Food snatching and fruit sharing

[Isla&Steve]

Hi again, we’ve slowly been introducing veggies to our pigs and we’ve got into an early routine of 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup in the evening which seems to be working so far and there doesn’t seem to be any stomach problems or strange poop Kronk being the dominant has the first pick of food and Kuzco probably wasn’t getting an equal share, even though they have two bowls, but now he’s resorting to stealing leafs from Kronks mouth, in fairness to Kronk he is really not fazed and just gets himself some more from the bowl but is there anyway I could encourage this to stop?

Similarly, today I thought I would give them some blueberries as a treat, I know that they should really only have 1-2 each and not every day because of the sugar and acid, so I chopped 2 in quarters and spread them equally to each bowl but Kronk still managed to eat all of them, so I tried again with 1 more blueberry cut in half but Kronk still managed to get 1 of the halves, is there anything I do to make sure Kuzco gets some rare fruit as well? Unfortunately, unlike Kronk he still isn’t trusting enough to take food from our hands.

 

[sport_billy]

This food taking happens... our girls used to do it all the time. Pepper tug of war always used to panic me lol
natural pig behaviour as long as no pig is getting bullied and unable to eat, I used to give the pepper and cucumber to each pig by hand.. they’d run off with it often it separate areas to eat then I would divy up the food so each one roughly had same amount

if not trusting try and feed them in different areas when one takes the food back to one part and put the food in by the other

 

[VickiA]

How far apart are their bowls? If they can be positioned more than one pig’s length apart that makes it more difficult for one pig to hog all the goodies. Also, you can choose not to use bowls at all, but to scatter the veggies around the cage at opposite ends, if you want to make sure that no one hits them all. But in the end, they will always end up eating more of one thing than another, particularly if they eat at different speeds.

 

[Isla&Steve]

This food taking happens... our girls used to do it all the time. Pepper tug of war always used to panic me lol
natural pig behaviour as long as no pig is getting bullied and unable to eat, I used to give the pepper and cucumber to each pig by hand.. they’d run off with it often it separate areas to eat then I would divy up the food so each one roughly had same amount

if not trusting try and feed them in different areas when one takes the food back to one part and put the food in by the other

Ah okay, yeah luckily there hasn’t been any aggression, only 4 days in but they’ve been great together and like I say, to Kronks credit he has the patience of a saint and just does not react to suddenly losing the tasty leaf he was just eating lol, I think I’ll definitely try hand feeding treat foods when Kuzco is happy to do so.

 

[Isla&Steve]

How far apart are their bowls? If they can be positioned more than one pig’s length apart that makes it more difficult for one pig to hog all the goodies. Also, you can choose not to use bowls at all, but to scatter the veggies around the cage at opposite ends, if you want to make sure that no one hits them all. But in the end, they will always end up eating more of one thing than another, particularly if they eat at different speeds.

Now that you mention it, their bowls are probably a little close together, mainly because of the way we initially set up the cage, but they’re due a clean out tomorrow so we could probably rearrange to give them a bit more separation. Would you recommend 2 bowls during floor time also?

 

[VickiA]

Now that you mention it, their bowls are probably a little close together, mainly because of the way we initially set up the cage, but they’re due a clean out tomorrow so we could probably rearrange to give them a bit more separation. Would you recommend 2 bowls during floor time also?

I think I’d give it a try. Often it’s trial and error finding what works for you and your piggies.

 

[Merab]

Food stealing is a piggy thing so don’t be too stressed if it continues.
I give mine a lettuce leaf every morning - I can guarantee that one of them will decide another pig‘s leaf is better.
I’ve watched them play tug-of-war with leaf when there’s another just beside them.

I also have a lady who is a very dainty eater and her husboar can only be described as a motormouth.

You sound as if you’re adapting to piggy slavery brilliant.
Your boys sound adorable

 

[Isla&Steve]

Little update, because it has made me so happy, Kuzco took food from my hand today I’m so very excited about this, even if it did mean getting peed on for the second day in a row