This is kind of a weird place for me to jump in, but I wanted to let you know why you might have had a hard time finding guinea pig feeders at a good price.
They are insanely slow breeders. Gestation takes 68-72 days in general, and they shouldn't* be bred until 5 months of age. If they aren't bred before 8 months, their pelvic bones actually fuse making farrowing impossible without a C-section. On top of that they are really susceptible to pregnancy toxemia** and prolapsed uteri. The mortality rate is really depressing as well, at 20%-25%. That's the chance for the sow, the pups, or a combination of the two. With the common sized litter being 2-4 it's a pretty low production rate. I found the life span of my breeding sows on average to be 2-3 years shorter than the non breeding stock.
I showed cavies for about 9 years and it's all a rather depressing beauty contest, now that I'm out.
*Sows can easily double in weight when pregnant, making movement difficult. Less movement = buildup of ketones = usually fatal especially without steroids or antibiotics.
**They can get pregnant as early as 4 weeks from a boar as young as 3, exponentially increasing the chance of mortality in the sow.
Lol sorry I'll step off of my soapbox now.
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