Piggie on a budget

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Mother Hubbard

Mother Hubbard

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So things are getting a little tough out there, food prices, rising prices etc, well I won't bang on about it we don't need it rubbing in our faces. So I thought it would be a good idea to post some ideas on being economical with £'s.

So let's have your ideas, whether it being growing veggies which I know a few of us do, whose got deals on bedding, food, medical supplies etc.

I've been picking dandelion leaves on a good bit of country road by me. It's safe, costs me nothing to pick & wash the leaves. I'll also be picking blackberries later, bit I reckon i'll be eating those drool
 
The thing that saves me the most money is to buy reduced veg from the supermarkets in the evening, herbs are usually reduced to between 10p-30p a bag and other veg gets reduced quite a bit too.
I have also grown my own herbs too which is so easy. I also stock up on Wagg guinea pig crunch when it is on offer.
 
Vet Uk

Hi,
For meds and other health bits look at www.vetuk.co.uk

They sell meds like metacam, science selective food etc. I never got the chance to use it unfortunately, but a few people at work use it and say its great.
 
I use fleece to cut down costs on bedding, and I am thinking of changing from burgess to cheaper wagg food.

I feed trawberries, herbs, dandelion leaves and anything grown from the garden if I can to save money:)
 
My pigs normally eat Timothy hay, which I can only get in small bags at P@H. It's quite pricey for the quantity you get, so recently I bought a cheap hay bale and am now giving them half cheap hay, half posh hay. They don't seem to mind at all and gobble it all up.
 
Having over 100 of the little darlings i always buy my hay in bales the price of a normal large p@h bale is the same as a whole bale from the farm shop i go regular and they always save me the " green bales"

I get all my veg from the grocorers they cut the unwanted cabbage leaves and bag them get an average of 4 black bags full a week plus the neighbours save me their unwanted veg too

Plant my own herbs and some veg

Also get my feed by the sack and have it delivered free
 
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I think this is a great thread! I try and buy reduced veg too but have recently discovered the Market is very very cheap. I get whichever food is on offer as my boys aren't fussy (apart from excel nuggets, they won't touch that stuff) and I'm looking to change to fleece this week to save me buying shavings any longer, see how it works out.
 
hello we buy reduced veg in evenings and we buy it when its on offer like buy one get one free. we use wagg optimum which we buy from asda something like £3.70 a bag for 2.5kg not much so we buy two of them and we buy hay from a horse sypply place for 7 its massive they do megazorb for £6.35 and we have changed our degus to ecobale which is cardboard pieces which can be used with guinea pigs too something £6.50 a bag but its 22kg its whooping lol. bedding wise we used to use fleece but washing every two days got expensive so we tried megazorb and while it worked fantastic my monkey got a nose bleed for no reason and a vet suggested it could be the megazorb so i went back to basics line the cage with newspaper top with hay tear some newspaper in to long strips put on top of hay and misx it round then add some more hay. they dive under the paper shreds and hay lol. we get my dad to save his daily paper so it dosent cost us anything. we dont use expensive cleaners either I'm a fan of eco homemade stuff you can google for cage cleaning recipes saves dollar
 
I use wagg guinea pig food at 2.12 a bag its dirt cheap, i buy veg off a stall up the road, friend has a allotment so brings things back as well for them, I bought a load of vetbed for only 12 quid, I buy hay in bags at 4 quid for bedding but it doe seem to last quite well.
 
I buy reduced veg too (or 'yellow label'), and Tesco usually reduce their herb potted plants too I picked up a potted Parsley plant for £0.20 as it was in poor condition after a couple of days of watering and some tlc its now currently being munched on by the piggies and should last me a couple of months :)

Grow your own veg/herbs inside as well as out- Ive also started buying herbs to grow in the house, picking up all the gardening stuff (compost, seeds, seed trays etc) from Wilkinsons for under £8.

Cardboard Boxes from the end of the tills at supermarkets are FREE and my boys love them! They can be used to hide under as a hidey or you can use them as a bed.

Local greengrocers - if you have one check them out. Mine is far far cheaper than tescos or the big brand supermarkets and the produce is locally produced too.

Ebay- for vet bed and fleece, very very cheap!

Bulk buying- I can't recommend this enough. If you can and have the space buy in bulk - dry food/ hay just make sure you can use it all before the best before date :)

Milton Sterilising Fluid - far cheaper than the Pet Cleaning disinfectant and a full bottle last you a very long time, i use one cap full in a bucket of water and use it to wash down the shed floor, its safe for pets as you can use it to sterilise baby bottles etc.

White Vinegar- diluted in water also makes a fab cleaner too, safe and eco friendly!

Neighbours/ family/ friends - ask them to save their newspaper for you. That way you'll never run out.
 
I'm always picking danelions, for my piggys, and my mum always picks chick weed for them when she finds it. I did print off a list that I found on this site of wild foods they can eat too, but I'm still trying to figure all the plants out :p. I also found a great place in Nottingham that sells a massive bag of sawdust (about twice the size of a full black bag) for £3! And it lasts me around 2-3 months. Also found that Morrisons sell guinea pig food for £2.14 for 2kg which is cheaper than wilkinsons. As for veggies I always keep an eye out for reduced items and I also ask my local shops that sell veg, for off cut leaves or veg they cant sell.
 
