15% off Small Pet Select Hay for all US my Piggie Friends through this link bit.ly/2TY3t4C and for the UK use this link smallpetselect.co.uk/discount/CAVYLOVE10?rfsn=4856268.13eb7e

Saskia, can you make a video like this for pellets, please?

My guinea pigs LOVE seed heads! Sometimes I even use them as treats!

Back when I was a brand new Guinea Pig Mama I used to buy the small bag of Kaytee hay. The bag never lasted long and half the hay was wasted because my guys wouldn’t eat the hard stems. Now I order a 25lb box of Standlee Premium Western Forage (formerly jojo’s BEST) from Amazon for around $40. The box lasts about 6-7 months for my two and they absolutely love it. I’ll have to try out and see how they like the Small Pet Select sometime. Thanks for the review!

This was really helpful, we always want the very best for our piggies!

I started my babies out on Oxbow Timothy, then when Guinea Dad came out with his Nourish Series I bought that hay and yes, it's packed very tightly in the box and I'm not too keen on making my babies work for their food, however it was nice having it in the box and off the fleece. Then I switched to Pet Select food and Hay a few months ago and you would've thought my Piggies hadn't eaten in a month the way they tore into that hay? What I did do was take all the hay out of the Guinea Dad box and stuff (lightly) the Pet Select in the box so it's still off of the fleece and it's not so tightly packed in that they have easy access to it and no problem pulling it out to eat. I should be getting my lilac colored hay rack from Amazon tomorrow and then I'll switch their Pet Select Hay to that. I can't wait!! They already have the set of lilac bowls and now two rainbow space houses, just waiting on the lilac hay rack and whatever you decide to come up with next!! LOL!!

My opinions are that the store bought bagged hays have more dust because those bags are handled so much from the time it gets cut until it get to the consumer. It's been manhandled, boxed, bagged, pile in a pallet, shipped, received, stocked etc etc. By the time it gets to me it's been handled by dozens of people. Smaller places have the luxury of shipping directly. I like Small Pet Select but it also costs twice as much as Oxbow. I've found that the large box of oxbow from Chewy has very little of the waste. It's amazing how picky our piggies can be when it comes to hay!!

I'm definitely gonna make a change for my piggies hay, i was needing a good review on hay brands! Thank you so much 🥰

Thank you for such an informative video. I have bought and thrown away so much hay because it was either nasty when I received it or my pigs just wouldn't eat it. Right now my pigs are eating Guinea Dad and they seem to like it. I don't care for the dispensing boxes though. I just take the hay out of their boxes and then store it in an open container and replace the hay in my pig's cage twice daily. I sent Guinea Dad an email asking if they might consider just selling their hay in larger bags. They were kind enough to reply and said that is something they have considered.

Finally! I don't know why I couldn't find this video 6 days ago when someone wanted advice on the different types of hay. I try to send people your videos and this was the video I was trying to find. I had done a search on your channel only typing in the keyword hay, and it did not pull this video up first and as I scrolled through the list is how I found your fire evacuation video. I just thought it was a Funny coincidence. If I would have left that comment on any other video, especially your older videos? You wouldn't have seen it!!! .Life does indeed have some funny coincidences.

All of those bag sizes would last me MAYBE 2 days lol

My piggies switched over to orchard hay because of our allergies and they love it

Thanks so much for this great review of different brands of hay. I've been feeding my piggies the Oxbow hay, either Timothy or Orchard grass. There is so much dust and tiny pieces in it lately. I had to throw away one quarter of the last bag because it was just not edible. I just got a 10 lb. box of the Small Pet Select Timothy hay. Hoping this will be better. It looks really green!

