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what are the ingredients of those pellets? perhaps try those in raw form?
We have raw guinea pigs! They’re still young, less than a year, but since Christmas they’ve eaten nothing but organic Timothy hay and raw greens – cilantro, parsley, baby spinach, dandelions, lettuce, mesclun, frisee, sheep’s sorrel from the yard, and red bell peppers. So far they look very healthy and are gaining weight. We feed them greens twice a day – a full bowl for each, and keep their “hay ball” full all the time. We also give them timothy hay nuggets to chew on. I don’t have a vet’s approval on this diet, but from all of our research it seems safe enough. I’ve read every package of pellets I can get my hands on and they all have corn and grains that our book says are fillers, or mineral oil which I have issues with. You have to be careful about making sure they have enough vitamin c, so check out the greens that have the most, and you can’t load them up on too much calcium or oxalic acid (spinach, swiss chard, kale, etc.) So far our pigs really don’t like cruciferous veggies or strong smelling greens like arugula or mint. Have fun!
hi amysue, thanks a million for responding! i’ve been so concerned about how to feed them raw foods and give them enough calcium. i wonder what combination of greens/veggies would be appropriate. I think i will have to compare nutrient breakdowns for each green to the recommended nutritional consumption analysis for guinea pigs. i’m growing tons of timothy and clover grass for the pigs, so they won’t need to rely on hay very soon.
You’re very welcome. I don’t have any scientific method for determining their diet, other than feeding them a total of about 4 different types of veggies a day – two in the morning and two at dinnertime, feeding no more than one high oxalic acid green a day like spinach or swiss chard, and making sure they get at least one high C veggie a day like sorrel, sheep’s sorrel, cilantro, red pepper. Our two have different tastes – what one likes the other may not, one is definitely more into the hay than the other, and you will find out quickly what they don’t like because it will still be in their bowl in the morning. Lettuce is probably their #1 favorite food, which seems so boring to me, but I’m just a human.