Foraging Guinea Pigs

[renonvsparky]

I've taken notice lately that my guinea pigs all spend quite a bit of time foraging around their cages and nibbling on the small bits of hay, pieces of their veggies that end up on the bedding and anything else they can find. Everything I've read says that this is very good for them. I always keep plenty of hay in their cages and I've started spreading their pellets all around their cages to encourage them and to give them more to forage up. Since they never go more than 48 hours between bedding changes, there's always fresh niblets for them to find.

I've always put my guinea pigs outside to graze on the grass whenever the weather permits. I believe that is what taught them about foraging for food. If we're lucky, at the end of March, it gets warm enough and the grass starts waking up enough for them to go out there and it usually goes into October before the "grazing season" ends. They go out just about every day during that time. That's a lot of foraging time, so it makes perfect sense that they would continue to do that inside their cages.

I really enjoy watching them forage. They look so peaceful and content while they're at it. All of them are also very good sleepers. Some of them curl up and some of them like to stretch out with their hind legs kicked out. Peaceful sleep and content foraging are sure signs that I'm doing right by them. I would like to hear what you all think about this. Do your piggies forage around too? If so did you have to do anything to encourage them to do it, or did they just do it on their own?

[Sef]

Only one of our guys, Albert, seems to like to forage around. I suspect it's because he was living outside, under someone's house, before the family decided to surrender him to the rescue. He must have grazed outside for no telling how long. Just a miracle that he wasn't picked off by a hawk or snake or other predator.

Most of the other guys are content just to pull hay down out of their racks and eat from their bowls. Jethro does like to dig under the bedding underneath the hay rack and grabs little bits of hay that have fallen down.

I'd love to live somewhere where they could go out in nicer weather, but we have wildlife and the lawn is likely contaminated so I wouldn't trust the grass.

[renonvsparky]

So it seems that being outside is a factor. I wish there was a way for your pigs to go outside and graze. We have some predators around here in the form of desert hawks and feral cats, but the risk is very minimal as long as I don't leave the piggies unattended. The feral cats are terrified of humans and the hawks stay mainly in the pasture adjacent to my neighborhood. There's more than enough prey over there to keep them well fed. I never leave them or take my eyes off of them, even for a second so anything that wants to get them will have to go through me.

As for the grass, I maintain it naturally. I rake out the undergrowth twice a year. I don't use fertilizer or chemicals of any kind and I keep it green with plenty of watering. I don't put my guinea pigs near the edges where passing dogs do their business or pollution from the street gets deposited. It's very clean and all natural. It's a lot of work but my boys are more than worth the effort.

[Sef]

They are indeed worth it! I'm so glad they are able to have time outside to graze and forage. It really is a lot more natural than being in a cage, fed in bowls. I've long wondered if guinea pigs would live longer (or at least, be happier) if all of their surroundings/food/etc. were not so unnatural to what they would experience in the wild.

Thought-provoking topic!

[renonvsparky]

That's what I try to create for them as much as possible. I've taken out all of their pellet bowls and I spread them around for them to forage for. My guinea pigs are all very happy. All 7 of them are outgoing and come up to greet everyone who approaches them. They respond to people who walk by me when I'm holding them too. Foraging is one of the main ways I try to keep them happy now that I've seen how much they seem to enjoy it. I always knew that they love doing it outside in the grass, but I didn't connect it to them doing it in their cages before.

[Sef]

Somewhat related to this, I wanted to share that when we adopted Albert, it was interesting to me that it looked like his nails had never been trimmed (were a natural shape vs. blunt tip)--and yet were not overgrown at all! Beautiful nails. I attribute this to the fact that he had lived outside and was running around on rocks and in the dirt, which obviously kept his nails filed down.

[renonvsparky]

I know that most animals in the wild keep their nails and teeth in shape by using them. It's the same for our pets. It's difficult for guinea pigs to keep their nails down on the bedding we keep them on, so it's important to trim them regularly. One thing I've noticed is that all of my boys scratch at the bedding while they forage. They do the same thing when they're outside. Just a small amount of natural wild behavior that I like to see from totally domestic animals.