Guinea-pigs live together but have different food

[Alicia]

I got a new guinea-pig and at her old home she was being fed tesco guinea-pig mix. My guinea-pigs are fed excel pellets, and when I introduced the new guinea-pig to my guinea-pigs I put her food in (only a handful in a bowl) and Willow and Marmalade love it. They are eating most of it, and the reason I put it in there was so that the new piggy could stick to her food until she's settled in more, there is also a bowl of excel so if she wanted to try it she could, then I was going to gradually decrease the mix and increase the pellets until she was just eating pellets. Does it really matter that Willow and Marmalade are eating the mix? I'm worried about the new guinea-pig not getting enough food, should I top it up throughout the day or will that just make Willow and Marmalade eat more? Eventually I want them all to be on burgess excel

 

[Claire W]

To be honest, you can't stop Willow and Marmalade from eating the mix if they have access to it. Have you seen your new piggy eat the excel nuggets yet? If so, you could stop feeding the mix but if not, carry on feeding the mix but keep it topped up so there is enough for all 3 guinea pigs. You can then remove the mix once you are satisfied all 3 guinea pigs are eating the excel too.

 

[Amanda1801]

The Tesco GP mix isn't a great food (it's high in sugars and doesn't have stabilised vitamin C in it, so once the bag is opened, the vitamin C depletes quite quickly) so you're right to be wanting to get her off of it, and correct to do it gradually.

It's not a big deal if yours are eating a small amount for a little while - it won't do them any major harm. It also won't harm her if she's not eating "enough" of the tesco mix - it may encourage her to eat the excel nuggets instead! Just make sure that they're getting a variety of veg with at least one high vit C veg a day, and she should be fine. The dry food should make up a tiny amount of their overall diet, it doesn't matter if they don't eat much - the general rule is at least 80% hay, 15% fresh veg and 5% dry food, or there abouts.

 

[MargaretB]

I would have thought that there would have been long enough to switch brands while your new piggy was settling in and having her quarantine period so that when they were eventually introduced, they would all be on the same brand.

Personally now, I would just stick to your chosen brand of pellets.