My boys are so so finicky..I buy small pet select, but they will only eat the 3rd cut 😔 I’ve tried all kinds of hay from them, and they will not eat any other brand. I do buy the alfalfa to give them maybe once or twice per year, during floor time, as a treat. I was so excited to see this video and hear your thoughts. I do have to say that with any hay dust, I collect and make my own “cookies” with either mashed banana or homemade applesauce, as a treat..yes, my boys are extremely spoiled, but they are super healthy (knock on wood, of course!) I appreciate you taking the time to make this video! It was very helpful!! ♥️

I’ve had the best luck with Small Pet Select 2nd cut. I get it bi-weekly on a subscription and the company is great to deal with. Overall the hay is consistently green and it has a texture my piggies like. Sometimes, if I’m running low, I’ll get Oxbow or KayTee to tide me over. 🐾

Oxbow Timothy/ Orchard Grass Mix Hay is what my 3 LOVE

I had to switch to Orchard Hay due to strong allergies to the timothy hay. Small pet Select has been much more consistent in it's quality, smells great and is nice and green, USUALLY. I prefer the small pet select but it's also quite pricey, in my opinion.

I give my piggies so much hay and refresh it twice a day that I buy my hay by the bale at Tractor Supply. Sometimes the hay is nice and sometimes it's not as great. I wish hay was not so expensive.

I use 20lbs (2nd cut) from Pet Select for 6 guinea pigs and I use a box a month.. I sometime buy the yellow orchard bag for my 8yo since she loves it and she deserves the best at 8 haha Edit: Just want to add that I totally recommend Small Pet Select since it's cheaper and I never was disappointed with the quality in the past year :)

We buy the timothy hay from Standlee -- the "grab and go" 50# bale.

For people in the U.K. I also recommend Hay Box 🥰

Thank you very much for this very informative video!

In the UK, many of these brands are prohibitively expensive as Timothy hay isn't grown a lot here. I can recommend "Hay Box Club" as good quality, value for money and grown in the UK so low food miles.

I’ve never been more relieved to give my 4 girls Small Pet Select orchard grass. I order the 10lb box on Amazon. I thought it was really good quality but I’m glad to have confirmation. I switched from Oxbow hay/pellets about a year and a half ago. Their quality was just too inconsistent. My girls have been on Sherwood pellets for almost 2 years.

I think I'm starting to get allergic to Timothy hay because I've noticed I'm sneezing more often than normal (and it gets really bad sometimes) when I'm feeding my girls their hay. Reading the comments about how others have switched to Orchard, I think I might switch. Hopefully my girls won't be too picky and this all works out 🤞

I get oxbow and if I get any little pieces in the bottom of the bag I always make Guinea pig edible glue and glue it to their cardboard houses and they eat it off there so none of it goes to waste. We have 7 Guinea pigs

Saskia any chance we could get a review on the different brands of Orchard Grass since there is a fair bit of us who are really allergic to Timothy? Thanks

Love this video!! I get my Timothy Hay in a “compressed bale” for $20 at tractor supply, it fills a huge contractor size trash bag and lasts me almost half a year with 6 piggies 🐷

I have always used Oxbow but am excited to try the small pet select! Just ordered a shipment! Thanks Saskia

Small Pet Select for the win!!! I've fed my gpigs that hay for years. They love it! And SPS customer service is fantastic!!!

I use dust when making my own critical care. But I think wlll be switching to small per select.My one males father who I lost in May got extremely sick and one.of his offspring became extremely sick being fed alfalfa.

You should also do a sniff test. I have bought some of the cheaper store brands that didn't have that fresh scent and one bag I tossed right away because it smelled rotten. I think the age and storage plays into it. Think ahead of proper storage if you buy in bulk.

Small Pet Select is probably one of the best hays I’ve used. BUT I’ve noticed time and time again, boxes over 10lbs are always REALLY bad quality for some reason. Just something for people to keep in mind ☺️

I have rabbits and I use a combination of Sweet Meadow Farm Timothy and Herbs and Grandpa's Best Orchard Grass; they love it! Those two are their primary hays, and then they get a bit of oat hay (usually from Oxbow) for something a bit more chewy. Sweet Meadow Farm offers 9 pound boxes and Grandpa's Best offers 10 pound mini bales which are what I use. Maybe Guinea pigs are different, but my bunnies love orchard grass as much as Timothy. I'm not criticizing Small Pet Select, I've never used it; I'll consider it if I have to switch someday for whatever reason, but have no reason to fix what's not broken at the moment. Standlee hay both Timothy and Orchard is actually pretty nice as well! The availability just isn't consistent where I live or online in my experience, but I get it sometimes when it's available to mix things up.

