When To Feed Fresh Vegetables?

[Emma85]

Our new guinea pig Graham comes out of hiding at around 8pm and spends a good length of time grazing on hay, nuggets and his veggies.

Would it be better to serve his veggies just before his routinely feast or is it OK to serve them when we get up in the morning?

I was worried today that he wasn't eating much but he has for the last hour been drinking and eating happily. Not so much on the vegetables but more so the hay and nuggets.

Being a new pet we have little idea of veg that he is used to, other than being told and that red pepper is his favourite. We've offered this and it has been eaten but he has literally nibbled only on a chard leaf, green beans and a butternut squash chunk.

I don't want an unhappy piggy but want to offer a variety.

The menu tomorrow is red and orange pepper straps (saved from tea) beetroot strips (from inside a mixed salad bag) and a baby tomato. Is this OK?

 

[Sue G]

Mine have some veggies both morning and night, but of course a huge supply of hay all day, and a small bowl of nuggets too, though they don't eat many of those.

 

[Keiko The Pig]

Be careful with tomatoes. They can't have the seeds and the green tops are poisonous to them. Is he a lone piggy? When I first brought my boy home all he would eat was carrots. He turned his nose up at every other veggie I tried to offer. Once I got him a companion things changed. My other piggy liked lettuce. And the "I want what the other piggy has" mentality is very strong! Now both my boys enjoy lettuce, carrots, cucumber, broccoli, Apple, and one of them even enjoys cherries (pits removed of course). I strongly recommend getting him a companion as piggies are very social creatures and do best in pairs or herds

 

[Emma85]

Be careful with tomatoes. They can't have the seeds and the green tops are poisonous to them. Is he a lone piggy? When I first brought my boy home all he would eat was carrots. He turned his nose up at every other veggie I tried to offer. Once I got him a companion things changed. My other piggy liked lettuce. And the "I want what the other piggy has" mentality is very strong! Now both my boys enjoy lettuce, carrots, cucumber, broccoli, Apple, and one of them even enjoys cherries (pits removed of course). I strongly recommend getting him a companion as piggies are very social creatures and do best in pairs or herds

He is a lone piggy for a reason. Every post I have put up I am being told to get him a friend. I am fine with this but was told when buying him that he did not like companionship and since he was separated from the others he was much happier.

I'm going to call the pet shop on Monday for more information

Thank you for the tip about not feeding the seeds of the tomato. I didn't know this.

 

[GPcrazy]

As far as I know the seeds of tomatoes are fine. It's just the greens, leaves and stems that are poisonous. Insides of baby/cherry tomatoes are definitely fine.

I feed veggies morning amd night. I find my piggies prefer green leafy things over everything else. So lettuce (just not iceberg lettuce), coriander/cilantro, chickweed, dandelion greens, grass, wheat grass, those are all firm favourites. Fimd what he likes amd add one new things at a time. So if he likes red pepper then give red pepper amd lettuce every day for a few days. Onve hes eating the lettuce add cucumber every day for a few days. Once hes eating that add green beans etc. Mine won't eat any new food the first time it's given. They sniff it and maybe lick it but leave it. Next time there are a few nibbles taken, next time a bit more gets eaten and usually after that they eat it happily. Thy always gobble the green leagues first then go back for the other stuff about half an hour later.

I feed store bought veg in the morning when I get up (lettuce, green beans, cucumber, tomato, carrot, bell peppers etc - not all every day), then I feed forage when I get home from work (chickweed, dandelion greens, carrot tops, fennel greens, celery greens, dandelion greens, cilantro, spinach, kale, etc - again, a selection, the veg greens come out my garden), then I feed them grass at around 10pm, either cut from my lawn or otherwise wheat grass which they are MAD about.

The morning veg is normally roughly 1 cup full, the forage and grass are roughly half a cup each, so totals 2 cups of fresh stuff daily between 2 pigs.

 

[Keiko The Pig]

Ive read to never let them have seeds of any sort or nuts or pit of anything eg Apple cherry pits etc. I know they are rodents but they are very different then say hamsters who love seeds as treats. Best to stick to the flesh of the veggie to be safe