Question about hay and feeding.

vaniir

Post   » Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:43 pm


Hi y'all. So my two boys are all big and fat now. I have a question about their intake of hay. I had a hay bin that I got from Guinea Pig Cages Store but they just made a huge mess with it every time. I ended up buying this one and it worked MUCH better for months.

Recently, they've gotten where they will sort of pull out the longer strands of hay and leave them on the ground while they eat the pieces that they want. They seem to only pick and choose which pieces of hay they will eat. A lot of times, the hay bin will be 3/4 full and they will whine and act like they're starving. When I fill it back up, they attack it as if they've been begging me for hours for food!

Is this normal for them to only eat 1/4 or so of the available hay or am I just spoiling them?

Also, a quick question about fresh veggies, how much should they eat in a day? I usually feed them veggies twice a day. Before I go to bed (midnight or so) and before I leave for work (8 AM or so). They NEVER let a veggie that they like go to waste but I wonder if I'm over feeding them.

These are two pretty decent sized boars. I'd say they go through an entire pack of celery (1 pound?) and 3-4 green bell peppers in a 10-14 days. Is that too much?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:54 pm


They're guinea pigs. They eat hay by picking out the ONE strand they want, and either ignoring the others, or peeing on them. You're not spoiling them -- that's what you signed up for as a guinea pig owner.

They need about a cup of veggies per pig per day. They need some green leafy stuff (red or green leaf lettuce, for example), a sizable chunk of bell pepper because it supplies the vitamin C their bodies can't produce, and a few other things. See https://www.guinealynx.info/fave.html for some suggestions.

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RavenShade
Thanks for the Memories

Post   » Wed Mar 27, 2019 9:55 pm


I feed my pigs veg in the AM so that by evening I can sweep up any uneaten veg, loose hay, and poop. Sometimes I just put hay on top of a pigloo or in the middle of the cage, knowing I'll sweep up the leftovers later. I think sometimes they are like cats where if there's any room in the hay bin at all, they think it's "empty".

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RavenShade
Thanks for the Memories

Post   » Wed Mar 27, 2019 9:56 pm


I feed my pigs veg in the AM so that by evening I can sweep up any uneaten veg, loose hay, and poop. Sometimes I just put hay on top of a pigloo or in the middle of the cage, knowing I'll sweep up the leftovers later. I think sometimes they are like cats where if there's any room in the hay bin at all, they think it's "empty".

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:40 pm


I feed my two guys veggies in the morning and in the evening before bed. I split their daily amount in half, which is about a cup give or take. There's always plenty of hay for them. I add some throughout the day so they have an unlimited amount.

They don't always eat everything I give them, but they eat most of the veggies and snack on the hay throughout the day. I police up the uneaten pieces of veggies in the morning when I give them fresh stuff and again in the afternoon when I add hay.

The 2 tablespoons of pellets they get last them a few days. I dump them out and put in fresh ones every two days or if they poop, pee or get otherwise contaminated.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:07 am


Yes, perfectly normal that they're so picky about hay. I use a hay rack but also put hay on the floor of their cage. They like it both ways, but if the hay gets scattered around too much, it's no longer edible in their opinion and must be swept up by the human (and don't even THINK of putting the "dirty" hay back into the pile or inside the hay rack--they won't go anywhere near it).

As far as veggies, I feed a.m. and p.m. Each pig gets roughly 1/2 cup of veggies at each feeding, but it's not an exact science. Green leaf and Boston lettuces are the staples, and then I rotate "grape" tomatoes (they're smaller than cherry tomatoes and supposedly less acidic), bell pepper, zucchini, cilantro, celery, cucumber, carrot, a few other veggies. Rarely any fruit. They get corn husks when they're in season. They also get roughly 1/8 cup of pellets twice a day, with the exception of our little stone-prone pig who gets maybe half that and gets a little more in the way of veggies.

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:48 am


That’s how they eat - they choose one strand of hay at a time. I usually have lots left after my GP picks out only the best. The leftovers become bedding. I sometimes make hay containers from oatmeal containers or paper lunch bags. The hay stays clean longer but they do like to sleep in it.

Veggies are about a cup each day. I feed some in the morning before work. Sometimes my husband is home and then he feeds a random carrot or pepper slice during the day. Then I feed a few veggies a couple of times in the evening. I figure she needs the extra attention and needs something to wheek about.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Thu Mar 28, 2019 1:22 am


Sounds like most of us are on the same page with how we feed our furry little companions. As a bonus for mine, I put them outside to eat their fill of fresh grass every day that the weather allows. On days where it doesn't, I pick a couple of hand fulls for them. It's a real treat for them. They love it.

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lisam

Post   » Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:46 pm


I get quite a bit more uneaten hay with 2nd cutting timothy hay, and it's always the stems. The pigs love the seed heads and the leaves (the leaves are the part that is best for grinding down the teeth) but not the stems. With a good quality orchard grass I have less waste. Or 3rd cutting timothy, everyone loves that (probably because it has less stems and more leaf).

vaniir

Post   » Thu Mar 28, 2019 4:16 pm


Thanks for the replies!

Okay it sounds like everything is normal with them then. I don't mind the wasted hay or anything. It's not like it's expensive or anything. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't supposed to like force them to finish their plates before giving them more LOL! I know they're supposed to have unlimited hay so I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong.

It also sounds like I'm giving them about the right amount of fresh veggies. I can't imagine that I'm giving them more than 1 cup per day. But my boys are extremely picky. They really like celery (which I cut up and mix up so the "leafy" parts and the stalks are evenly distributed), bell peppers (any color really), and parsley (oh and carrots but I've severely limited their intake of carrots once I read how they're not great for the piggies). I've given them cilantro which they didn't mind but also didn't seem to really like either. Things that I've tried that they didn't seem to care of include: tomatoes (both cut "normal" ones and cherry ones), cucumber, radicchio, radish leaves/stems, chard, etc.

They're also not a huge fan of the fruits I've tried to give them. They'll eat apple and blueberries but no grapes, strawberries, or raspberries.

Where I live, we only have a couple of choices for fresh veggies: Walmart and Publix. There was that recent romaine lettuce scare so I have not tried romaine yet but I think I'm going to try some soon. Any other suggestions for "leafy greens"?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Thu Mar 28, 2019 4:49 pm


I'd say skip the romaine. Some pigs excrete a LOT of urinary calcium when eating it, while others are not bothered. Romaine is no higher in calcium than red or green leaf lettuce, but we don't see that same urinary calcium spike with anything except romaine. And cilantro.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Thu Mar 28, 2019 9:37 pm


Not sure why carrots are considered bad in small quantities. I do limit parsley. The other foods sound reasonable. I believe grapes are one of those fruits that shouldn't be fed.

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