Can Guinea Pigs Eat Cucumbers?

After having our blog for over a year, you would think we would have covered all the common foods by now, yet sometimes we discover that one slipped through the cracks. We were shocked to find out that we haven't seemed to have reviewed cucumbers yet. Today, we're going to fix that.

Cucumber can be fed to guinea pigs 2-4 times per week with the peel on. From what we've read, you shouldn't feed it to us daily because it's watery and can cause diarrhea.

Yum!

We love cucumbers!

Cucumbers get 5/5 stars!

Product Review: Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Hibiscus

You would think the humans would learn from their past mistakes. They got us timothy hay with marigolds before, and we didn't like the flowers. So what do they do? They get us another timothy hay with flowers! Crazy humans. Okay, I guess we should give it a fair shot. Maybe we'll like hibiscus flowers better than marigolds.

More flowers in our hay? Why?

We love the seed-heads.

We're ignoring the flowers. Again.

You know humans, they say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And we're going to give Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Hibiscus 2.5/5 stars, just like we did with the timothy hay plus marigolds. Now, what does that say about you?

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Cherries?

Today, the humans fed us cherries. We think they're still trying to make up for forgetting to order the Hayloft hay. Cherries can be fed to us in small portions (about 25 grams) 2-4 times per week. Make sure you remove the pits and stems first!

I discovered the cherries first. Pretty good...

Since Broccoli and Lola couldn't seem to find the plate, the humans moved it closer to them. I had enough cherries at that point, though. They munched on them enthusiastically at first.

Then they got bored, too.

We honestly thought we'd like cherries more than we do since they're sweet and red. They were great at first, but we all got bored of them and wandered off. I'd say 3/5 stars seems like a fair score for cherries.

Product Review: Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Carrots

Those humans did it again. They forgot to order our Kleenmama/hayloft hay on time, and had to get us a couple of store-bought substitutes. And once again, they tried to make up for their mistake by getting us new novelty hays to try. We'll forgive them (again!) since they a novelty hay we're really excited to try: timothy hay with carrots! As you probably already know, we love carrots, so we're excited to try this hay.

Someone knows what guinea pigs like!

Not bad.

Overall, the hay was a little coarse for our tastes, although there were a good number of seed-heads, which is our favorite part. Still, the coarseness meant lots of wasted hay on the floor of our cages that we refused to eat. Also, it turns out that we like fresh carrots more than dried carrots. We did like the dried carrots at first, but we got a little bored of it and left bits around our cage after a while. We'll give Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Carrots 3.5/5 stars.

Homemade Treats for Guinea Pigs: Frozen Veggie Cubes

Summer is right around the corner, so it's important that we remind you to keep your piggy cool this summer. One way you can help keep your piggy cool is with these do-it-yourself frozen vegetable treats from the Happy Cavy blog.

Here's what you need to get your humans to do: wash 2 medium carrots, 3/4 of a cucumber, and a slice of apple. Cut them all up very finely. Put them in the blender with 1 cup of water. Pour the mixture into an ice cube tray, and freeze. (You can also substitute 2 large leaves of kale for the cucumber.)

That looks pretty good as-is.

Once the treats are frozen, the Happy Cavy blog recommends running them under warm water for 5-10 seconds to make sure they are softened and won't hurt your piggy's teeth.

Looks a little funny now.

But tastes good! Give it to me!

Our experience was that 5-10 seconds under warm water still left an icy core in the middle that was too hard for us to eat. The humans had to warm it up before we could finish. But otherwise, these were great treats. We'll give them 4/5 stars.

Toys for Guinea Pigs: Toilet Paper Rolls

Today, we tried another one of the toy ideas at guineapigcages.com: toilet paper rolls. The humans followed their instructions, which were to cut a slit down the side (so we can't get stuck like Annie did in the hay ball) and then stuff it with hay.

I get the top end!

You two can fight over the bottom end.

Broccoli, you're getting a little too close to the top end. I called it, remember?

So what's the verdict on toilet paper rolls? They honestly don't do much that our food bowl doesn't already do. I suppose there was a bit of novelty in eating out of a tube, but I can't see us taking much of an interest in it once the food runs out. We'll give toilet paper rolls 2/5 stars.

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Kohlrabi?

If you have guinea pigs, we recommend you visit your local farmer's market sometime. You can find fruits and vegetables that you don't see at your local grocery store there. For instance, the humans just found us something called kohlrabi for us to try. Kohlrabi is a funny-looking vegetable with two edible parts: the leaves and the round part. The humans fed us the leaves one day and the round bulb the next day so as not to overfeed us. The bulb must be peeled first.

Kohlrabi is similar to cabbage, and so should be fed sparingly about 2 times per week.

Day 1: The leaves. They're delicious!

Day 2: The bulb. Also delicious!

More kohlrabi, please!

For being two delicious foods in one, Kohlrabi gets 5/5 stars!

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Grapefruit?

Grapefruit is not listed on our favorite food chart, but some people at Guinea Lynx give their guinea pigs part of a grapefruit section as a treat, so we figured it was okay for us to try.

Yum!

My face is covered with grapefruit juice now! (By the way, Broccoli is separated because the humans fed us grapefruit before combining our cages.)

The humans were worried that the flavor of grapefruit would be too strong for us, but the flavor was just right. 5/5 stars!

Three Guinea Pigs Living Together (At Last)

As our regular readers know, ever since Broccoli was neutered, the humans have wanted us all to live together.  Previous attempts to introduce us did not go over well, however. Lately, Broccoli hasn't bothered us as much as he has in the past, and the humans seemed to notice. Today, they hooked our cages up together, we've been getting along okay so far.

Lola says: "Look at that. My home gets an extension!"

I've taken to sitting in Broccoli's bed, even though Lola and I didn't care for it when it was in our cage originally. Lola still hasn't figured out how to go up the ramp in Broccoli's cage, but she enjoys walking around in it. Broccoli now loves using pigloos to hide and relax in.

You're probably wondering what finally did the trick to turn guinea pig combatants into friendly cage-mates. There honestly was not a single defining moment; they never did give us a bath together like they threatened to. It was the result of gradual exposure. The humans kept our cages together so we could get used to each other's scents, and we had floor time adventures together that got less hostile over time.

Lola has stopped waking the humans up in the middle of the night with her wheeking ever since the cages were combined, so Broccoli and I think she's pretty satisfied with the new living arrangements!