Veggies

[Fluffy Wheeks]

Hi
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can switch up my guinea piggies meals? They usually have lettuce, carrots, bell peppers, parsley, cucumbers, celery leaves, corriander, spring greens, round lettuce, spinach (a few leaves once a week) etc. I feed them about three times. A big breakfast in the morning, a small lunch and a small dinner (and a few snacks and treats here and there).
And are Waggs better than Harringtons? Because I've tried both and my guinea pig love products. I give them 25g of food pellets in the morning and evening- the guide says so per guinea pig.
Where is the best place to buy Timothy in bulk?
One last thing, where is the best place to buy top quality peaflakes? They've raided the last pack a friend got for me.
Thanks a lot. They just wheek and popcorn nonstop when I step into their room or open the fridge

 

[Swissgreys]

A good place to start is our diet guide.

It does sound like you are feeding quite a lot of veg though.
Each pig needs about 1 cup per day in total and it is up to you if you feed this all at once or split it across 2 meals.

 

[Merab]

Guinea pigs don’t really get bored with food so feeding the same foods most days isn’t an issue for them.
Mine love Science Selective grain free nuggets. They get 2 handfuls each morning - that’s for 4 piggies.
They also get a lettuce leaf each - usually romaine or red gem. Never feed iceberg lettuce.

If there’s someone around in the middle of the day they get a handful of coriander or dill. Dill is only given once or twice a week.

Their afternoon veggies is approximately a pasta bowl of assorted salad leaves, red pepper, celery, cucumber or whatever I have in the fridge. Spread over the day it’s roughly a cupful per piggy.
Mine treat cucumber as the best treat in the whole world - even if they get a piece almost every day.

 

[Siikibam]

Here is the feeding guide.
I wouldn’t feed spinach every week, and keep to one leaf each. It’s (very) high in calcium. You also have to bear in mind the water they have - does your area have hard or soft water? I’d also keep the carrot to a minimum as it’s high in sugar. The occasional as a treat is fine, but not daily. Same with celery leaves and parsley, not an every day thing.

If you read the guide I linked above, there’s a plate with an example of a reasonable portion. You’ll find that what you’re giving them is too much. I’d also say treats should be occasional - useful when you’ve gotten them out the cage for a weigh-in or lap time.

Pellets should also be only one tablespoon per piggy per day. If you want to split that you can. But no more than that.

I recently switched my piggies feeding routine. They now have just a hay top up for breakfast and then dinner is served round 3:30 when I get in from the school run - pellets, (a slice of) pepper, a green bean, celery, cucumber. A leaf of lettuce, which I sometimes replaced with a salad mix, lambs lettuce or coriander. Sometimes I give them a green bean or a leaf of lettuce in the morning. If I do that then thy don’t get it later for dinner.

I would choose pellets depending on what you want and price point, since they eat them both. If you’re in the UK there’s timothyhay.co.uk and haybox. If you do a search on here I’m sure there are other recommendations. I use the first one.

You can get pea flakes on Amazon. Again, they should be an occasional treat.

Hope that’s not too much to take in

 

[Seven7]

I agree with @Merab's Slave. Mine will eat romaine lettuce daily and have never refused, same with celery and cucumber.
I also give them three times of veggies daily and rotate with other veggies, fruits and herbs for variety sake. This is so that I am giving them all the nutrients to ensure their healthy diet.
I give about a cup and half of veggies daily each.

Mine love their Oxbow pellets. Mine also always get plenty of Oxbow hay without interruption.