Often confused with sweet potatoes, yams are a big favourite especially around thanksgiving time for many families to have with their meals.
As members of the Dioscoreae family, there are about 200 different varieties of yam
with flesh colours varying from white to ivory to yellow to purple while their thick skin comes in white, pink or brownish-black .
They have a long and cylindrical shape and their exterior texture is rough and scaly.
Their taste is earthy and hardy, with most varieties having minimal sweetness.
Specific types of yams include Dioscorea alata (Hawaiian yam), Dioscorea batatas (korean yam) and Dioscorea esculenta (sweet yam).
Can guinea pigs eat yams?
Can guinea pigs eat yams and if try can, how much of them can be eaten?
For the sake of showing good guinea pig care, let’s dig a little deeper and find out what it contains why checking out its nutritional data.
In particular its acidic, water, fat, salt, phosphorus, and sugar content is of most interest as far as guinea pigs are concerned.
image flickr
Yam
Amount Per 100 grams
Calories 118
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.2 g 0%
Saturated fat 0 g 0%
Polyunsaturated fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 9 mg 0%
Potassium 816 mg 23%
Total Carbohydrate 28 g 9%
Dietary fiber 4.1 g 16%
Sugar 0.5 g
Protein 1.5 g 3%
Vitamin A 2%
Vitamin C 28%
Calcium 1%
Iron 2%
Vitamin D 0%
Vitamins B-6 15%
Vitamin B-12 0%
Magnesium 5%
Source google
As you can see it does contain a lot of good vitamin c and are very good for guinea pigs.
So they are good for piggies although they do contain a good percentage of potassium and so should only be eaten every few days.
Yams are best served to guinea pigs raw which is the state that they will appreciate them.
Cam Guinea Pigs eat Cooked Yams?
Don’t give them cooked yams at all as they can’t eat cooked food.
Yams can be purchased at any good supermarket or grocery store.

For other foods that guinea pigs can and can’t eat, check out our guinea pig foods section.