How much to feed 3 guinea-pigs?

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Alicia

Alicia

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I have 3 female guinea-pigs, all over one year old. I used to feed them unlimited pellets but I know that's too much, so I've now cut it down to 2 handfuls seperated into two bowls. I've also got some burgess excel herb treat things, that I've mixed in with it, and I checked this morning (I fed them 2 handfuls last night) and they had eaten all of what was in one bowl, and had about 10 pellets left in the other bowl. By the time I went to feed them tonight, all the pellets had gone, so I gave them 2 handfuls again and some of herb treats. Is this an ok amount? Should they have more/less, and should I be giving them anymore over winter? They will be living in an unheated shed over winter, and I plan to get them some snugglesafes and make the some beds.
 
Also, I haven't weighed them in a while, but last time I weighed them they were all between 600g-900g, I thought that was a good weight?
 
:)

Sadly with piggies "this is a good weight" doesnt really apply. Its all about whether they are gaining/loosing weight, and this can only be monitored by weighting them weekly. :)

Piggies need
- UNLIMITED HAY at all times, day and night. This should make up about 80% of their diet and helps keep theyre teeth healthy.
- 1 cup of fresh fruit/veg (see the food list in the food section of the forum)
- I feed mine 1 yoghurt pot (tesco individual size pots) per day between two of them, however i find they sometimes do not eat all of this as theyre two busy hay munching. :D

I hope I'm not patronising, you may already have known all that but petshops are notorious for giving bad advice so i thought id just cover it all. :D
 
Thank you :) My guinea-pigs get lots of hay, and they go out on the grass almost every day too so they get lots of that, maybe that's why they don't eat so many pellets. My guinea-pigs prefer hay to pellets, but I just want to make sure they get enough of everything :)
 
:)

Hey! Good to hear. :) I wouldnt worry about them eating all the pellets if theyre getting plenty of hay. :) I would just feed the recomended amount on the packet (usually tells you in gram portions) each day, and when they finish it they can have hay? :)
But thats just me :)
(sorry for being patronising, its hard to know whats others already know, certainly when i joined this forum i knew next to nothing! :P)
 
Connie said:
Hey! Good to hear. :) I wouldnt worry about them eating all the pellets if theyre getting plenty of hay. :) I would just feed the recomended amount on the packet (usually tells you in gram portions) each day, and when they finish it they can have hay? :)
But thats just me :)
(sorry for being patronising, its hard to know whats others already know, certainly when i joined this forum i knew next to nothing! :P)
Click to expand...

No it's ok you weren't patronising :) I didn't know it was on the packet, I always throw it away when I buy a bag of food because I put the food into a storage box, I'll check next time :)
 
Just had a look at 3 different brands - they all recommend between 30 and 50 gms per pig per day. To be honest though, as long as they have a constant supply of hay and are eating that and veggies well and maintaining their weight, I shouldn't worry about how many nuggets they eat.
 
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Connie said:
Sadly with piggies "this is a good weight" doesnt really apply. Its all about whether they are gaining/loosing weight, and this can only be monitored by weighting them weekly. :)

Piggies need
- UNLIMITED HAY at all times, day and night. This should make up about 80% of their diet and helps keep theyre teeth healthy.
- 1 cup of fresh fruit/veg (see the food list in the food section of the forum)
- I feed mine 1 yoghurt pot (tesco individual size pots) per day between two of them, however i find they sometimes do not eat all of this as theyre two busy hay munching. :D

I hope I'm not patronising, you may already have known all that but petshops are notorious for giving bad advice so i thought id just cover it all. :D
Click to expand...

you mean a yogurt pot's worth of veggies...not actual yogurt don't you? just checking :))

tbh, 600-900g is a little on the small side for 1yr old pigs, I'd want mine to all be 900g+, obviously sows can be a bit smaller generally than boars, but they should still be around the 900g mark.

Whatever food you're feeding them there should be a size guide on the side of the packet, telling you approx. how much food they should be getting. I generally go by the rule that if there's food left in the bowl, they're getting too much, if they empty it completely...try them with a bit more. For 3 sows I'd start them on a handful of feed each, you can split between bowls, causes less arguments :) and then change it if they do or don't clear the bowls.

But hay, very important - they should have it 24/7, when it's empty, fill it back up again :)

And veggies...I give my lot a different type of veg every day, sometimes they just get readigrass rather than veggies (and no, I'm not getting into the whole 'oooh but readigrass has calcium in it and you shouldn't feed it every day' - because it's a load of ****, there's more calcium in your Burgess feed or water straight from the tap then there is in readigrass). Anyway, veggies, yeah - small cup full every day, around 40g's
 
Mine get about a handful each a day too, I find this is a good amount for them. Most days there's a couple of pellets left in the bowl.

I don't tend to follow the feeding guidelines on packets, it may be cynical but I figure they want you to feed more so you buy more.
 
Lizzie said:
you mean a yogurt pot's worth of veggies...not actual yogurt don't you? just checking :))

tbh, 600-900g is a little on the small side for 1yr old pigs, I'd want mine to all be 900g+, obviously sows can be a bit smaller generally than boars, but they should still be around the 900g mark.

Whatever food you're feeding them there should be a size guide on the side of the packet, telling you approx. how much food they should be getting. I generally go by the rule that if there's food left in the bowl, they're getting too much, if they empty it completely...try them with a bit more. For 3 sows I'd start them on a handful of feed each, you can split between bowls, causes less arguments :) and then change it if they do or don't clear the bowls.

But hay, very important - they should have it 24/7, when it's empty, fill it back up again :)

And veggies...I give my lot a different type of veg every day, sometimes they just get readigrass rather than veggies (and no, I'm not getting into the whole 'oooh but readigrass has calcium in it and you shouldn't feed it every day' - because it's a load of ****, there's more calcium in your Burgess feed or water straight from the tap then there is in readigrass). Anyway, veggies, yeah - small cup full every day, around 40g's
Click to expand...

OOPS! sorry, it should have said a yoghurt pot of theyre musli! hehe. not yoghurt... :P
 
I think Excel suggests about 25g of pellets a day i recall, I cant be sure tho. I have 7 in a herd and i have a large ceramic dish i fill up on a daily basis with excel nuggets. But once its gone its gone, it sometimes gets topped up in the evening if there really isnt a morstle in it but usually i wait till the next day. They eat their hay all day long.

x.
 
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