Do your piggys prefer small or large carrots? Also which are better for them?

Do your guinea pigs prefer small carrots or large ones?

  • Mine prefer small sized carrots.

    Votes: 16 55.2%
  • Mine prefer large carrots.

    Votes: 5 17.2%
  • No idea which they prefer but I usually give them small sized carrots.

    Votes: 4 13.8%
  • No idea which they prefer but I usually give them large carrots.

    Votes: 4 13.8%

  • Total voters
    29
Status
Not open for further replies.

Sue_P

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 25, 2009
Messages
631
Reaction score
18
Points
350
Location
West Yorkshire, UK
I usually get Farmfoods carrots for my rodents and they’re usually whoppers but occasionally I get them from other shops and the carrots are tiddly small ones which got me thinking...... which is best?
a050.gif
Which is better nutritionally and which would my rodents prefer to have.
a015.gif
Any good knowledge anyone? Does anyone know which is best for humans too?
hmn.gif
 
Maybe I'm a bit dim but is there really that much difference between large carrots and small carrots?

Mine wouldn't notice in any case as I chop carrots up before giving it to them!
 
I think small carrots taste better. I kind of grate mine for my five, just peel them to nothing. One will only eat them that way. However, after about five weeks of grated carrot every morning, they do what they sometimes do, and get fed up with them! Enter broccoli stalks!
 
I usually chop up the carrots but occasionally don't for a bit a of variety.

One thing I have noticed is that when I pull up a small carrot from the garden (that I have lovingly tended with my own bare hands), complete with the top, the fussy b*****s won't eat the carrot part, only the top. However, if I give them some grubby old (huge) carrots from a Tesco bag they scoff the lot.

(P.S. please don't use the 'r-word' my hubby doesn't realise they are you-know-whats and it might freak him if he read this).
 
My boys really love chantenay carrots (little fat ones) which they get when they're on offer. When they have to go back to the bigger ones they really turn their noses up!:p
 
Well I prefer small carrots! I just find them sweeter or something?

But my pigs get big carrots, because they're cheaper I guess?

I don't give them carrot that much, but when I do I just give them whole carrots, and let them all eat them together. I never chop things up small for them. :))
 
Mine prefer the carrots with the tops left on but if i want to give them an extra special treat they get the carrot batons (ready prepared) from tescos. They go nuts over them. Its the only time the carrot is eaten completly, normally they leave little bits all over the floor
 
Thanks for the responses, I might try buying both small and big ones and putting both types in the pen and see which my roddies go for first.
k015.gif




I think small carrots taste better. I kind of grate mine for my five, just peel them to nothing. One will only eat them that way. However, after about five weeks of grated carrot every morning, they do what they sometimes do, and get fed up with them! Enter broccoli stalks!
Innit better for their teeth for them to chew on whole carrots rather than have them almost made into baby food?
g035.gif
 
Mine couldn't give a damn what size or shape the carrots or, and whether I chop them up. As long as they get fed, that's all that matters.

Although having said that their absolute favourite seems to be carrot peel (when I cook carrots for everyone else they just get the peel and the tops/tails). They love that.
 
Also, we noticed at first that Caramel would spit out nearly as much carrot as he ate.

One day I tried peeling the carrot a little bit, just to take of the dry edges and lo and behold, he ate all of it. I don't think mine like the dry bits and if I cut a piece in half (so it's semi - circular) they'll eat the part that was sliced first.
 
My Fudge sometimes half eats carrots too.
n065.gif
He chews them into small pieces and lets the pieces fall out of his mouth and doesn’t actually eat much of it.
c055.gif
The other rodent comes round later though and nibbles up his leftovers.
k015.gif
 
Mine seem to like the small carrots (called baby carrots here in the US) a lot more. I think larger carrots are more tough, could be a reason why they go for the smaller more. I know I prefer baby carrots!
Oh and if they are healthier or not... I hear that large carrots have more beta carotene, don't know if that matters to piggies tho!
 
ditto Ruthigrace23 :)
here in OZ we call them baby carrots and my girls loved them drool sadly not on the menu these days cause of Velvet having diabetes :(
I found them to be tastier i still buy them, tho i use the tops for the girls and we eat the carrots, whereas when the girls were able to have them they got the lot and i only fed us the bigger carrots rolleyes:x:(|)
 
I think my piggies are crazy because they don't like carrot tops (okay that makes it sound like I really like the tops and can't believe they don't! ha! :(|) )

It just seems like everyone says their pigs are in love with the tops!

Tho i shouldn't be surprised my two are pretty weird with food. For the longest time I thought they didn't like parsley and cilantro (I always hung it from the top of the cage, thought it would be fun for them). Then one time I tried just putting it bunched in the cage and now they DEVOUR it!
 
Yes, mine girls like Chantenay carrots too. I also give ordinary carrots, irrelevant of they're size, because I cut them into little batons and they quite like them like that.
 
Mine aren't too bothered really! As far as I was aware they shouldn't have carrot too often anyway
 
I prefer smaller carrots but all 6 of my piggies will eat them how they come, although a cut a carrot in to four long pieces before I give it to them.
 
mine love the chantonay ones i gather the small ones are juicier! but they will eat normal carrots if i chop them- mac and rascal like them cut into long slices and Del and Rodney like them cut into little pieces!
 
Reggie seems to love being given a whole carrot, its so cute watching him chomp away at a whole one. Sometimes I hold it in my hand or put it through the cage bars for him to chew.

I also do give him chopped or grated carrots too but when watching him I dont see the same enjoyment as whole ones. x
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top