Timothy Hay suggestions?

[daj]

I said 50lb. in 8 weeks not 3, but holy cow, that's still a ton compared to 50lb. lasting 6 months. I suspected I was giving too much, but I didn't want to be stingy either. I'm always putting fresh hay in throughout the day, and they have probably gotten really picky and demanding. They get rammy when they don't have a nice fresh pile or vegetables to chow down on, and I am a sucker.

I suffer over the fact that they spend their lives confined (mine have 4 ft. x nearly 9 ft., divided by 3 of them, so close to 3x4 each) with such limited sources of stimulation. Mine have to be kept separate ( 3 males), so they can just get nose to nose contact through the pen. Eating is about all they have to enjoy. I will have to try cut back.

I wish there was a running wheel with a large enough circumference that it would not be a danger to their spines. I wish I could let my piggies run. It seems so cruel that they can't even go for a jog. I would think it should be good for their health to get exercise of that sort. If the was a wheel large enough, it should be good for them, no????? I saw a wheel for larger animals in Pet Smart. It was probably more than a foot across, but that's probably still too small. What about something bike wheel size? Might something that large be good for a guinea pig?

[Sef]

Why can't they just have some floor time in your house? I haven't done it in a while, but many here put down blankets or set up a large play pen and let their guinea pigs explore (with supervision, of course) and get exercise that way.

[daj]

I can only give floor time in the summer when it's really warm in the house, as they're hairless. I also have done it one at a time since they were very young because of aggression issues. Now I'm afraid of letting them have contact w/ each other. Two of them don't seem to enjoy floor time. I let them roam the kitchen floor, but they just wait to get back in their pen. Henry, the top pig just tries to get out of the confined area to explore the rest of the house, and he's a climber who could hurt himself. I don't know if it's worth trying to reintroduce them to one another. When I tried, each of the lower pigs is frightened of the one above him.

There is the Skinnypigs1 video on Youtube where she reports two of her female pigs scrambling for the same cozy and getting into a fight. One's jaw was broken from mouth to mouth contact, and she had to be put down. It seems not worth the risk in my situation. I would have to watch them every second.I've kept them separate since one day coming home from work to find Melvin bleeding with scratches all over him, after an attack from Henry.

[ItsaZoo]

I worry about boredom with my piggy so I try to give her things to occupy her time. I have a wiffle ball about the size of a baseball with holes all around. I chop up bell peppers and string-free celery bits and put them in the ball. My piggy rolls it around with her nose to get the food. I do the same with pellets that I put in a cat treat ball I got from Chewy. Here is a link:
https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-funkitty- ... y/dp/48665

If you have apple trees that aren’t sprayed, a piece of apple branch gives them something to chew on, or you can use it to make veggie kabobs with lettuce and bell pepper pieces.

And I put veggies all around in the cage so she has to forage, or crumple plain white paper and hide veggies in there so she has to get them out.

Now that the grass is growing I take a few fresh blades and tuck it into the hay so she has to burrow and find it.

[Lynx]

Make sure you read www.guinealynx.info/hay.html too.

[piggypatrol]

he seems to be bored of the hay I currently have, He smells it and nibbles a bit but I dont see him gobbling it up. Last night i got home he was leaning on fence waiting for an oxbow vitamin C treat and my partner also gave him a carrot and he gobbled it up (i fear he might be getting too used to treats. could be boredom since his cage mate just passed away but the small pet hay I ordered wont get here till tomorrow should I try stuffing hay into some toilet paper rolls? (is chewing cardboard safe for them) also I weighed him and hes about the same weight his poops arent mushy but look a little smaller. I also have critical care if it has to come to that

[piggypatrol]

he just wheeked right now too as we were walking towards the room and he hears our footsteps so either he wants his veggies which is earlier then we usually give them or hes hungry cuz hes not eating right

[piggypatrol]

*Update* found some old pieces of a leftover willow ball and wrapped it around some hay and he was crunching and chewing on the willow. Could be boredom

[Sef]

is chewing cardboard safe for them

It depends on the cardboard. The glue used on most toilet paper rolls is not safe to ingest, and I don't recommend providing empty rolls as chew toys. However, there are a few companies that produce paper and cardboard toys for small animals that don't use glue, or use 'non-toxic' glue and inks, and are okay to use. Creative Bird Toys is one of them:
https://www.creativebirdtoys.com/category-s/1822.htm

My guys aren't too interested in toys, but they do have fun with these:
https://www.creativebirdtoys.com/produc ... upflwr.htm

[samim21]

Late to the party but-

Sef, if you are interested, Rabbit hole has been really great for me. I used to get oxbow on the reg (and occasionally kaytee or generic brands when I ran out) and I always ended up with lots of brown hay at the end of the day that my pigs had no interest in. So far, I've been going through a 5 lb bag of second cut timothy hay from rabbit hole about every three weeks. I'm probably a little more wasteful with the hay than I need to be, though, so it could probably last a month if you are more careful. It's always pretty green and has a variety of textures. Also has the seed heads, which my girls really like :). I think it costs about $27 for me to get it on autoship (I was definitely spending more on oxbow before...), though I bet there are some online coupons that will get the price down. They have a 1 lb bag available to try it out (which is what I did in the beginning).

It's a lot cheaper through chewy than getting hay shipped directly from a farm website (at least in my region) and it's great quality so far!

[Sef]

Good to know! I'll have to check out Chewy.com. Didn't realize there was such a price difference between Chewy.com and Amazon.com, at least on some of the products. 5 lbs. of 2nd cutting Rabbit Hole on Amazon is $34. On Chewy, it's $21.05. Free shipping on both, since I have Amazon Prime. 15 oz. bag of Oxbow oat hay is around $11 on Amazon; $4.39 on Chewy.

Thanks for the tip!

ETA: Actually, Chewy.com is charging me $4.95 flat-rate shipping. Is that what you paid?

[TheCageCleaner]

Chewy is free shipping over $50 or $75 so buy in bulk.