can guinea pigs eat oranges

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Oranges?

‘Can guinea pigs eat oranges?’ Good question!

In my interest to see what foods guinea pigs could eat, I started wondering about oranges. We have them occasionally but our kids aren’t too keen on them so they don’t often appear in the fruit bowl. However we occasionally have them and its worth a check to see if whether they can eat them.

can guinea pigs eat oranges

Looking around the webs, it was quite surprising to find that there was a lot of owners who said that they perfectly fine for them to eat.

My first thoughts were that they were too acidic for guinea pigs to eat. They are but it doesn’t mean that they cant have them.

image: flickr nosha

Here are some things I picked up from researching into the issue.

  • It is best to cut the orange into thin slices so that they are easy for the guinea pig to digest.
  • As we know, oranges have a high amount of vitamin c so they will be very good for the guinea pig in that instance. Guinea pigs cant synthesise their own vitamin c, just like humans and so need regular supplements of it.
  • Oranges as previously mentioned, are quite acidic which can hurt their intestines if they have too much. Just like they can hurt us if we eat too many.
  • They have quite high sugar content, so again, too much wont do them any good.

Can guinea pigs eat orange peel?

Yes you can give them orange peel. If they will eat it, small amounts won’t do them much harm. It does contain a lot of vitamin c but as with oranges, will hurt them if they have too much.

Can guinea pigs have orange juice?

No don’t give guinea pigs orange juice. It is much too sweet and sugary for them to drink.Their main drink should be fresh water.

Can guinea pigs eat orange leaves?

Yes, there is no reason why they cant if they are available and they like them.

Verdict

So can guinea pigs eat oranges? Yes, they can. But don’t give too much to them, a couple of slices a week should be fine for them. But anything more than that can give them tummy trouble.

As far my guinea pigs are concerned, I’ll give them some orange if we have them around but I wont go the extra mile to buy them for him.

They didn’t seem to like them that much!

6 thoughts on “Can Guinea Pigs Eat Oranges?

  1. I tried to give my piggy a slice to see if she liked it, but she just took a sniff at it and ran to the other side of the cage. When I set it down on the floor of the cage to see if she would pick it up, she completely ignored it. Verdict: my piggy doesn’t like oranges.
    Thank you for this website, it’s very helpful 🙂

    1. my guinea pig has no interest in oranges, but loooves the orange tree leaves! so much so they ate my mini orange tree… and i let them…. why???
      They are are so picky though and have different tastes, which is pretty annoying

  2. I got my piggie to eat oranges by giving him one pulp at a time, he sniffed and ate the first pulp and I gave me another and another. A few days later, he’ll go for the dish of orange pulps himself when I put it down (mind you, he’ll only eat about a teaspoon worth of pulp on day 4). So yes, piggies are definitely picky but so adorable that I always go the extra mile to see them happy and healthy 🙂

  3. I dropped an avocado pit and my piggy started nibbling at it. I would think it would help with its teeth, is this okay being its just a pit?

  4. I just tried give some too my guinea pig and she loved it!! It took a little bit for her to start eating but one she tasted it she couldn’t get enough!!! Thanks for the advice 🙂

  5. I just tried giving my 3 Guinea pigs a bit of an orange. Two of them loved their slice, and the other was just taking little nibbles at it, so I’m not sure where she stands. I’ll definitely be feeding it to them again!

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