Any tips for guinea pigs?

lozza1985

We're going to be getting guinea pigs in a month or two, I've never had them before, so any advice & tips would be most welcome. I've been researching what they can eat as thoroughly as I can...though no 2 websites say the same thing which is confusing me even more - what fresh food do you feed your pigs and how often?

Any other tips / advice would be great too, I always think it's better to find things out from people who own happy animals, rather than from a book as half the time it seems to be rubbish!

blossomhill_2

Lucky you!
You need the late great Peter Gurney's books, any other info is secondary to them.

They need greenstuff every single day, (a fistful each) even if you don't buy it for yourselves you need to have some for them, can keep celery, cucumber, spring greens in the fridge so you always have some. Carrots are a seocnd best if you haven't any greens. Celeriac also good. Serve at room tmeperature.

I'd go for a museli type food rather than a pelletted one, and don't refill the bowl til they have eaten it all - they will soon learn not to selectively feed and it's stimulating for them to have the variety.

If you are keeping them outside please don't learn the hard way that commercial hutches aren't fox-proof, the mesh can be tugged out easily by foxes, they need to be behind another barrier such as a shed door. You will find plenty of people who tell you "I've had them for years without problem" or you may think you don't have foxes but I know many young people who were also ok until they weren't

Many behavoural problems are due to incorrect habitat or feeding, if you pm me if you get any probs I will try to help - I am not an expert of vet or anything but have helped my local vet on gp behavioural problems that get mistaken for health issues or can lead to health issues

Anacrusis

I second Peter Gurney books, they are fab!

My main tip is keep them inside! They're great company and if you only have two it'll only take 5 nimutes to clean the cage out so you can easily keep them nice and fresh smelling!

My guinea Pigs favourite food is always (freshly picked) grass, followed by whatever is freshest. Lawnmower cuttings are no good though as they quickly ferment and can be harmfull.

If your Gpigs are older they might not eat things which are new to them. Here's a list of my Gpigs favourites:

Grass!
Parsley
Sweetcorn silks
Raspberry leaves
Peppers
Leafy veg: spinach, spring greens, lettuce in moderation + not iceburg lettuce

They also eat:

carrots
broccoli
celery
cucmber
apples
pears
strawberry tops
and more!

Generally speaking anything in the onion or potato family is probably NOT ok, eg: onions, leeks, potato leaves, tomato leaves.

I've heard that buttercups, clover and beetroot leaves are NOT ok although I accidently fed some beetroot leaves to my nieghbours guinea pigs once thinking it was spinach and they were ok, thank goodness! My garden is full of clover but my guinea pigs appear not to eat it.

Re the dry food: I imagine when guinea pigs are selectively feeding they're picking out the bits that are best for them out of what's available but this is just my guessed opinion. I've tried to find out if guinea pigs would normally eat this sort of thing at all but no luck so far, anyone here know?

lozza1985

How about tomato? Some websites said to give it everyday, others said only occasionally, would hate to give them something that would make them poorly!

We usually have plenty of fresh veg in - not for ourselves particuarly though lol, but for our bunnies and it seems like theres lots of things that both buns & pigs can eat so they'll always be something in for them. Plus we'll get some bits just for the piggies

As we have 2 house cats, I'm not sure they'd be very safe indoors as the cats would think we'd got new toys for them lol, so they'll be outside, but its a big hutch/run with a cover and we'll make sure they're plenty warm enough in the bad weather.

sock-knitter

my two guinea pigs, ,pip and squeak live indoors, they have the smaller bedroom, as their own. my two love cucumber, its their fav food, they also love cabbage, they will only eat carrots if it is cut thinly into strips, mine dont eat apple, they like a segment or two of orange, which contains the vit c they need, they also like a couple slices banana with skin left on, and they adore peppers, not the spicy ones, but the red yellow and green type. they will eat tomatoes also.
i feed mine on pellet food simply because it is what was fed to them before i got them, and they like them
also make sure there is plenty of hay available as it is good for their digestive system

blossomhill_2

lozza1985 wrote: »

How about tomato? Some websites said to give it everyday, others said only occasionally, would hate to give them something that would make them poorly!

Watch them with tomato, apples, kiwi, strawberry - some piggies are ok, others not - daily is too often whatever, its the corners of the mouth you have to watch, not their tummies, as the acid fruit can cause sores

I expect you have already read that its not a good idea to mix them in with your bunnies, another example of they may be ok but when it goes wrong it goes very wrong.

Banana skins are great for them - you eat the 'nanas they eat the skin, likewise oranges, the best bits for them are the pith so you can eat the flesh first and give them the skins to peel the pith from

Re dry food, they would get grains and dry grass type content in the wild but not the biscuit type content
Reminds me - bran is great for them, specially males - Jordans from Waitrose if you cant buy in bulk from a horse feed supplier
Re clover - they will eat it when they need it
Raw beetroot is a real treat but not the leaf - remember you have fed it though or you may panic when you see red wee or poos

Are they adults or young ones?

lozza1985

O no they'll be kept separate don't worry ah didn't say that anywhere about tomato, not even when it said occasionally it didn't give a reason why, thanks for that info

lozza1985

Well we haven't got them yet, we're probably looking at getting 2 little ones from a pet shop unless a pets at home happens to have a pair in needing a home.

pug_in_a_bed

Please consider trying your local rescue for pigs, and avoid pets at home.

My local rescue is full of guinea pigs at the moment, so I'm sure you may have some luck locally

I am biased against PAH as have had a bad experience with them, I will buy supplies if needed but not animals from there.

I was in the other week and I did intervene when a staff member sexed a pig wrongly for a couple who wanted to buy two, which would have resulted in more than two!

smokey_dave

lozza1985 wrote: »

We're going to be getting guinea pigs in a month or two, I've never had them before, so any advice & tips would be most welcome. I've been researching what they can eat as thoroughly as I can...though no 2 websites say the same thing which is confusing me even more - what fresh food do you feed your pigs and how often?

Any other tips / advice would be great too, I always think it's better to find things out from people who own happy animals, rather than from a book as half the time it seems to be rubbish!

I used to keep, breed, and show cavies. I am a pensioner and over the years have kept different types of pets, but cavies were by far the best. They are lovely animals and there are so many different breeds. Go to your local library and get any books out that they have. Some are very good. But by far the best idea would be to find a local person who beeds them. They would be able to answer all your questions and also get the pets from a breeder not a pet shop. Put cavies in Google loads of info and clubs. Ask me any questions if you want to. Go to a show and see all the different breeds, even if you just want crossbreeds. I am sure you will enjoy keeping these great animals.

sock-knitter

my local rescue, had to take in a lot of babies recently as a result of people buying from pet shops that had wrongly sexed them.
thanks for the info about tomatoes, its very rare that i give them to the piggies, but its good to know why they cant have them often