Question about veggies?

[marina_7]

I recently adopted a little sow, named Pumkin. Her last home wasnt the greatest she wasnt given timothy hay regularly and got few fresh veggies. So, now with me she is having a "hay day" with all these available new foods.
Though, I am noticing that she is really picky about her salads. She just goes for the lettuce mostly, and second choice is carrots (which I give sparingly due to the high sugar content). But, she doesnt touch her red peppers, brocolli etc. Should I just leaving out the lettuce sometimes to encourage her to eat the other stuff? As I know that it is important for piggies to get Vitamen C from fresh veggies and fruit.I give her romane lettuce, not iceberg. But lettuce isnt that nutritional.
Is it common for piggies to have food dislikes? Well, I think my girl is a picky eater!

[Wheek Minded]

Ahh yep, I know this one. My boys didn't even get that they were supposed to EAT vegetables. Hehe. I was so worried about them getting their Vit C that I ended up buying some Oxbow Vit C pellets to supplement. About 2 weeks after that one of them figured out that those green frilly things that "the hand" kept putting into the cage actually tasted pretty good.

It takes them several months to learn what is edible and yes it's common for pigs to take awhile to figure out that they can "taste" it if YOU taste it. In other words, hang in there, and keep offering on occasion. You'll find that some things she wouldn't touch last week suddenly is her favorite thing this week too. I think in the wild, baby piggers learn from their parents what is edible.

I found cutting up into little pieces helps too. Sometimes I just stand at the cage and eat really loud. Crunch! Crunch!

..then they look up at me like 'hheeeyyy!!! what are you eatin man? and sniff the air. Lately they even walk up to me to see if they can have a bite.

Try adding new kinds of lettuce. My boys love the Spring Mix that you can get really cheap at Costco. It has a little bit of everything. They also love those herb salads..

It has taken me since May of this year and now they will at least "taste" it to see if they want to eat it. In fact, I have found that hand feeding them their veggies one piece at a time has been the best way to tame them.

By the way, They ONLY get their baby carrot when I'm holding them, and now, if I say, "you wanna carrot?..well come on" it takes them about 49 seconds to decide. I say it a couple times and then stand there. Eventually they actually walked up to me will wait to be picked up, because that carrot is soooo yummy, and if they don't come, they won't get it!

Here is a great thread on the subject of "picky pigs" that's on another forum. It's old but full of good stuff:
picky pigs - Message Board - ezboard.com

[Lady Chutterly]

That Costco spring mix is organic, too. More great news! It still needs to be washed, but Chutt just loves it! Now if we could just get a Costco within 30 miles...

[Weaver]

Be careful with the premade salad mixes and make sure that you wash them REALLY well before feeding it to the pigs. I also want to mention that the salad that you guys are talking about contains spinach in case you were not aware. Spinach is not good for the pigs and can cause stones. At most spinach should be feed in very small quanities and no more than once a week.

[Lady Chutterly]

Oh absolutely! We wash even organic stuff VERY carefully. Even greens that grow in my own yard get washed thoroughly!

Chutt hates spinach and won't go near it. It's one of the few things in the mix she won't touch.

Mint is one of the few herbs. Just not a mint fan.

[heymom]

I am also concerned about my little gals not getting enough of the right stuff. What are some of the veggies that they can eat everyday. I bought romaine lettuce, parsley, and green pepper. I also rotate giving them apple, orange, pear. They only eat some of the romaine lettuce, but they love the parsley. They won't touch the green pepper and they don't want anything to do with the fruit. I figure they may grow into eating more of the fresh things ( they are about 12 weeks old), but I want to be sure they are getting the right stuff now. Should I be outside picking grass? Also, what about the Vit C. what kind of Vit. C tablet do you get. The pet store sold me drops for the water. I thought I had read enough about what to feed them until I got them home and they didn't eat what I thought they would eat.

[Lady Chutterly]

Guinea Lynx :: Diet
is a great place to start. Don't be overwhelmed by the mass of information, though.

Here's how I remembered it at first:
Hay. Unlimited Timothy Hay 24/7.
A full water bottle with nothing added to the water.
A cup of green leafies with a chunk of bell pepper every day.
One small "treat" of fruit during training time.

Lady C's preferences for leafy greens are romaine, cilantro, red and green leaf lettuce, celery leaves, watercress and chard. But she wants to rotate them so she doesn't eat the same thing twice in a row. Picky, picky picky! She loves red bell pepper, so I don't worry too much about her vitamin C. She also prefers two small meals rather than one large one.

Other veggies like baby carrots and fruit are reserved for "training time." I limit them because of the sugar content. At first, we taught her to come when she was called, and would give her a treat when she did. She loves oranges, grape tomatoes, grapes and berries, so I'd take a strawberry and cut it into five or six slices and give her one slice each time she came when called. I don't think a pig would be hurt by not eating fruit at all. There is a lot of vitamin C available in dark green leafies.

If you do pick grass, be sure it's from an area that hasn't been sprayed with pesticides, weed killer or animal urine. I made a "garden" out of a plastic storage box, dirt and wheat seeds that she can "free range" in. In the spring I want to add some clover and dandelion seeds. I hear piggies love dandelion!

Oh - another great treat is the seed heads from the hay. Lady C thinks those are the ultimate candy!

[heymom]

Thank you for the reply. I am printing out pages about that food from guinealynx.com. I keep reading over everything to be sure I am doing the right thing. Thank you again.

[thamlet2149]

I have a question about Vitamin C, why doesn't everyone use alittle in the water? I am not sure if you all know but the foods (pellets that come with vitamin C) well actually if it is not fresh from the factory where they manufacture it may not contain enough Vitamin C and should not be relayed on as a form of vitamin C ever. Although many pellet manufacturers will claim that their feed contains the required amount of vitamin C, you should not trust this. Vitamin C in pellets breaks down during storage, and after about 90 days, there won't be enough vitamin C in the feed to keep your guinea pigs healthy. Also note that the food starts breaking down on the shelf, not when you open the bag of pellets. Unless the manufacturer dates the bag, showing when the feed was packaged, you really have no idea how long your pellets have been on the shelf at the local pet store.


Also brocolli should be feed sparingly due to the gas problems it can cause and the extra stinky stool it can produce.

There is a really good page at Seagull's Guinea Pig Compendium that contains some really good information about vitamins (link to a table) and feeding guinea pigs, if you have not already checked it out, you may want to add it to your favorites.

[Lady Chutterly]

I don't supplement water with C for several reasons. First, C begins to dissipate in water within minutes. Exposure to heat, light and air all degrade C to a useless form. By adding it to water, I'd have to change her water several times daily if I wanted to be sure she was meeting her requirement.

Second, my cavy did NOT like the taste of her water when C was added to it and barely touched her water at all. I'd rather have her drinking her water if she needs it.

My pellets come in an opaque bag that I vacuum seal shut, and it is open expiration dated, so I know exactly how old they are. But I don't rely on that for C supplementation.

The safest way I found was by calculating the C content of her veggies and fruits and making sure that they meet certain numerical values - not just C content, but also Calcium and Phosphorus, calories and water. That kind of analysis isn't everyone's cup of tea, I'll grant you happily! But, I love it, and there's nothing like that kind of first-hand calculation to know the importance of daily food.

By the way - hijacking here - feeding Chutt so carefully has been quite an education for me and my children. I've come around to believing in food as medicine for healing and prevention of disease. Doing these calculations for our beloved baby is inspiring the children to do similar calculations for themselves. My youngest even said the other night, "Mom, I've had enough sugar today. Can I have an apple for dessert instead of a brownie?"

Love that kid!