Can Guinea Pigs Eat Savoy Cabbage?

So far, we've reviewed several types of cabbage, including Green, Red, and Stonehead. Savoy cabbage is new to us, though. We can eat savoy cabbage 2-4 times per week, but only in small portions because it's a gassy food. We found that many guinea pigs didn't care for it, though. I wonder what we'll think of it?

This is a savoy cabbage. You'll only want to feed us a little bit of a leaf, not the whole thing.

How do I get to the savoy cabbage? Can I chew through these bars? Oh, I got to go through the door!

Yum!

Don't even think of taking mine, Lola. Go see if the human has more.

Now I'm out! Give me yours, Buffy! Please?

Although I really would have liked some more, I'm not going to push the issue too hard if Buffy doesn't want to share like Lola would. I'm just a nicer dominant pig, I guess. It had nothing to do with the fact that she's gotten good at turning away and eating quickly.

We have no idea why those other piggies didn't like savoy cabbage. We all loved it, so it gets 5/5 stars!

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Delicata Squash?

Delicata squash is also known as peanut squash, Bohemian squash, and sweet potato squash. It is relatively small compared to some other squashes. It is a winter squash, which means we can eat delicata squash 2-4 times per week. However, unlike most winter squash, the skin of the delicata squash isn't that tough. The humans still weren't sure if it was soft enough for use to eat it, though, so they peeled our delicata squash to be on the safe side. You'll also want to have your human use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and stringy parts before feeding it to us.

It's like a yellow squash and a pumpkin had a baby.

New food! New food! Me first! Me first!

At first, all three of us ate delicata squash together...

...But then Broccoli got bored, and it was just Buffy and myself left.

We were definitely excited to try delicata squash at first, although one by one, we each got bored of it, until we left several chunks untouched on the plate at the end. We're still glad we got to try it, though. Delicata squash gets 4/5 stars!

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Grass?

It's time for another installment of Ask A Guinea Pig! Heather Smith asks: "I love my guinea pig but I don't know if I can feed him fresh grass?"

Image via dybiz.com                          

Answer:

Yes, we can definitely eat fresh grass. In fact, fresh grass provides us with vitamin C. However, this doesn't mean you can just turn us loose on just any patch of grass you find and assume it's healthy for us. There are some other considerations you must take into account:

• Avoid grass that has been treated with chemicals like herbicides and pesticides.
• Avoid grass that is close to roads, as car fumes can pollute the grass.
• Avoid areas with mold, mildew and fungus.
• Avoid areas that other animals (such as dogs) frequent; their poop can spread parasites.
• Make sure you have identified the plants in the area as safe. 
• If we're not used to eating fresh grass, we might get a stomach ache if you let us eat too much to start with.
• Be aware that if you bring us outdoors, you'll want to get a pen of some sort so you don't lose us.
• Also be aware that it is possible for us to pick up fleas and ticks from the outdoors.

As you can see, there's a lot to consider before you turn your guinea pigs loose outside somewhere. Taking your guinea pig to a pignic is a good way to pick a safe place for your guinea pig to graze since organizers specifically choose locations with untreated grass.

You could also just cut some grass and bring it indoors for us to eat if you're sure it's safe; however, we've heard that you shouldn't use a lawn mower to bring us grass since it can cause the grass to ferment, which can cause stomachaches and bloating. Alternatively, you can probably find fresh wheat grass at your local pet store, which is a healthy option for your piggies. Some people have even grown their own wheat grass for their piggies.

If you want to be safe, feed us lots of dried hay instead. Guinea pigs should have unlimited access to hay, and when you think about it, hay is just grass that has been dried to use as animal food. As we explained in an earlier installment of Ask A Guinea Pig, timothy hay is the most common type of grass hay that guinea pigs eat, but there are several other types, such as oat hay and orchard grass. (Legume hay is another category of hay that includes alfalfa, lespedeza and clover; unlike grass hays, legume hays are high in calcium, and can cause health problems.)

