I didn’t care for hay until my 4-year old guinea pig died due to an imbalanced diet (too much pellets, veggies and fruits). I won’t go into details but it really prompted me to be careful with what I feed my cavies. It was so hard looking for Timothy hay locally that I had to ask relatives in the states to send me hay with their yearly pasalubong boxes. Hay from farms is really cheap so I basically only paid for my share of the shipment.

I don’t have the space to keep the hay and my mom is allergic to it, her nose got stuffy when I left the hay in our living room so most of it had to go. My guinea pigs only need a couple of kilos per month and I read online that other local cavy owners also want Timothy hay so selling my excess was the only thing to do. So I started selling.

I thought I would have enough hay for the rest of the year but I was sold out in a little over 2 months! Soon after, I learned from my buyers that there is a local hay distributor (Polo Club), so I checked it out and decided to get the hay there instead (minimum 55 kilos for pure Timothy). The quality isn’t the same but my guinea pigs eat them nonetheless. The hay bale itself is more expensive but compared to what I pay for shipment it is definitely much cheaper over-all.

I don’t own a car and a hay bale will not fit in a regular cab (a bale is about a size of a small/slim refrigerator) so I pay to borrow a friend’s van and a driver for a couple of hours to pick-up the hay. I give Php300 for gas and for the trouble of cleaning the mess from the hay fallouts.

I store my hay on the 3rd floor so I also pay for labor to carry the hay and have it repacked in large plastic bags. I shell out another Php300 for all three maintenance staff who help me for a few hours. I personally can’t repack because I get skin allergies from having too much contact with the hay.

I do not have space at home to keep a lot of hay and I have been borrowing space, from the building where I work part-time, but apparently there have been complaints from the neighboring tenants (clinics) about my keeping the hay in the hallway. The building admin/management has agreed to let me continue storing hay there for Php500 a month to cover janitorial services and for exclusive use of that particular end of the hallway (which is supposed to be a common bench/waiting area).

Previously I get to sell out my hay in 2-3 months with only small orders…I would like to avoid getting charged extra per month but I would have to include it in the selling price. Because of this I would want to dispose of the hay in as little time possible to avoid extended charges so please get in bulk if you can (at least 10 kilos) and just share with your peers.

If you need a lot of hay I highly recommend, and if you have enough peers who also need a lot of hay, that you do “bale sharing” instead. It will save you money. You might need people who can get at least 10 kilos at a time because collaboration might become complicated if you share a bale with too many people. I would want to do that myself but I still have buyers who really only need a few kilos at a time. I for one only need about 2 kilos per month for all my guinea pigs. I also do not know enough people who need hay to share a bale with.

Or you can also sell hay in your area if you have free space to store a lot of hay (and a car big enough to pick-up a bale =P) I get inquiries from other cities and unfortunately they cannot pick-up hay from my place.

My overhead expenses:

hay cost 1,800

van rent/gas 300

repacking labor 300

storage space (2 months max) 1,000

plastic bags 150

*Total expenses 3,550 / kilos of hay 55

*Cost per kilo 65

I will charge extra for smaller orders just so to encourage bulk orders =P Still it will be cheaper than imported branded pet-store hay.

Supply is LIMITED, pls inquire for availability first.I set aside hay for my guinea pigs and I wouldn’t buy another bale until my personal stash is consumed.

2 kilos = Php160  (Php80/k)

4 kilos = Php312  (Php78/k)

6 Kilos = Php450  (Php75/k)

10 kilos = Php650  (Php65/k)

I do not log-in here in PPF often so if you are interested in buying please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

I can send photos of the hay I have on hand and a sketch of address for pick-up of orders. I don't do shipments/couriers because it will be very expensive with the volume of loose hay. I also can't do meet-ups due to my erratic schedules.

Why don't I feed regular grass and spare myself the hassle and cost? Well, for starters I don't trust feeding garden grass because I do not know if the nutrient content is safe...that is if I even know the variety of grass we have. Second, our place is polluted...who knows how dirty the soil is and the water the grass absorbs and we heve a creek/canal nearby. My mom is a cavy lover and she has raised guinea pigs in the 50's and she urges me to feed fresh grass...uhhm, yes maybe it was a good choice...in her days! 

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Now I worry about pellets. It appears that Hagen Cobayes is out of stock, indefintely at BioResearch. It horrifies me to read in forum that quite a lot of cavy owners buy Chicken and cow feed for their pet guinea pigs.

I would want to order Hagen, Oxbow or KM online but it is so ridiculously expensive! I have tried VitaKraft pellets before but I also read that anything colorful (artificial) with nuts or grains is bad.

Purina Mills now has a sub-brand called MAZURI that specializes in exotic pet pellets. They have Mazuri Guinea Pig pellets with Vit. C, although it is alfalfa based I think the calcium content isn't too high to cause sludge or stones if fed only the recommended 1/4 cup a day. It is also one of the more affordable I have seen online, too bad there isn't any available here.

For now I am stuck with hay and veggies, without Hagen I need to give Vit. C supplements. I tried ground ascorbic acid tablet in water but they didnt like the taste and they avoided drinking the water altogether (this is not recommended because vitamin c in water deteriorates). I switched to a less sour tasting Fern-C powder sprinkled on veggies which worked! Btw, I am glad to have stopped on giving generic multi-vitamins to my cavies. A vet nearby (claiming to be an exotic animal doctor) recommended the muti-vitamin drops for my guinea pigs but I read online that only Vit. c is needed and that additional vitamins and minerals might actually cause more harm.

Someone recommended to temporarily give local rabbit pellets like Edison (imported branded rabbit pellets may have antibiotics which is toxic to cavies)  but I read from the ingredient list "fish meal, bone meal, blood meal, corn feed, calcium" etc <-- all bad for cavies....and probably also bad for rabbits too...neither are meat eaters ey? Seems like it was just repacked and relabelled for rabbits but it could ony just be protein-packed chicken feed (smelled like it too).

I really hope to get my hands on Hagen pellets soon. I'll read about the nutrient content of horse-feed and if can be offered to cavies for at least temporarily until I get Hagen (on the premise that they have similar nutrient needs minus the vit. C).

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"...if you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the pet! "

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