Can Guinea Pigs Eat Basil?
Can Guinea Pigs Eat Basil?
Guinea pigs can eat basil but let’s look a little more into how good it is for our small pets and how often it is safe to feed them this popular herb.
Basil is a favorite herb with humans and most guinea pigs will love it too. It is safe for your guinea pigs to eat both the leaves and the stems of the basil plant.
How much vitamin C is in basil?
Basil has a good amount of vitamin C with 18mg per 100g. This is considerably more than tomatoes, blueberries, apples and grapes.
But it doesn’t have as much vitamin C as most other herbs, especially when you compare it to parsley which has 7 times as much. In fact, thyme is even more impressive with nearly 9 times as much vitamin C as basil.
Does basil contain a lot of calcium?
Basil has 177mg of calcium per 100g which is quite high when you compare it to sweet bell peppers or tomatoes which both have about 10mg per 100g. It has more calcium than parsley but is not as rich in calcium as some other herbs such as dill, mint or thyme.
Is basil high in fiber?
Fiber is an important part of a guinea pig’s daily diet and helps keep their digestive system working properly. Basil has about 1.6g of fiber per 100g so is not that high, especially when you compare it to mint which has 8g and thyme with 14g.
How much basil can guinea pigs eat?
Basil can be fed to your guinea pigs a couple of times a week as part of their fresh daily vegetable portion. Guinea pigs should have about a cupful of mixed veggies each day so just mix a bit of basil in with their other vegetables so they get a good balance of different vitamins and minerals. Remember, variety in fresh food is key to a healthy guinea pig!
Nutritional information for basil
Below is the nutritional value per 100g of basil
- Vitamin C: 18 mg
- Calcium: 177 mg
- Phosphorous: 56 mg
- Fiber: 1.6 g
- Sugar: 0.3 g