Thank you so much! This has been so helpful for me! My boys have been refusing to eat some of the hay and now I now why! Thank you thank you thank you!

Great review. Those size bags wouldn't last long with my 8 girls. I use oxbow Timothy and orchard mix which I get from pets at home and Amazon as I live in the UK. I love the colour of your nail polish.

I did not know there were such differences. We had a farmer nearby who made his own hay .for his cows and horses. Not timothy but all kinds of grass and herbs who were growin at the meadow. So we got now and then a big bag for the piggie and he always loved it.

Hello Saskia

Verrrry interesting. Love this video

When she makes a video in 3 in the morning where I am

My girls love the Oxbow orchard grass. My boy does not. He uses it as bedding 😜.

Just got 2 guinea pigs last week and have found the channels that you and Scott have. Tons of great info, you guys have been very helpful and informative. My guinea pigs and I thank you. I purchased a GuineaDad fleece cafe liner for them but I haven’t put it in yet. I don’t want to scare them when I removed the old bedding and place the fleece in. They aren’t comfortable enough with me to where I can pick them up yet, but they’re ok with me hand feeding them through the cage. I’m trying to come up with the best way to switch to the fleece without traumatizing them. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

I buy Timothy hay by the bale for both my guinea pigs and rabbits. It lasts a long time. I also have a bag of Orchard grass hay which I give as a treat. The piggies seem to love the the orchard hay just as much as the Timothy hay

I've bought your hay it is very nice. When they like it it's less waste.

Yaaayyy! I just ordered Small Pet Select Hay yesterday!

I don’t think a little powder in the bottom of a 10 pound box is a bad thing what I do is I take the powder and I sift it and I mash up banana I add the powder and then I roll it in the same powder and I make breakfast balls for my rabbit but I’m assuming guinea pigs would eat them as well, YUMMY 😋

Can you compare to the new Full Cheeks hay that PetSmart carries now?

Hi Saskia, how about Oaten hay? It's hard to get Timothy hay here in Australia

Hey Saskia! I was wondering how Raul was doing with the Buddha boys!?

Sometimes I make cookies for my piggies with the dusty parts

This is so helpful. Question. Can you use the dust from that hay to turn into emergency food I'm not saying I wouldn't buy better hay, but can I turn the dust from hay like some of this into emergency food? Also every time I think you're going to say this one you point out everything that's wrong with all these different kinds. This is a very good video, Thank You for this. I needed to know this. Definitely going to share this one in the group I'm in. Thank You👍🐹🐹

Hello Saskia and crew, I'm concerned about the use of toxic herbicides, pesticides, preservatives and dyes in commercial hay. Can you share any information about sourcing hay grown without the use of those practices? And pellets are another but similar topic. Are all those ingredients even safe for piggies to eat? Would 100% hay pellets be a better choice? Appreciate what you do.

Is there something we can do with the dust bit that is in the bottom of the bag? Can you make timothy hay treats out of it or is it best to just toss it out?

We just ordered from small pet select for the first time but im allergic to timothy hay so we feed orchard and my piggys love it, we used to feed oxbow but their quality has just gone down hill and the than we did the standlee but its so dusty and since its timothy hay I couldn’t feed my piggys it so my husband had to do it for me

Thank you for the comparisons Saskia! Awesome!

I have a lot of trouble finding good quality hay. Oxbow used to have wonderful way but over the last year their hay has not been very good. Small Pet Select's hay is sometimes good, sometimes not. Often has lots of old, brown hay mixed in so I stopped buying it. I've been using the Guinea Dad hay which is very good quality. I just open the holes in the box more and grab the hay and pull some of it out from time to time so my piggies can eat it without too much effort.

