Sweet potatoes are a different type of potato that has a sweet and spicy flavour and a creamy texture.
They are also known as kumara, orange sweet potato or gold sweet potato.
They are great for savoury dishes but are usually baked, roasted or mashed, and added also to risotto, pasta or curry.
There are two types of sweet potato that you can get, one with bright orange flesh, the other with pale cream flesh.
So can guinea pigs eat sweet potatoes and if so, how much can they eat?
Lets dig a little deeper and look at its nutritional data.
Energy 359 kJ (86 kcal)
Carbohydrates 20.1 g
– Starch 12.7 g
– Sugars 4.2 g
– Dietary fibre 3 g
Fat 0.1 g
Protein 1.6 g
Vitamin A equiv. 709 μg (89%)
– beta-carotene 8509 μg (79%)
Thiamine (vit. B1) 0.078 mg (7%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2) 0.061 mg (5%)
Niacin (vit. B3) 0.557 mg (4%)
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.8 mg (16%)
Vitamin B6 0.209 mg (16%)
Folate (vit. B9) 11 μg (3%)
Vitamin C 2.4 mg (3%)
Vitamin E 0.26 mg (2%)
Calcium 30 mg (3%)
Iron 0.61 mg (5%)
Magnesium 25 mg (7%)
Manganese 0.258 mg (12%)
Phosphorus 47 mg (7%)
Potassium 337 mg (7%)
Sodium 55 mg (4%)
Zinc 0.3 mg (3%)
Oxelate acid 240mg
(source: Wikipedia)
What we are looking for are foods that are low in phosphorus, calcium, starch, fat, oxelate acid and sugar. Good amounts of vitamin a and c are a good bonus as well.
As you can see it has has a small amount of phosphorus, fat but has noticeable amounts of oxelate acids and starch.
Because of that they should only be fed to piggies sparingly, although they can eat them.
Once or twice a month would suffice in small amounts because of their content.
Can guinea pigs eat sweet potato skin?
No they can’t unfortunately. It is worth getting rid of it before serving sweet potato to your piggie.
Can guinea pigs eat cooked sweet potato?
No they can’t. Guinea pigs can only eat raw sweet potato. They can’t eat cooked foods at all.
Verdict
Guinea pigs can eat sweet potato, but only in its raw state and in small amounts on a monthly basis. So they can nibble at it, but don’t make it a regular feature of their diet as it is high in oxelates and starch. However, it is the only potato they can eat.