Guinea pigs refuse hard toys/treats/food?

[Effie&Winnie]

Hi all,

I have noticed that my two guinea pigs (approx 10wks old) both refuse anything hard. They have two chew toys which they have never touched, they refuse treats I have offered which are hard (they take anything like dandelions/grass off me) and I have tried numerous vegetables but they only seem to eat the softer ones, refusing things like carrot, apple etc. I was wondering if this could be because they are still young so their teeth may have not developed in to adult teeth yet or can someone offer me another explanation?

Any advice would be great.
Thanks

 

[PipandPop]

The only hard food Pippin will eat is her pellets, and she prefers to have a drink first, and then have a pellet to make them softer. The only harder veg she will eat is pepper, but as long as she eats plenty of hay to wear her teeth down I don't mind. I think some piggies have a preference for softer foods. Just keep an eye on their teeth that they aren't becoming overgrown. If you want to encourage them to eat pellets then dipping them in water first sometimes encourages piggies to eat them. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will be along soon!

 

[MerryPip]

Most toys are pretty redundant for piggies. Their favourite items tend to be hay, veggies and cardboard! For chewing my lads love a good cardboard box, paper bag and lots and lots of hay.

A piggies diet should be around 80% hay and this is all they need to keep their teeth in trim. This is the most important thing you can give them. Most toys etc will be ignored. Fruit wood branches and willow balls etc are ok too.

Piggies can be fickle and if they are young they will just be experimenting with what they like to eat. I find fussy pigs often eat better if things are chopped up into little bits as well. My friends pigs refuse whole food in favour of stuff chopped up so try making a fruit and veg salad.

 

[Silly]

Hi all,

I have noticed that my two guinea pigs (approx 10wks old) both refuse anything hard. They have two chew toys which they have never touched, they refuse treats I have offered which are hard (they take anything like dandelions/grass off me) and I have tried numerous vegetables but they only seem to eat the softer ones, refusing things like carrot, apple etc. I was wondering if this could be because they are still young so their teeth may have not developed in to adult teeth yet or can someone offer me another explanation?

Any advice would be great.
Thanks

Possibly they never had anything hard in the way of veggies when they were younger, I don't know how long you have had them. keep giving them to try cut into small pieces rather than whole carrot, you could try grating some carrot up as well. Do they like pieces of salad pepper as it is high in vit c?

Guineas love cardboard boxes and they will chew on them, they also love to flick them around.

s x

 

[madguinealady]

you could also give them cardboard tubes from loo role or kitchen roll and stuff with hay On youtube there are tutorials on how to make cardboard toys They will all help their teeth My girls don't like chew toys but will eat hard veg