Salt Blocks for Guinea Pigs?

Yesterday at Petco, I was buying some guinea food and fluff when I stumbled upon "salt blocks". They looked interesting and came in some tasty flavors. But, I was unsure as to whether guinea pigs needed salt blocks-- I had never heard anything about them. Up to this point, I've just been giving him a good assortment of pellets, hay, vitamin C treats, and fresh veggies like red peppers, cucumbers and parsley. Petco didn't have Guinness' favorite vitamin C orange slice treats in stock, so I just bought the pellets and fluff and went home. 

Then, last night I was exploring some info about guineas on the PETA website (they don't have a very comprehensive info section, but just the basics) and it mentioned something about salt blocks. This intrigued me, since I have read just about every single website and book about guinea pigs, and never heard anything about salt blocks. 

It makes some sense that they need more salt, since it doesn't seem like they get much in their diets. Guinness has also been drinking water like crazy lately, so I was thinking maybe he needs more salt to retain water.

Today I read some things on guinea pig discussion website, and people said salt blocks are unnecessary. One person even said it can hurt them by causing kidney/bladder stones. I'm not really sure what to think!

Oh well, if anyone has any info about these salt blocks, let me know. I will probably buy some and see how Guinness likes them. If it looks like he's eating too much of it, I'll take it away. I'll update soon!

Holiday Guinea!

Its certainly been a while since I've posted about our wonderful piggy. But needless to say, we love him more and more every day- he just keeps getting cuter and more fun! He's so silly and playful now. We take him out every night and he just goes nuts running around, jumping on us, popcorning, and begging for treats! We usually lay down in the play room and read, and he jumps on our backs. He's a crazy little pig!

Anyways, its the holiday season now, and I have some GREAT pictures of Guinness being adorable.

The first night of hanukkah! I got him a "pepper saver"-- a plastic container shaped like a red pepper-- so you can keep cut peppers in there and they stay fresh! We let him open his present :)

Me and Cole with Guinness-- hes not super happy to be held like that, but at least hes looking at the camera, and he looks cute! (PS this picture is going on our chrismukkah card!)

This is me with Guinness in the holiday photo shoot. I made him some reindeer antlers for the pictures! 

The guinea antlers: they were easy to make out of dark brown pipe cleaners (you can get them at any craft store) and they don't hurt him. Its like a little guinea headband! He's pretty good about keeping them on but they eventually fall off when he runs around.