Love your videos 😀❤️

Is the third cut okay? Or would you recommend the 1st cut? I like it’s bc it’s softer and easier to deal with.

My rabbit loves the Standlee small animal timothy hay!

I've been having a problem ordering good hay lately. I have 7 piggies so I buy 50 pound box at a time. I ordered 50 pounds of oxbow orchard grass. It was gross very brown and dusty. So a month ago I ordered small pet select 50 pound box orchard hay it was gross to very dusty and very brown and hard. I never had that happen before with them. Luckily chewy who I ordered it through gave me my money back. The piggies were mad they wouldn't eat it. I found that rabbit hole orchard hay is awesome very green my crew love it. I just ordered a 5 pound box of blue grass hay to try. Looked good. My piggies prefer orchard hay especially the older ones. When I buy timothy hay they won't eat they sleep in it or pee in it. If you order from chewy don't forget if what you buy is not up to your standards they will replace it or give your money back. I got my 80.00 back and kept the hay been picking through it to use and shaking dust off too to feed

Saskia, my piggy won't eat hay at all 😢I've bought every one on the market, I know it's very important but I can only so much. I keep hay out for him 24/7. He has orchid hay right now.

Saskia, winter is coming, do you put clothes on a skinny pig? I'm a new sub. Sherry is a good friend of mine! 💚

Variety is the spice of life

is small pet select 1st cutting ok for young guinea pigs like 2 or 3 month old or 2nd cutting is better

My girls seem to hate the first cut thick stems. They leave anything that's not soft and green. Now I only use 5 a day hay from the UK, which is lovely, soft and fresh and pretty cheap too.

Lately I have found cut up foxtails (aka wild barley, needlegrass, bromegrass and spear grass) in three of the well-known brands that I typically use. In one bag there were hundreds of the little pointy pieces. They are so sharp that they get stuck in the fleece and won’t come out with a brush, so I have to pull them out by hand and it’s not easy. Has anyone else had this trouble or know what these sharp grains are and why they are in the hay?

I tried going to feed store and I can never find green hay. I am told it varies. I am wondering do I just buy oxbow. Frustrated

The intro made my boys gweek in response.

Nice video, so its normal that my piggie doesnt eat the stem of Alfalfa!

could the 1st and 2nd Small Pet Select bags be reversed? The bag in the middle looks more like first cut to me being more hard and yellow, which I thought would be the rough/hard 1st cut....And the first bag looked greener, more like what I receive for 2nd cut....just wondering....

I found a timothy hay that my piggie loves. It is put out by american pet and it smells great, has lots of seed heads, and is nice and green. It is sold in 5 lbs and 25 lbs.

i just go to tractor supply to get the 100lb orchard grass hay because one of our girlies is allergic to Timothy :) (we have 7 adults and 3 babies we’re keeping, so we need a lot of hay!)

I use the Burgess Excel with Marigold and Dandelion. Smells like herbs! My boys love it :)

Its so hard to get decent hay in Australia

Very informative. Next time will try Small Select

I have tried so much hay and spent so much money. Over the past two years my experience has been awful with timothy hay. SPS hay was too much brown and hard stalks. The second cut too hard for piggies to borrow and still has brown. KMS even worse I cut my hands getting hay out and was brown. The GuineaDad is too tight, small strands way too hard, and my three boxes were all dusty. I was very unhappy with two haypokes. Best hay has been the KMS bluegrass. It is green and soft for burrowing in. Downside is all the dust.

Yay small pet select! I feed their orchard grass since I have hay allergies.

Wrong third cut is hardest

KMS Hayloft is a really good hay....I’ve been ordering from there for years. It must be a bad batch you got.

I use science selective Timothy hay

I give my three boys piles and piles of grass & Timothy mixed hay- late first cut. I buy it a bale at a time for reasonable prices from a local farmer. All summer they get large handfuls of long Timothy grass as well as the hay My boys are very healthy!

