Gourmet Hay- SPS

Mikknu

Mikknu

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello everyone.

I'm going to finally be buying my cage and supplies sooner rather than later, and I was wondering about a type of hay on Smalk Pet Select called Gourmet Hay.

Gourmet Hay

This is it. The hay includes, "second cut timothy, third cut timothy, alfalfa, orchard hay, lavender, raspberry leaf, strawberry leaf, rose petals, plantain, bay leaf, dandelion leaf, chamomile, oat tops, lemon verbena, and a pine cone on top for good measure! (We may even toss in some freeze dried berries, based on availability!)" All mixed in with each other.

Would this be okay to feed as a treat to guinea pigs who haven't had some of that stuff before at all, adults or teenagers? I'm a little sketchy on how to tell a strawberry leaf from a raspberry leaf... 😅 I don't think I could pick anything out of the mix.

All advice is appreciated!
 
Hmm... may be ok as an occasional treat but personally I wouldnt buy this myself- alfalfa hay is usually only for small babies or pregnant mums, freeze dried berries are not a good thing, and I never heard of piggies eating lavendar- I imagine the smell would be a bit overpowering!
Its very tempting with new piggies to fall into the trap of buying unsuitable treat foods- I'm sure we've all done this at some point- but generally the fancier they are the less suitable they are and the less they like them!
A brown paper bag filled with soft hay and a few pieces of cilantro or parsley and a few cucumber chunks is a huge treat for a piggies, at very little cost! Some of those dried flowers and leaves sound nice but to be honest they can live without them usually!
 
I'm glad I asked first! Thanks for responding @PigglePuggle . I knew about the alfalfa hay, but I just wasn't sure about anything else. Lemon verbena is what caught my eye. That's what I use for body wash, and it's got a pretty strong fragrance.

Which flowers and leaves are the ones that are okay out of that mix? I'd like to know for later on, that way I could look for maybe separate or sampler bags as a treat to tey rather than a huge mix?
 
Raspberry leaves, strawberry leaves, oat hay, plantain, chamomile flowers, rose petals and dandelion leaves... are all fine I think and are commonly sold as dried treat forage. Never herd of lemon verbena but pinecones are also a bad idea I think!
 
I just give my 4 ordinary meadow hay from the farm. They have dried forage treats too.
 
Thank you both for your responses!

I will have Orchard and Oat hay, one on each side of their cage to prevent fighting. I just wasn't sure what to get for forage, so I opted out of it and got some smaller things like seagrass sticks and some bundles of twists and fidget sticks. Plus apple sticks, as I've heard those are good. I'm not entirely sure what my guinea pigs will eat and what they won't yet, and I figure a variety to start with is better than picking a random one and hoping to get lucky.

https://shop.smallpetselect.com/collections/natural-toys-and-chews-for-guinea-pigs

I got all my hay and edible anything off of the above site. Just to be safe with quality.
 
My piggies love fresh lavender from the garden in the summer (stalks, leaves and flowers), as well as rosemary, mint, thyme, sage and oregano.

They have had dried mint leaves but the others have all been fresh.
 
I could get some of those in small pots. What specifically of each of those plants can be fed?

I've also heard guinea pigs can eat basil and cat grass. Is this true?
 
Basil, like all herbs, is ok in small quantities.

I am not sure what 'cat grass' is.
 
Uh... cat grass, sometimes called wheat grass? It's usually sold mixed with like... rye grass and barley grass too. Marketed towards cats as something to eat?
 
That should be fine, piggies love grass. You do have to introduce it to their diet slowly if they haven't eaten it previously.
 
YvonneBlue said:
My piggies love fresh lavender from the garden in the summer (stalks, leaves and flowers), as well as rosemary, mint, thyme, sage and oregano.

They have had dried mint leaves but the others have all been fresh.
Click to expand...
I didn't even consider Lavender! I have a huge lavender bush in our front garden which is about to be pulled out as we are having work done on the driveway. Presumably they would eat it dry too?- could just hang the bush upside down in the shed & snip away! ....I'll check the food list again as I've a few more things being uprooted.
 
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