new piggies diet

Question
Hello--we just bought our daughter's two female guinea pigs.  They adore them, they are the sweeetest pets ever.  My question is am I feeding them correctly?  Every morning I give them a bowl full of pellets, a bowl full of kale with a few carrots thrown in, a large handful of timothy hay.  I have tried giving them some fruit (orange and grapes) but they don't seem interested.  The problem is they gobble up the hay and veggies--but they don't touch the pellets.  I bought the same brand the pet store was using--they did eat it intially, but since I started giving them the other stuff, they stopped.  Are they getting enough veggies and hay?  Should I but more hay in than just one handful--they eat it up so quickly.  One other question..how big should the cage be..it just doesn't seem like they have enough room--it's about 18x30---once the two food bowls are int there, plus the igloo house it seems sorta small.  Sorry this is so long--I just want to make sure I'm doing things right.   Thanks for your help.

Megan

Answer
Hi Megan,
I wouldn't worry about them not eating the pellets. My pigs aren't that fond of theirs either, and have never had any problems because of it. You should keep giving it to them so they can eat if they want, though.

Hay should be unlimited. Pigs eat alot of hay, and they always need to have some in their cage. In addition to be good to eat, they like playing in it and lying on it.

As a general "rule", pigs should have about a cup of vegetables/fruit each every day. But that doesn't mean that they can't have more! I feed my pigs carrots, apple, cucumber, lettuce, parsley, spinach leaves and cabbage. In the summer they also get grass, dandelion greens, and clover. There are of course many other fruits and vegetables that are good for pigs too. A little piece of hard bread, or some rolled oats, make good treats every now and then too.

Your cage does sound a bit small. Most cages you buy in pet stores are way too small for guinea pigs. A decent sized cage for two pigs is about 30" x 36", but the bigger the better! My favorite kind of cage are the C&C cages (http://www.cavycages.com/). I switched to one of them last year, and boy are my pigs happy now!

Good luck with your piggies!