A few food questions from a new piggie owner

[Fantastic Beasts]

Hi. After a little advice from the experienced piggie parents on here please.
brought our two boys home from the rescue on Wednesday afternoon. They have been eating their hay fine (often when we are not in the room or at night) but they aren’t eating all their veggies and have no interest in pellets. I’ve been following guidance on here about what to feed and giving veggies twice a day. Our little one (8 weeks) will take coriander, greens, lettuce etc from our hands but his dad won’t at all. We’ve seen our baby eat pepper and cucumber too but not actually seen his dad take any. Should we be concerned or is this pretty normal, especially whilst piggies are settling in?
Second question is, even if our piggies haven’t eaten all the hay in the cage ,should we swap it out for fresh every day? I have been doing this, but didn’t know if it was strictly necessary? Thank you and sorry for the long post.

 

[Siikibam]

Sounds normal. Remember they have to get used to you and their new environment, so they won’t necessarily eat in front of you yet. The baby is obviously braver if he’s already taking food from your hands.

I would just put the veg in a bowl (two actually) and leave them to it. I’m sure the dad is eating, just not when you’re there.

If the hay has been wee’d on too much then you can always swap out. I’m at home most of the time, so top up several times throughout the day. I sometimes just clean up the poo and pee soaked hay, and give them a fresh pile. Or more often I’ll top up what’s there. It’s up to you really.

With regards the pellets, are they on the same ones they were eating at the rescue?

 

[Fantastic Beasts]

Sounds normal. Remember they have to get used to you and their new environment, so they won’t necessarily eat in front of you yet. The baby is obviously braver if he’s already taking food from your hands.

I would just put the veg in a bowl (two actually) and leave them to it. I’m sure the dad is eating, just not when you’re there.

If the hay has been wee’d on too much then you can always swap out. I’m at home most of the time, so top up several times throughout the day. I sometimes just clean up the poo and pee soaked hay, and give them a fresh pile. Or more often I’ll top up what’s there. It’s up to you really.

With regards the pellets, are they on the same ones they were eating at the rescue?

Thanks for your reply. I do use two bowls for veggies so that’s good. Like you say dad probably eats when we ate not around.
I know the pellets are on the list of suitable items to donate to the rescue, so I assume they are used to them but I will ask and make sure.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I agree, they’ll need time to gain confidence.
As long as hay makes up the biggest part of the diet, then all is well. Pellets are supplementary, some people don’t feed them at all, al don’t worry too much if they don’t want to eat them
Do ensure they are weighed regularly so you can be sure they are doing well.

It is perfectly fine to give veggies twice a day but I found that it can also be too easy to overfeed if you do it that way. The best thing is to make up the whole days veg portion in the morning and then split it in two rather than make and feed each portion individually. I always used to forget how much veg if done in the morning and then run the risk of giving too much in the evening (this was for my rabbit, not piggies). So I now only give veg once a day (to my rabbit and piggies) in the evening so I know they’ve not had too much!

 

[Fantastic Beasts]

I agree, they’ll need time to gain confidence.
As long as hay makes up the biggest part of the diet, then all is well. Pellets are supplementary, some people don’t feed them at all, al don’t worry too much if they don’t want to eat them
Do ensure they are weighed regularly so you can be sure they are doing well.

It is perfectly fine to give veggies twice a day but I found that it can also be too easy to overfeed if you do it that way. The best thing is to make up the whole days veg portion in the morning and then split it in two rather than make and feed each portion individually. I always used to forget how much veg if done in the morning and then run the risk of giving too much in the evening (this was for my rabbit, not piggies). So I now only give veg once a day (to my rabbit and piggies) in the evening so I know they’ve not had too much!

Thank you. I won’t worry if the pellets aren’t eaten then. I have done what you suggested in preparing and splitting the veggies into two portions morning and evening. There is always plenty of hay available.