[Minty]

My wife breed's and show's Guinea pigs and she currently has about 45-50 and as you can imagine there's plenty of organic waste each week so apart from composting it all I wondered if I could use it as mulch?It's mainly hay and wood shavings.
If it's a good idea how long would be best to leave it before putting it near the plants and am I right in thinking it'd have to be spread pretty thin to avoid heat damage?

[chickchick]

blimey lots of piggies! i have 2 babies, and they are adorable! cant help with your question im afraid, but if you dont mind me asking whats their favourite food? like to know, as i like to try them on lots of different foods!
thanks and can you post piccs?

[Minty]

Hi chickchick.I try not to get involved with the "clan" so I'm not too sure about what they eat but I'll get my OH to let you know.She also has a website so I'll get her to send you a link.

[chickchick]

thanks minty that would be great, im still learning!

[suecoops]

We've got three guineas and they eat slices of cucumber, cabbage leaf and a chopped up carrot each morning.  They also have guinea pig grain and most evenings are given an apple and a top up of hay.  Apparently you should never give them lettuce but they love melon.  Good luck with the babies.  But I have no idea either about whether you can use their droppings as mulch sorry.  

[chickchick]

hi fellow piggie owner!
my 2 litle boys love carrot,apple and dandelion stems and some sorts of dried piggy food,parsnip,broccoli and kale they like sometimes but they dont like cucumber, tomato or their luxury dried fruits that cost the earth! they can be quite fussy at times, but we love them to bits. they are about 14 weeks old and only squeak when stroked, they seem to love being stroked, but cant tell if the squeak is scared or talk, i think they are talking to me!!!
hubby thinks i spoil them too much, but me and the 3 kids think they are gorgeous!

[mumsy]

Guinea Pigs are addictive like chooks, we had one when the kids were little, ended up with 20 :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  For 6 years
Whoops, sorry hi jacked your thread, sorry, I don't know about the mulch, I only ever composted it.

[chickchick]

mumsy, 1 piggie to 20?!!! let hope my 2 dont end up 40?!!!  

[Zak the Rabbit]

our two current piggies are fed on 'georgie' guinea pig food, not sure if thats available near you, we get it from the local feed shop and its a complete balanced dry diet, the rabbit also eats it. The then have whatever fresh veg is about, mostly carrots. They are also partial to a bit of toast!

lettuce is fine for them in very small ammounts, a small leaf or two every now and then. Dandelions are great and as with chooks act as a tonic

[slowcompost]

Not sure about guinea pig waste but i know that rabbit poo is pretty poor in nutrients.
Believe it or not they recycle their first poo, ie. eat it. What you see as hard little balls from rabbits has been through twice. So not much goodness left in it.
Too much compost with wood shavings is not good for the ground. It takes years to rot down and makes the too light.

[Lilypad cavies]

Hi I  am Mintys wifey, mine eat Allen and page guinea food, loads of hay
and i get my veg and fruit from my work canteen so they get allsorts.
They particularly love Melon as already suggested and banana.
  I give mine lettuce but not Iceburg and only in small quantitys and occasionally. Raspberry leaves are beneficial to pregnant  sows.


The general rule is no bulb veg ie pots, onions and leeks.Rhubard is a big no-no.

Grass is always the most gratefully recieved and I pick a binbag full every few days. The noise is funny when they hear rustleing bags and when anyone mows their grass within smelling distance.

My website is www.freewebs.com/lilypadcavies.
 

Am juggling my time between piggys and allotment and work so not enough time in the day. :shock:

[chickchick]

hi mintys wifey! thanks for the tips, i couldnt access that link, said it was not working or something, could you try it again please? am interested i having a look
thanks
bubble and squeaks mummy!

[johnathome]

Yoe need to remove the full stop on the link - just copy and paste into your browser then remove it.

[lincspoacher]

We had two when the kids were small - a short haired brown one called Basil (cos he like basil out the garden) and a long haired peeruvian called Biscuit.

Basil was in control. If you put anything in the cage, Basil would shove Biscuit out to investigate, then if the coast was clear and it was food, he would barrel out, shove poor old Biscuit out the way and take over the food......

They lived in the conservatory  in a cage in winter and a large garden run in Summer, they were a barrel of fun !!

[chickchick]

http://www.freewebs.com/lilypadcavies
lets hope this works as im a computer dummy!