Toys For Guinea Pigs: Ping Pong Balls

Ping pong balls are something humans play with. Apparently, they hold up some paddles and hit the ball back and forth until it falls on the floor. That's it. Seriously. Humans are weird, aren't they? The fine folks over at Guineapigcages.com came up with an idea of how guinea pigs could use ping pong balls that's a little less silly than how humans use them: you can put them in our cage for us to push them around.

Humans, if we don't like this toy, feel free to hit it with paddles to your heart's content.

Hmmm... Do I like this?

No, I don't think so. I'm going to chew on my mat instead.

We're sorry to say that we had no interest in this toy. Feel free to remove these things from our cage and hit them back and forth. 1/5 stars.

Gold-Plating your Guinea Pig Litter

Earlier this month, we reviewed Carefresh Confetti Soft Pet Bedding, and concluded that it worked pretty much the same as cheaper bedding, but costs more because of the cool colors. This gave us an idea of how we could have an attractive-looking home without as much complaining from our humans about money. We call this idea "gold-plating" your litter, which is what humans do to jewelry to make it look like it's made entirely of gold when it's really not. You can do the same thing with your litter if you have a premium litter and a cheaper litter. In this case, we used All Living Things Paper Pet Bedding for the bottom later, and Carefresh Confetti Soft Pet Bedding for the top layer.

Layer 1.

Layer 2.

Oops. I scratched up layer 2!

Here's our verdict: It requires a little more time to set up than just putting down a single, thicker layer of one type of bedding. After that, it works, but sometimes we'll expose the cheaper bedding by walking around. To maintain the illusion, your human will have be ready to patch up these exposed gaps at a moment's notice. Our humans didn't seem too enthusiastic about this idea, but maybe yours will feel it's worth it.

Shaved Guinea Pig Baby Hippo

There's an image that's been making the rounds on Facebook recently which you may have seen:

That's also not how you spell "guinea pig."

That's not a shaved guinea pig, by the way. That's a breed of guinea pig called a skinny pig. Skinny pigs originated as a crossbreed between a laboratory breed called an IAF Hairless and another breed called a Teddy in the early 1980s. It is a misconception that skinny pigs are somehow less healthy, although they do require some special care. The right temperature for skinny pigs is 75 - 79°F, a little higher than ordinary guinea pigs prefer. Skinny pigs need to eat more food in order to maintain their body temperature. Cozies are also important for skinny pigs to maintain their body temperature. You may want to use coconut oil on your skinny pig's skin once a week. Skinny pig skin can be sensitive, so some prefer to be pet on their heads where they have hair. Skinny pigs should not be confused with Baldwins, which are another hairless guinea pig breed.

If you happen to see someone post this image on Facebook, make sure that they know that this is a skinny pig. Long-haired guinea pigs like Buffy do need an occasional trim, but as the Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue pointed out, "it would be a truly torturous thing to shave a guinea pig this close."

Product Review: Oxbow Timothy Mat

Today we're reviewing Oxbow's Timothy Mat. We weren't sure what this product was intended for at first. Is it just another way to feed us hay like the Harvest Stacks? Is it another chew toy like the Snak Shak Activity Log? Are we supposed to wipe our feet on it before entering our pigloos? The front of the package doesn't help explain it. It just says: "An enriching addition to your pet's habitat." But how exactly will it enrich our habitat?

So confused by this thing...

The Oxbow website finally shed some light on how to use this thing: "Oversized, all-grass accessories offer a place to rest and relax inside or outside the cage. Edible construction offers your small pet the high fiber he needs and craves." Okay, got it! It's supposed to be an edible pet bed. Let's open it up and give it a try.

Okay, so how do we want to use this thing? Rest on it? No, let's all just chew on it!

Wow! This thing is fun to chew on!

So it turns out we're not really interested in resting on this thing. We've got a great pet bed for that. The way we see it, this mat is for chewing, and it's really fun to chew on! 5/5 stars!