can guinea pigs eat longan

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Longan?

Although its formal name is Dimocarpus longan, Longan are a tropical tree that produce fruit and is closely related to the lychee.

Its Chinese name means ‘Dragon eye’ becuase when the fruit is shelled, it closely resembles an eyeball.

It is used a great deal in Chinese cuisine and is often used in East Asian soups, snacks, desserts, and sweet-and-sour foods, either fresh or dried, sometimes canned with syrup in supermarkets.

So if we can eat them, can guinea pigs eat longan, and if so how much can they eat?

image wikipedia

Lets take a look at its nutritional data to find out a bit more about it.

In particular, we are interested in its calcium, fat, phosphorus, acid, and sugar content.

Energy 251 kJ (60 kcal)
Carbohydrates 15.14 g
– Sugars n/a
– Dietary fiber 1.1 g
Fat 0.1 g
Protein 1.31 g
Thiamine (vit. B1) 0.031 mg (3%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2) 0.14 mg (12%)
Niacin (vit. B3) 0.3 mg (2%)
Vitamin C 84 mg (101%)
Calcium 1 mg (0%)
Iron 0.13 mg (1%)
Magnesium 10 mg (3%)
Manganese 0.052 mg (2%)
Phosphorus 21 mg (3%)
Potassium 266 mg (6%)
Sodium 0 mg (0%)
Zinc 0.05 mg (1%)

source wikipedia

As you can see Longan contains a bit of phosphorus, no calcium, a hint of fat, but are very acidic.

However, they have an awesome amount of vitamin c in them which is very good.

With that guinea pigs can eat longan, but only in very small amounts once a week. However they are a welcome addition to the guinea pig diet as their vitamin c content is so fantastic.

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