First cut has weeds in it, sometimes second cut does too, but by the time they get to third cut or forth cut all the weeds are gone and that is the best for horses.

This was so helpful, thank you! What pellets do you recommend?

So very helpful!!! Thank you!! 😘🐹

Got to check my hay, its meadow hay Thats for the advice

The past few months I have been having a hard time with my hay purchases from various known brands containing foxtail pieces mixed in the hay, which scares me for the safety of my pigs (to say nothing of the time it takes to pull dozens of them out of the fleece by hand). They are so sharp that I’m afraid a pig will get hurt, and they are so small that I don’t see them until I go to brush the fleece during a cage cleaning and then I can see the dozens of tiny sharp bits stuck in the fleece

I get 150 kg a month in Sweden för my piggs and I have a smal rescue and got a pigg thats been starved to half a kilo :( she did not have any hay from the other home so I have to support feed her whit cc

My guineapig Houdini is actually allergic to orchard hay I don't know how but he wheezes so bad with it he has fresh orchard grass he's fine but dried stuff no

I buy a bale of hay from the local farmer. Is that ok ??? They seem to love it. We only get one cut in the UK. We don't have any dust. It's straight off the field. When it comes to winter we are still buying first cut. OK it maybe be a little different but they still like it. Having a bale means I don't mind stuffing them with hay. And you can tell when you need to replace. Thanks for your advice. Take care💖💖💖

I bought Timothy hay and it's hard and very dry,my baby won't eat it.

I have discontinued Small Pet Select because the quality changed. The last 5-6 boxes were very dusty. I complained the 1st time and they sent me another box. However the next boxes were very bad. I had one box that was about 1/4 powder/dust. I purchase 2nd cut, 12 pound boxes. I have switched to Guinea Dad. The boxes are tightly packed, which is good exercise for the piggies and keeps them entertained. The box keeps their space much neater too. My second choice is Oxbow Blends, their half Timothy, half Orchard Grass blend. My boys love that hay. I think the quality of all three brands is excellent, but Small Pet Select has a real issue with the powder.

I've been doing all my research for over 2 weeks to be ready for a pair of male guinea pigs. We have a farm store thats family owned near me. Is it safe to buy the Timothy hay by the stack or do I need to go to a pet store instead ?

The color of the hay has something to do with the weather. In Germany we cut the grass first cut in June. When there is hot and dry weather then the grass will dry up very fast. In 1 or 2 days. Then all the color stays in the hay. When the weather is not so hot then it will last longer and the hay is not so nice. And when there is rain the hay is put togeather and after the rain is spread up again but then it drys very slow, ant you will get a yellow hay and sometimes when the weather is very bad then you need dry it with a device with hot air. And then you get the yellow brown hay. So in California the chances are good for green hay.😊

I get a 20lb box delivered every 6-8 weeks from Rabbit Hole.

thanks! this was very informative... wish we could buy your hay in NY!

We use oxbow and they love it, I love to here them when I open the bag to feed them

I really dislike the dust. For small pets around here 1/3 of the bags are dust. So I bought horse hay orchard/timothy mix at a farm supply store, which has a lot less dust. I am jealous of that nice green hay. I am still looking for a farmer to get a fresher bale.

I have three guinea pigs, one of my boys every so often will have a crinkling to him when he breaths. Sometimes when I go to listen it's like he can stop it.He is eating just fine, hasn't lost weight or look funny. I even watched his breathing and it seems normal like the others. I did change the hay recently to a already bundled Timothy hay. I noticed it is very dusty and more shredded then the one I switched from. So I maybe allergys to the hay. I'm going to switch the hay back and see what happens but I have been taking him out of the cage when I add hay and when I dust bust the cage daily. It does seem to be helping. What other hay would be good to buy for my boys that I could get in big bulk?

Not true. My guineas do not like Timothy hay at all. Couldnt figure out why they were eating it and then i bought and it was a complete 360.

I love this ,I miss my guinea pig ,do you like people to adopt only or breeders also