnip, swede, pears, tomatoes, oranges, grapes and melons.

I've just read that apples can agravate some guinea pigs mouths to create sores, so it might be a bad idea.

You can also feed them brambles (remove the thorny spine before feeding), Chickweed, coltsfoot, dandelions, plantains, shepherds purse, which will apparently clear up diarrhoea, and vetches.

I don#'t know what some of these plants are, and I don't know if they are available near you. I also know that I've waffled, but I hope its helpful. Whats your guinea pig's name?

 

[steppy104]

wow...thats alot of info...lol. no lettuce? never heard of that..but i guess he won't care if i take that one thing away from his salad.

thanks for all of that!

his name is baby...when i FINALLY got him, i just kept callin him baby, so i just figured to go ahead and name him that.

as for potatoes, i used to feed potato skins to my other piggies all the time...they loved it...odd. but yet another thing baby can live without.

another thing i used to do for the piggies i used to have, is when i went to a fruit market, there would be all kinds of broken cabbage leaves layin around the cabbage area...they had a box FULL of them. just the stuff people won't eat, but i took some home and gave it to the piggies and they loved it! i also used to give them parsley. yum yum.

other things they liked were the rines of watermelons and other melons. they'd throw screaming fits if we didn't give them any...they'd smell it, and start screaming at the top of their lungs...couldn't get them to shut up unless we gave them some. lol. i miss them

 

[SailfinGirl]

Oh they sounded lovely. I never knew about no taters either.

In Tesco's, there is a container full of vegetables which are going to go out of date soon, so we used to buy those for our goats and guinea pigs.

 

[steppy104]

i don't think our fruit markets have something like that....


the awsome thing about baby, is that grass is probably just about his favorite treat...and it's so easy to get!

 

[SailfinGirl]

We have always kept out guinea pigs in hutches in a shed, so we used to pick grass for them when it was too cold for them to go outside, and out old guinea pigs used to squeak their heads off when they heard the grass being ripped up!

They're lovely pets.

 

[steppy104]

ya...it's like nothing phases them when they know that foods around

wutta bunch of pigs. lol.

 

[Puffer_freak]

they are all just

b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l!