variety of veg problems

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Craig David

Craig David

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hi people

the pigs are 14 week old now.

so far they are eating parsley, carrots and cucumber twice a day and have been doing for the past 3 weeks, however, their poo to me still seems a bit softish. I have tried them with rocket yesterday that they wouldnt eat and iv tried with celery today which they wouldnt eat. I'm stuck and dont know what to give them. i keep reading the lists on here but everything i chose they dont seem to like. plus i want them to have a balanced diet. iv tried them with red pepper which they didnt like also.

Has anyone got any ideas or advice and also what foods are they more guaranteed to eat?
 
Hi, assuming that they have plenty of hay and dry food, have you tried spinach and red kale - our 3 can't get enough of both. They are also going through a phase of liking broccoli heads. :)
 
Mine fell instantly in love with dill, romaine lettuce and green beans. They are a fussy pair who have never liked trying new foods but these were a hit straight away. Did you try them with the leaves off the celery? They usually go down better here than the celery itself.
 
red kale, bean sprouts & green beans & coriander are mega hits here. They are not too keen on cucumber and loathe courgette. Also some of my pigs like things that others don't (bit like us really) and sometimes their tastes change, so something they didn't previously like they start to like. eg. mine hated green peppers, preferring the other colours, but love them now, the same with celery, although again the leaves are grabbed first (same with the rabbits). Carrot is a bit hit and miss, they will leave it until last, but they do eat it.

If it is leafy mine will wolf it down. They have small amounts of spring greens too & also love the standard 'round' lettuce - your old fashioned garden sort, not iceburg. Some like mint leaves, others don't - shame it makes the cages smell lovely! They also like basil, dill, not so keen on parsley. I give them the ends of the pak choi when we have it. Apple is a hit - but only give little bits, and remove the seeds. Same with cherry tomatoes - they like them too.
 
Hia,

My two were picky too, would only eat broccoli and carrots as that's what they were use to, i think it takes them a while to get use to different veg they haven't had before- mine turned their nose up at cucumber, parsley and pepper but i kept popping some in their cage and taking the old stuff out and eventually they started to try them.

Now the love their cucumber and absolutely can't get enough of parsely so i think you just need to persevere.
 
Mine can take 2-3 days to 'learn' to like a new veg. This happened with corn on the cob.

Mine love sweetheart cabbage, especially the dark green outer leaves and also green beans. They stopped eating carrot for a while so I took it out of their meal allowance and started putting in it the cage when I went to bed, now it's a favourite nightime snack. My girls will also only eat the broccoli stem, which means I eat a lot of broccoli. :(|)
Good luck.
 
Your piggies are still young; they will learn to eat more veg if you persevere by serving up one other veg; leave it lying around for a day, so they can get used to the smell and texture, remove it and serve it a week or two later again - bit like trying to get children to eat healthy green stuff, only with a bit more chance of success!

Here is a list of veg and fruit you can try:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42
 
thanks everyone for the advice. iv stuck with the celery and i think they have ate a bit this morning. I guess it all takes time. They have unlimited nuggets and hay so ill just keep trying with the veggies. xx
 
Kale is OK, but for daily; it contains a lot of calcium.

Here is a link to Laura's thread about a balanced diet. It also lists which veg you should give how often. Use the thread as guide to slowly work towards, but do not beat yourself up if you don't get there quickly! See each new veg that gets eaten as a success story.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=37030
 
Wiebke said:
Kale is OK, but for daily; it contains a lot of calcium.

Here is a link to Laura's thread about a balanced diet. It also lists which veg you should give how often. Use the thread as guide to slowly work towards, but do not beat yourself up if you don't get there quickly! See each new veg that gets eaten as a success story.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=37030
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thanks wiebke ... do you think parsley has too much calcium for daily as well because iv been giving them that everyday xx
 
If you feed a small amount of Kale daily that should be okay as long as everything isn't high calcium. LOADS of kale will cause a problem.

If they are eating it for now then go with it in small amounts for a while in small quantities until you get them to eat something else less high in it.

Parsley does have high calcium, but again your guys are small, if it's what they will eat for now then go with it in small quantities until you get them to eat something else.

Here's one to try - if you ever find carrots with the tops on get them and try the tops - all 10 of mine wolfed those down.

