Blog post can guinea pigs eat iceberg lettuce
When thinking about the kinds of foods that guinea pigs could eat, iceberg lettuce seems to just about hit the mark in terms of the kind of things that guinea pigs usually like.
Why it’s a vegetable. Tick. It’s green. Tick. It’s not cooked. Tick.
So it’s all good so far.
Unfortunately though it’s not when it comes to guinea pigs
So what’s wrong with iceberg lettuces?
Let’s take a look at the nutritional data.
image flickr liz west
As usual we’re looking in particular for phosphorus, sugar, fat, oxelate acid, and Calcium. A decent amount of vitamin c would also be a good bonus.
Calcium 13.0mg1%
Iron 0.3mg2%
Magnesium 5.0mg1%
Phosphorus 14.4mg1%
Potassium 102mg3%
Sodium 7.2mg0%
Zinc 0.1mg1%
Copper 0.0mg1%
Manganese 0.1mg4%
Selenium 0.1mcg0
Alcohol 0.0g
Water 68.9g
Ash 0.3g
Caffeine 0.0mg
Theobromine 0.0mg
Vitamin A361IU7%
Vitamin C2.0mg3%
Vitamin D~ ~
Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) 0.1mg1%
Vitamin K17.4mcg22%
Thiamin 0.0mg2%
Riboflavin 0.0mg1%
Niacin 0.1mg0%
Vitamin B60.0mg2%
Folate 20.9mcg5%
Vitamin B120.0mcg0%
Pantothenic Acid 0.1mg1%
Choline 4.8mg
Betaine 0.1mg
source nutritiondata
As you can see, iceberg lettuce is low in pretty much everything. Everything apart from water that is.
Which is fine apart from the fact that having a food with this much water in it can cause a lot of bloated ness in a guinea pig. In fact it can be pretty unpleasant in the stomach department and if they have it can cause diarrhoea.
If they happen to nibble on them, then it won’t kill them just don’t let your piggies have a lot of it.