Diet - what veggies?

[sqeakpigs]

Hi. I'm trying to make sure my guinea pigs have a varied balanced diet. I'm a little worried that some foods can cause bloat. They have fruit once a week, not sure if this is too regular.
These are the veggies they currently eat.

- romaine lettuce (three times a week)
- sweet pepper (once or twice)
- green beans (twice a week)
- celery (twice a week)
- brussel sprouts (once or twice a week)
- cucumber ( once every three weeks)
- grape/apple/banana/strawberry/watermelon (once a week)

 

[Piggies&buns]

They can eat the following four safe veggies every day:
Lettuce, Cucumber, Bell pepper, Coriander.
Anything else is added in moderation and rotation And can be given once or twice a week depending on calcium content.

The veggies which most commonly cause bloat belong to the brassica family - so Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage.

Mine are given Lettuce, Cucumber, Bell pepper, Coriander every day and often not anything else added. I do give them some other high calcium veggies once or twice a week (but i don’t feed mine pellets so I worry less about calcium intake in general). Any other veg they may get is purely because I’ve bought it for the humans in the house and there happens to be some left over that the animals can have

Other than those four veg the only other consistent in their diet is grass and either fresh or dried forage.
Mine don’t get fruit - they may get a piece of apple or a blueberry once a year in summer on a hot day, perhaps some carrot peelings at Christmas!

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

 

[Merab]

Mine get lettuce every morning, some coriander as a midday snack most days.
Occasionally they’ll get dill or parsley instead.
In the afternoon they get some pepper, cucumber and a variety of leaves.

Very occasionally there’s a tiny chunk of apple or a strawberry top.

Celery, fennel, red cabbage , green beans are all popular but only fed occasionally, some vegetables more occasionally than others.

 

[sqeakpigs]

Thankyou, it's quite difficult when everyone's doing different things

 

[Piggies&buns]

It’s because other than ensuring high calcium veg or fruit isn’t fed often (in the case of fruit, it isn’t needed at all), and the basis is roughly the same, beyond that how you do it is up to you!
I feed it all in one go in the evening, others split it up into two feedings etc.

Lettuce, cucumber, coriander and bell pepper every single day for most of us. Any other veggies then in rotation/when you’ve got them in.

 

[Merab]

Thankyou, it's quite difficult when everyone's doing different things

We all feed our piggies slightly differently.
Within the guidelines of healthy eating we find the pattern and foods that suit our diaries and availability of fresh produce.
Don’t stress yourself, just keep in mind the core 4 veggies and then it’s whatever is in the fridge.

Piggies also have different tastes.
My Priscilla loved cucumber above all else, my current pair will only eat it if there’s nothing left.

Merab hated coriander ( a very sensible piggy ) and taught her cage-mates to hate it too.
Micah loved it so he taught his cagemates that it was delicious.

 

[Ramia]

I give lettuce, cucumber and bell pepper daily. Coriander gives one of my boys soft stool otherwise I'd give it. So you can give those daily as they are low calcium. But you don't want to give two little calcium either, so I give mine wheatgrass or basil or parsley once or twice a week. Chez doesn't eat pellets so he gets forage twice a week.

You only want to give a tablespoon of pellets daily.

 

[sqeakpigs]

Wow, Thankyou for all your responses. Ive definitely reduced their pellet intake as they go a bit crazy over them. I didn't realise they could have cucumber that often. Thankyou for all your advice.