It's coming to summer and freshly picked dandelion leaves are free and most guineas love them so if you have them anywhere in your garden or know of some that are free of chemicals and animal wee then pick them and give them those.
 
Lisajazz said:
If you feed a small amount of Kale daily that should be okay as long as everything isn't high calcium. LOADS of kale will cause a problem.

If they are eating it for now then go with it in small amounts for a while in small quantities until you get them to eat something else less high in it.

Parsley does have high calcium, but again your guys are small, if it's what they will eat for now then go with it in small quantities until you get them to eat something else.

Here's one to try - if you ever find carrots with the tops on get them and try the tops - all 10 of mine wolfed those down.

It's coming to summer and freshly picked dandelion leaves are free and most guineas love them so if you have them anywhere in your garden or know of some that are free of chemicals and animal wee then pick them and give them those.
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thanks lisa you always seem to rescue me ahhaha xx

iv got some dandelions in ma garden might get some of them id be terrified of any germs on them tho ahhaha

i never knew a guinea pig diet cus be so technical hahaha I'm paranoid aboout giving them veg lol xx
 
I know I'm slightly off topic here, but my little newbie watches the others eating a food and then tentatively tries it herself. This makes her very brave with respect to trying and eating new food - perhaps this goes to show that they really are a herd animal.

I am introducing new foods one a day, the herd's fruit and veg do vary anyhow, and it is curious how the older ones are being limited to the newbies veg selection so they are now complaining at me!

So far she has nibbled everything, but has developed favourites. I simply wanted to say that absolutely everything new has been tried. Even if she then decided she didn't like it, she has tried it all. This makes my life much easier!
 
I think you are spot on. My mork wouldn't eat some veg until I put him in with the girls after being neutered and then he started eating things he wouldn't before. Like they were showing him what to do.
 
I've been also trying my pigs out with new foods, and I found green beans and runner beans (I think that's what they are called, the long flat ones) were an instant hit.

Try them!
 
perhaps i **** get in the cage and eat infront of them to show them *** to do hahahahha. only joking ill get elliot my boyfriend to do it.:))

they av had some sweetcorn today i dont think they were so keen. they have had kale and parsley, carrot and celery and cucumber today as well, the pallet is building up.....
 
i get a bit 'scared' when i go in the supermarket and see all these posh vegetables. like 50 different types of lettice and * start wondering what is suitable for them to eat and what not. i get frightened when i see a vegetable that i dont recognise my head seems to get flustered with them.

i think i need to take this one step at a time haahaha. xx
 
Don't worry, you learn as much about veg as they do over time! My first two guineas were super fussy. Floris eats almost everything now but she still has her favourites. Dandelions, grass, lettuce, green beans, and recently fennel. My rescue guinea Sancho eats pretty much everything, including mandarins, oranges and tomato! He only gets one of these a couple of times a week and I think he feels quite privileged to have them all to himself because Floris turns her nose up at every one of those. :))
 
carrot tops and kale plus the posh ready washed salads in a bag but they always leave the rocket! fussy lot lol they like lots of other stuff too so its not so bad here! what makes it difficult with mine is that some like one thing some the other lol! bit like every human in my house i land up cooking 3 different dinners!
 
I give a lot of Cos lettuce; it the cheaper version of Romaine and has more of the healthier outer leaves. Also other lettuces or lettuce mixes on discount.

It is a lot easier if you have already piggies who can teach the newbies, as the "I want *** you have" instinct is very reliable! But even without that, you will get there eventually - think in weeks rather in days!

If you have a market near you, it's always worth asking at market stalls for carrot tops and cauli leaves - those you can get for free.
 
brilliant! since the last time i have posted on this thread, they have had kale, sweetcorn (i know its fattening), round lettice woohoooo.
 
Once guinea pigs discover that veg is edible and even tasty, they will be open for new stuff, so I think the worst of your battle is over! Congratulations!
 
Wiebke said:
Once guinea pigs discover that veg is edible and even tasty, they will be open for new stuff, so I think the worst of your battle is over! Congratulations!
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thanks wiekbe I'm guna give it a bit more of trial and error then slowly build up some sort of diet. :))
 
That's great. This week my girls have decided they do like Pak Choi but they don't like strawberries. :(|)
 
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