Piggy Snacks

Guinea Lynx (http://www.guinealynx.info) is the BEST site for information on guinea pigs. Do check it out.

I spent a good long time on www.guinealynx.info last night. I am going back to the grocery store today. Yay!

I used to know a guinea pig who loved cantaloupe! He was a free range pig (that doesn't tend to work well, most can't be litter trained), in a friend's kitchen. He would actually jump into the fridge and not leave the door until you gave him a piece of cantaloupe. Be careful on overfeeding broccoli as it can cause gas, which is dangerous for guinea pigs and can be deadly. But in small quantities it's fine.

I was kind of afraid to give them fruits due to the sweetness. Thank you for the wonderful ideas.

Don't give vitamin C in the water! First of all, it has other vitamins in it as well, and you're likely to give them too much of something. Second, even if you use health store pure vitamin C, it will only last 30 minutes! Do you want to change the water every 30 minutes? I doubt it. Plus, if they don't like the taste they'll drink less water. If you are unable to feed high vitamin C content veggies due to your location or something, here's something that has never failed for me: vitamin C chewable tablets from the health food store (or from www.oxbowhay.com). Get the 100mg ones and cut them in half. Give half a tablet per day to the pig. They'll eat them right from your hand. Apparently, these taste like candy to them. But vitamin C deficiencies are rarely a problem except in cases of neglect. Even the worst guinea pig pellets contain vitamin C, and in most areas, you can get fresh veggies year round. Processed treats generally aren't good, much better to spend money on veggies instead. Too many fruits can be bad. But oranges and fruits aren't the only source of vitamin C. Tomatoes, cilantro, and bell peppers, just to name a few, also contain vitamin C. See www.guinealynx.info for a complete list of vitamin C contents on veggies. Salt wheels are another thing I wouldn't recommend. Ever tasted guinea pig pellets? They get enough salt.

Oat hay can be greenish. After you've been around hay more, you'll be able to smell if it's moldy. Keep it in a dry place. Oat hay is okay, but it does have a differing nutritional value. With most guinea pig owners, they don't have enough guinea pigs for the price of hay to affect them. Out here a bale of oat hay runs about $15, a bale of timothy $20, and a bale of orchard grass $22. I am allergic to timothy hay, so I buy orchard grass because it's very close in nutritional value. If I was feeding a farm animal that ate a lot of hay, I'd see the difference. But with 2 rabbits and usually 4 to 6 piggies at a time, it takes me 1 to 2 months to go through that bale. When spread out like that, the cost difference is negligible. But a lot of people buy their hay at the pet store, and if they switched to going to a feed store instead, the cost difference is incredible.

Nothing but milk? Guinea pigs are herbivores. You should not be giving them any milk.

I wouldn't actually "mix" the food. Keep hay, pellets (if you feed them), and veggies separate or the veggies can contaminate the other foods. Of course, hay is pretty much just all over, but if you had a hay rack, I wouldn't put veggies in it as well. Unlimited hay and at least 1 cup of veggies per day is a good diet for an adult guinea pig. Pellets can be given if desired, or some people do a pellet free diet and just watch the nutrient contents of the veggies.