How Many Veggies? How Often?

[KaitlinH]

My Guineas are 9 weeks old (ish) and they are constantly hungry. The lady in pets at ho,e recommended just leaving a full bowl of nuggets in their pen but I'm starting to think that's not such a good idea as they aren't getting used to me going in their cage. They also aren't building up a routine where you're meant to feed them at a certain time per day. Any recommendations?

Another question is how often do I give them veggies, we have done so much research but a lot of places tell us different things. Some say to give it them instead of their nuggets, and some say to give it to them at a different time. Can anyone help?

 

[KaitlinH]

accidentally posted a thread twice

 

[KaitlinH]

My Guineas are 9 weeks old (ish) and they are constantly hungry. The lady in pets at ho,e recommended just leaving a full bowl of nuggets in their pen but I'm starting to think that's not such a good idea as they aren't getting used to me going in their cage. They also aren't building up a routine where you're meant to feed them at a certain time per day. Any recommendations?

Another question is how often do I give them veggies, we have done so much research but a lot of places tell us different things. Some say to give it them instead of their nuggets, and some say to give it to them at a different time. Can anyone help?

 

[Lorcan]

They should have fresh veggies daily, I feed mine once a day but I know others who feed them twice. I always feed the veggies at separate times to their nuggets. Do they always have hay available? Ideally hay should always be available no matter what, so they always have something to munch on, then veggies once or twice a day and nuggets no more than once. Pick times that works for you, and it shouldn't take long for them to settle into the same routine.

 

[KaitlinH]

They should have fresh veggies daily, I feed mine once a day but I know others who feed them twice. I always feed the veggies at separate times to their nuggets. Do they always have hay available? Ideally hay should always be available no matter what, so they always have something to munch on, then veggies once or twice a day and nuggets no more than once. Pick times that works for you, and it shouldn't take long for them to settle into the same routine.

Thank you so so much! Hay is always available to them. They have a hay holder that they can eat out of and their bedding. What amount of nuggets should I give them?

 

[Lorcan]

Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet If you look for the third post down (I think) it has a good guide for pellet amounts, depending on the age of your pigs

 

[rome_italy]

a seller of nuggets will always recommend to keep full the bowl of nuggets... But actually the pellet should be only few grams, few pieces, or nothing at all... cutting pellets means that they go eating hay. Also the grass is very good for them and your can serve also huge amount of grass and they will eat the amount they like without any damage. Vegs should be served with a certain care, not too much. My piggies have hay and grass always available, but they often sleep on the grass and on the hay. I sometimes put some little pellets on the floor all around the kitchen, during their floor time, so that they move around it. That is the only amount of pellet I give them, that is very few grams.

 

[Patchwork Staccato]

Hello!
I give my guinea pigs nuggets in a bowl just in case they do get hungry in the day. Also I add fresh hay so they can eat that if they don't like the nuggets. But I also feed them veggies in the morning, midday and then evening.

Morning:
Some slices of cucumber;
A stick of lettuce (Not iceberg lettuce);
A baby carrot.

Midday:
Grass;
Dandelion leaves.

Evening:
Lettuce;
Pepper;
Stick of celery;
and sometimes some tomatoes.

Sometimes I might not feed all 4 veggies to my piggies at the evening, but most of the time I do (sometimes we run out of peppers or celery) x

 

[Sketchaloo]

My Guineas are 9 weeks old (ish) and they are constantly hungry. The lady in pets at ho,e recommended just leaving a full bowl of nuggets in their pen but I'm starting to think that's not such a good idea as they aren't getting used to me going in their cage. They also aren't building up a routine where you're meant to feed them at a certain time per day. Any recommendations?

Another question is how often do I give them veggies, we have done so much research but a lot of places tell us different things. Some say to give it them instead of their nuggets, and some say to give it to them at a different time. Can anyone help?

I'm not sure what nuggets are (pellets?), but I have two hay racks with dishes attached that have pellets. They don't seem to over indulge in pellets, so I just leave a full dish out. I always make sure they have plenty of hay, and then I give them vegetables three times a day (all of the below is per guinea pig):

Morning: One piece of Romaine lettuce, handful of curly headed parsley, a few pieces of bib lettuce, corn husk, wheat grass, carrot, cucumber slice, one green bean, and a slice of watermelon rind.

Evening snack: corn husk, one piece of Romaine lettuce, cucumber slice, and wheat grass.

Dinner: One piece of Romaine lettuce, couple pieces of bib lettuce, one piece of kale, corn husk, and wheat grass.

My guinea pigs seem to eat more in the morning, and then they always want a snack. They eat dinner but I don't give them as big of a portion because they don't eat as much at that time. They are very routine oriented!

 

[KaitlinH]

Thank you @Sketchaloo and @SqueakyDreamsxx . That information has really helped me xx

 

[KaitlinH]

@rome_italy thank you so much. I have started doing that today as they never seemed to over indulge on the nuggets anyway and there was always some left.

 

[rome_italy]

try to hide nuggets under the table or the chairs during their floor time, so that they are forced to move a lot for eating them.
But never exaggerate, pellets are made of weird ingredients and if you read carefully the label and start making the sum of the percentage of proteins, grass, good fats and so on you reach only 50%. I wonder: what is the other 50% made of? mistery...

 

[KaitlinH]

try to hide nuggets under the table or the chairs during their floor time, so that they are forced to move a lot for eating them.
But never exaggerate, pellets are made of weird ingredients and if you read carefully the label and start making the sum of the percentage of proteins, grass, good fats and so on you reach only 50%. I wonder: what is the other 50% made of? mistery...

I wander that too. I looked on the back of my pigs' pellets and there is all sorts of weird things in there. They sound like chemicals that shouldn't be in guinea pig food.

 

[rome_italy]

I wander that too. I looked on the back of my pigs' pellets and there is all sorts of weird things in there. They sound like chemicals that shouldn't be in guinea pig food.

chemicals aside, hoping they are safe for them, what I don't like and scared also my vet was this question: what is made of that 50% missing? carbs? because carbs are poisons for piggies... every label writes a list with the amount of fats, proteins, fibres, vitamins, minerals, ashes... but carbs? silence. At this point, if carbs are good for piggies, I will give them a dish of spaghetti!
and if the hidden part is not made of carbs, what is made of? 50% is a lot...

 

[sport_billy]

We feed ours this roughly per pig
Morning:
Cucumber 2 x (2cmx2cm cubes)
Celery half a stick slicedup
1/6th of Red/Green/Yellow Bell Pepper (de-seeded)

Evening:
Cucumber 2 x (2cmx2cm cubes)
Two Little Gem Lettuce leaves or 10 sprigs Coriander. Twice a week we will swap in cabbage or parsley

We also add in to the above diet carrot, sweet potato, celery leaves and a few other things occasionally
.
Just keep trying lots of different foods, stick to the half a cup per breakfast and half a cup tea per pig and you won't go far wrong.

And of course unlimited hay

 

[funnehmare]

Mine have veggies once a day in the evening and a tiny amount of pellets in the morning except my oldies who have pellets and veggies morning and evening to help keep the weight up.

Then hay and hay and more hay!

 

[Sketchaloo]

Thank you @Sketchaloo and @SqueakyDreamsxx . That information has really helped me xx

No problem! It took a lot of trial and error at first to get a combination they would want to eat each day. For example, I tried many times giving them celery and they just look at it and barely take a nibble. I thought mixing it up would be key (like with mice), but with mine, they eat all of what I give them and it's the exact same combination every single day. The variety comes with which veggies are served during the day (like giving kale only once a day at dinner).