Vegetables for baby guinea-pigs

[Alicia]

Sorry I keep asking questions but it's been a long time since I've had a baby guinea-pig, and the baby piggy I'm getting on Friday is only 6 weeks old and I'd like to feed her the right things. Are there any vegetables that are particularly good for baby guinea-pigs? Or should I just give her the same as I give my adult guinea-pigs?
Also, I was going to try and get some alfafa hay for her, and just give her a bit each day but she'll live with my adult guinea-pigs so whatever she eats, they'll probably eat too, would that be bad for them?

 

[Sodapops]

Ive had a couple of 'younger' piggies and what i tend to do is introduce veg slowly - too much too soon can upset their little tummies

For example, I would take the most common veg (lettuce) and give a small amount of this daily - checking poops and making sure it's been eaten. I would then maybe introduce a small amount of pepper (around 4 days later) - but intermingling the two (so for a couple of days id just give pepper and then a couple of days just give lettuce). I'd continue this method over several weeks until eventually the 'little' one is on a good varied diet of veg.

With one of my sows it took 9wks before she was on a steady veg diet as she kept having random bouts of runny poops mallethead

I would take it very slow and only add veg one at a time

Where are you getting your new addition from? Breeder? Pet shop? or Rescue? If from a breeder or pet shop i would recommend a minimum quarantine period of at least 3wks - during this time you could safely feed alfalfa hay without worry of your elder pigs digesting too much of it - although i do believe older pigs can have this as an occassional treat anyways without doing them any harm.

 

[Wiebke]

I would never introduce more than one new veg at a time (where is your baby from? Is it already on veg or not?) additionally to the veg it is already eating, but I would never give just one veg - even lettuce pure can cause diarrhea. Start with "easy on the tummy" veg like cucumbers, chunks of celery, bits of lettuce and carrot and work your way up. Leave brassicas and cabbages for last. Youngsters will usually take their cues from the piggies they live with and eat what they see them eating.

 

[Sodapops]

I would never introduce more than one new veg at a time (where is your baby from? Is it already on veg or not?) additionally to the veg it is already eating, but I would never give just one veg - even lettuce pure can cause diarrhea. Start with "easy on the tummy" veg like cucumbers, chunks of celery, bits of lettuce and carrot and work your way up. Leave brassicas and cabbages for last. Youngsters will usually take their cues from the piggies they live with and eat what they see them eating.

carrots are a good veg to 'start' with - however these should only be given occassionally - hence why i never mentioned these. Interestingly when my little sow (who only weighed 200g when i got her) had bouts of runny poops, i contacted Laura from the guinea pig helpline and after 4wks of looking closely at her diet, we both came to the conclusion that it was the cucumber that contributed to the runny poops :{ I removed the cucumber from her diet and the runny poops stopped :{ If feeding celery as a 'starter' veg for a little one, ensure you cut it up into small pieces as celery can be very stringy.

Whatever veg you try - just add them one at a time, ensuring there are no tummy upsets along the way. Adding veg one lot at a time means, if you do encounter any problems with runny poops, you can easily tell which veg has caused it and remove it from the diet immediately