I get Versele Laga piggy food from www.zooplus.ie (there's a .co.uk one too) and I get 20kg for about €20. :) It is a mix food, but my pigs don't selectively eat, they eat everything :)) And they seem to like it and it seems quite good. If you have lots of pigs then it's good to get a big bag, but if you only have 2 or 3 then the food might lose some of the vitamins before you finish the bag. You can keep it in an air tight container though, to help keep it fresh. :)

I also get square bales of hay for €3 each, so that's really cheap, they can have as much hay as they like. :)

I ge their wood shavings in big bales for €8.50 each I think.

And for veggies, I usually get cheap stuff like butterhead lettuce, cabbage, carrots, parsnip, etc. They also get all my veg peelings and leftovers, and I'm vegetarian so there's loads of them. I also grow veggies for them and buy reduced price veg when I see it. :) Oh and pick weeds and grass for them too.

So it works out quite cheap to keep them.

But then I end up spending extra money on silly things they don't need :)) Like extra toys, accessories and stuff, that they don't really use. Well I used to, but have stopped doing that because they have enough stuff :))
 
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AudioHeart said:
I buy reduced veg too (or 'yellow label'), and Tesco usually reduce their herb potted plants too I picked up a potted Parsley plant for £0.20 as it was in poor condition after a couple of days of watering and some tlc its now currently being munched on by the piggies and should last me a couple of months :)

Grow your own veg/herbs inside as well as out- Ive also started buying herbs to grow in the house, picking up all the gardening stuff (compost, seeds, seed trays etc) from Wilkinsons for under £8.

Cardboard Boxes from the end of the tills at supermarkets are FREE and my boys love them! They can be used to hide under as a hidey or you can use them as a bed.

Local greengrocers - if you have one check them out. Mine is far far cheaper than tescos or the big brand supermarkets and the produce is locally produced too.

Ebay- for vet bed and fleece, very very cheap!

Bulk buying- I can't recommend this enough. If you can and have the space buy in bulk - dry food/ hay just make sure you can use it all before the best before date :)

Milton Sterilising Fluid - far cheaper than the Pet Cleaning disinfectant and a full bottle last you a very long time, i use one cap full in a bucket of water and use it to wash down the shed floor, its safe for pets as you can use it to sterilise baby bottles etc.

White Vinegar- diluted in water also makes a fab cleaner too, safe and eco friendly!

Neighbours/ family/ friends - ask them to save their newspaper for you. That way you'll never run out.
Click to expand...

Brilliant information, I think we can all get something from this thread.
Wilko's Sterilising fluid is very cheap and works wonders. Well done, keep it going everyone.
 
Thanks.

In fact all this reading has made Bloss a little tired and she did want to say a thank you to all the piggie slaves out there, but fell asleep.

All this eating and pooping is exhausting!

lgummer1
lgummer1
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I have just bought some carrot seed's and a trug to have a go at growing thwm, i have a large garden so i could plant in the ground but i'm not sue where to start lol, think i will have to get mum over she had a patch in her garden and the tomatoes were delicious
 
I use the shaving bales I get for my horse also for my guinea, far cheaper than buying small bags from pet shops. Get some of my hay from bales. Since my oldie has had teeth problems I pick him fresh grass daily too as well as his normal veg. I buy gertie guinea in sacks all though that is by no means cheap!
 
Don't forget "freecycle" for cardboard boxes and "anything else" that can be used for piggies. I asked for anyone wanting their apple tree pruning and got loads of lovely sticks for them to chew.
 
I forage for food for the piggies and bunnies - brambles, hawthorn etc - and also dry enough to last over winter in cardboard boxes stored in the airing cupboard and under the bed.

Dandelions dry well too, but they haven't been good around here this year.

I also live near heathland where grass grows really long - once a week I go out and fill several large bags with the grass, wash it well, and the piggies have it fresh for a few days, and the rest is dried (I hang it in net bags in the greenhouse) - it makes lovely DIY hay.

I'm growing carrot tops (they never get to be full grown carrots as the tops get eaten too soon :))) - I grow them in pots to keep them raised up and out of reach of carrot flies.

I also grow loads of runner bean plants - the pigs and buns love the leaves, and we used the beans ourselves, and have enough to freeze for over winter.

I also grow calendula - the pigs and buns eat the leaves and flowers, and I dry the petals & leaves for winter time. Have just started drying strawberry leaves too.
 
hello i too use the cardboard wine boxes the piggs love them, i also get big tubes from the carpet places they give you them for free they are really liked. i have also asked on freecycle for the apple branches but my pigs were not fussed buy them but my degus loved them. i make the 50/50 water vinegar mix to clean out the cages white vinegar is the best as it dosent smell as strong as the malt brown stuff but I'm sure it will still work you could add lemon or lime juice to that mix being acidic they kill germs. arent we a frifty bunch
 
My friend got loads of apple branches from someone and her guinea pigs love them :) They just chew off the bark, but still, they like that. :)
 
I buy most of our veg from two greengocers in town. One of them have a bargain basket with reduced veg which may be on the turn or slightly damaged etc, last week I got a bag of 6 huge carrots for 30p and two green peppers for another 30p. Like others have suggested I also buy reduced veg from the supermarkets. I tried to grow carrots and failed, but the carrot tops went down well with the boys.
 
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