I know this may sound silly lol but I'm confused with the foods such as broccoli and sweetcorn..
Am i right in thinking that you buy it fresh in a food shop wash it down then cut it up in small pieces to give to the guinea pigs? you dont cook it or anything first?
And secondly the coriander, basil, mint, thyme is the herb plant you buy and put in our food? so for the guinea pigs i would cut it down and put it in with the vegies?
Finally lol, Which veggies and fruit would be classed as a treat? Would you recommend treats daily or weekly?
Want to be fully prepared for when they arrive dont want any upset there tummys or anything...
x
Yep, broccoli, I just chuck in for my boys, no need to cut it up or anything, unless you want to. Some foods are better cut up - celery for example, can be very stringy, so I tend to cut mine into 1-2cm chunks, so that they dont get long stringy bits stuck in their throat. Other things, like large carrots, I chunk up just to spread them out a bit so everyone gets a share. Sweetcorn should be either corn on the cob or baby corn - no tinned stuff, they add all sorts of salt/sugar etc. - I chuck that in too! (i tend to buy the corn on the cob thats pre-cut into smaller chunks, like into 1/4s as I have groups of pigs and one will hog it and not let the others join in if its a whole cob - they're really difficult to cut!). You don't need to cook anything, they like their veggies raw and crunchy
Herbs, you can feed however you wish really - some herbs eg parsley are high in calcium, and shouldn't be fed in large amounts. My pigs go mad over herbs, so I sometimes scatter it amongst their hay to get them to forage for it - it just gives them something different to do.
Things that should be fed as a treat or in moderation - any fruits, they're high in sugar so shouldn't be fed too often, things with a high calcium content (a diet too high in calcium can lead to the formation of bladder stones etc) should also be fed in moderation. They should have an unlimited supply of hay (about 80% of their diet), and be provided with a good quality guinea pig food (approx 5%)- pellets are recommended over muesli as it prevents selective feeding. The remaining 15% should be fresh veg/herbs/fruit
There's a pretty good list here
http://theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42, and you're doing exactly the right thing - just ask if you aren't sure!
Also - only introduce one new food at a time, you need to know if any piggy has an adverse reaction to something, and if you introduce several new foods in one go, you won't know which is responsible.
Hope that helps!
Amanda
