Picky eater...

AutumnThePig

AutumnThePig

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
May 10, 2019
Messages
296
Reaction score
151
Points
340
Hi everyone! I'm new here, trying to help my not-baby-anymore piggie. I have two guinea pigs. Autumn, the one that's a picky eater, is 8 months old. She gets unlimited hay and fresh water daily. Right now, she likes eating romaine lettuce (I've heard it turns their pee white, I haven't noticed any changes), a baby carrot (one per day because of high sugar) and a cucumber. I've been trying to introduce her into various veggies. She just turns away from most of them. I tried giving her pepper the other day, she did eat a few bites of the green then left the rest. After that, she wouldn't touch it. I've been researching on other safe vegetables to give her, but I'm not getting a confirmed answer. One website says Spinach is safe to give guinea pigs, then another says Spinach can only be given once a week, etc. I also give her Oxbow Vitamin C, once a day. Just to add on, Autumn does like to be hand fed.

Does anyone have any tips on how to introduce veggies to a guinea pig? Also, any ideas on other safe veggies I can give her with the proper amount?

I'm open to any changes you think I should make in her diet.

Thank you!
 
Hello, welcome to the forum. Be lovely to see some photos of your piggy.

Spinach is a once every two week food really as high in calcium.

Have you tried other colour peppers, red id often popular. Coriander or cilantro depending on where you live I’d s herb that can be fed daily. Green bean is often liked and can be fed small amounts every few days.
Have you tried celery? Cabbage?
 
We feed ours this roughly

Morning:
Cucumber -1.5 cm x 2cm chunks (twice)
Celery - 1 stick between 3 chopped up small
1/6th of Red/Green/Yellow Bell Pepper (de-seeded)

Evening:
Cucumber 1.5 cm x 2cm chunks (twice)
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

But by no means am I any expert on food here, some folks on the forum are really clued up... so pick up advise where you can.
 
sport_billy said:
Hello, welcome to the forum. Be lovely to see some photos of your piggy.

Spinach is a once every two week food really as high in calcium.

Have you tried other colour peppers, red id often popular. Coriander or cilantro depending on where you live I’d s herb that can be fed daily. Green bean is often liked and can be fed small amounts every few days.
Have you tried celery? Cabbage?
Click to expand...

I've tried red peppers, she turned her nose away from them. I could try introducing the yellow and orange peppers to her. I'm planning on picking up radicchio for her to try. I'm not sure if we have Coriander, but I will add these suggestions to the list. I live in Eastern, US. I've never thought of trying green beans! She does like white celery (I forget the name, it has a round bottom with leaves at the top), but turns away from it every now and then. She's so picky!
 
Diet Guides

Try the other colour peppers they all taste very different
 
Mine love cucumber and celery, especially the celery leaves and can be a bit fussy about the type of lettuce! At one stage they even turned their noses up at carrot if it was in rounds and not battons :nod:. Now I find even when they look like they are being picky and refuse a piece of veg that they don’t fancy it is all gone by the morning when they realise that is their meal!
 
Picky piggies need trying with the veggies several times before they accept and eat it. Most of the time they will come around so persevere with it. I would feed a baby carrot once a week, they are too high in sugar for a daily treat
 
Jamston said:
Mine love cucumber and celery, especially the celery leaves and can be a bit fussy about the type of lettuce! At one stage they even turned their noses up at carrot if it was in rounds and not battons :nod:. Now I find even when they look like they are being picky and refuse a piece of veg that they don’t fancy it is all gone by the morning when they realise that is their meal!
Click to expand...

Wow, turning their nose away from carrots! That is my pigs favorite lol. By the way, the white/tan piggie in your pic is SO pretty (your other piggie is cute too)! Thank you for the advice.
 
Lady Kelly said:
Picky piggies need trying with the veggies several times before they accept and eat it. Most of the time they will come around so persevere with it. I would feed a baby carrot once a week, they are too high in sugar for a daily treat
Click to expand...

I heard from a piggie rescue on Youtube (skinnypigs1) that 1 carrot/day was safe... I'll definitely change her diet to giving her only one baby carrot a week. I don't want to give her too little or too much of anything. :)

(4:15)
 
AutumnThePig said:
I heard from a piggie rescue on Youtube (skinnypigs1) that 1 carrot/day was safe... I'll definitely change her diet to giving her only one baby carrot a week. I don't want to give her too little or too much of anything. :)

(4:15)
Click to expand...

I was taking to the specialist vet last week about diet changes after Donald had surgery for a stone. He said he recommends not feeding root vegetables because of high sugar content though he didn't see how that would contribute to stones. Just generally not advisable
 
Lady Kelly said:
I was taking to the specialist vet last week about diet changes after Donald had surgery for a stone. He said he recommends not feeding root vegetables because of high sugar content though he didn't see how that would contribute to stones. Just generally not advisable
Click to expand...

Good information to know, thank you!
 
AutumnThePig said:
Wow, turning their nose away from carrots! That is my pigs favorite lol. By the way, the white/tan piggie in your pic is SO pretty (your other piggie is cute too)! Thank you for the advice.
Click to expand...
Rose is very pretty and also loads of fun with her excitable nature. Often popcorning at the sound of the hay bag coming out or nosing around. She is also a prolific jumper!1F9676EB-2424-410D-B343-514CD356DE6C.webp
 
We do grass as a big part of their meal, no pig says no to grass! Then supplement it with various other herbs (like coriander, mint, basil and sometimes dill) and some veggies (peppers, cucumber, celery, lettuce and green beans). I grow chard for them which they all adore, I’d recommend trying it!

That video is pretty bad because you also should not give tomatoes daily either... she even says don’t give fruit every day but tomatoes are a fruit... 🙄

Mine get carrot once a week max, probably less than that and about the same for tomatoes. I don’t tend to feed fruit, maybe twice a month as a little treat. They like watermelon, blueberries and the odd grape. The thing they love most is banana peelings, they don’t like the fruit though! Any fruit we have in the house really, just a small taster so mummy can eat the rest :))
 
Hello! May we please know your other piggies name? Some veggies my Alfie loves is romaine lettuce, baby carrots, kale, spinach, and cucumber. I have a list of veg down below and how often each veggie can be given, also some tips on how to get your picky Autumn to try new veg.

Romaine Lettuce (can be given daily)
Baby carrots or regular carrots (should be fed once or twice a week only)
Spinach (should be fed once a week only)
Kale ( should be fed once a week only
Cucumber (should be fed three times a week, if you want to feed daily please give in small amounts as cucumbers are very watery)
Red Bell Pepper (can be given daily)
Cilantro, also known as coriander (should be fed once a week)
Dill (should be fed once a week
Parsley (should be fed once a week)
Dandelion Leaves ( can be given daily )

Whenever it is veggie time for your piggies I would reccomend ONLY putting the veg that you want them to try except for the veg they love, if they want veg really badly or get bored they will eventually eat it. Keep doing this for a few days and they will probably start liking the new veg. Once they start liking the new veg, you can now put a mix of the veg they love and the new veg.

P.S my Alfie eats romaine lettuce quite often and his pee is never white
Spinach is indeed safe to give guinea pigs, but should only be fed once a week because of high calcium
Please be aware i am getting Alfie a companion next month
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top