Healthier replacement for pellet food mix-ins?

[aspiring_dino]

When we got my pigs they were on a very low quality diet of low quality pellet food, one fresh veg a day, and very dusty hay. We quickly switched them over to a healthier fresh veg diet, a higher quality hay, and higher quality pellet food. We feed them oxbow pellets now but they won't eat the pellets unless we add some kind of treat/mix-in (like the dried pea flakes/carrots, things like Kaytee's "nature forage blend"). We only mix in a tiny pitch. We know these pre-made ones aren't healthy though, and sometimes have too much of something they really shouldn't be having at all so we were interested in making their own or if anyone had any recommendations for brands that sell a more guinea pig friendly one! (in the US)
In terms of making our own, it would just be dehydrated veg correct? Adding in veg that are healthier for them on a daily basis or that they can have more of? Theres nothing really special about these mix ins right? Like we could dice our own carrots, peppers, etc and dry them/dehydrate them and mix them in and it'd be a lot healthier right?

 

[weepweeps]

Hello. Pellets are the least healthy part of their diet. There are people on here who don’t feed pellets everyday. If your piggies don’t eat them I wouldn’t worry. Just give them another handful of good quality hay instead.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I would not be dehydrating veg and adding it in just to get them to eat their pellets. Just simply offer them their one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day and if they don’t eat them, then that is their choice. Pellets are the least important part (I only feed pellets about 3-4 times per week) and instead they get plenty of hay, one cup or so of veg per pig per day and some dried forage leaves (not dried carrot etc due to the fact the sugars are much higher when veg is dried (the water is removed but sugars left and therefore get concentrated)).

 

[aspiring_dino]

I would not be dehydrating veg and adding it in just to get them to eat their pellets. Just simply offer them their one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day and if they don’t eat them, then that is their choice. Pellets are the least important part (I only feed pellets about 3-4 times per week) and instead they get plenty of hay, one cup or so of veg per pig per day and some dried forage leaves (not dried carrot etc due to the fact the sugars are much higher when veg is dried (the water is removed but sugars left and therefore get concentrated)).

Thank you for this! I didn't know about the sugar-water part! One of our pigs we think is still under a year (when we got him we were told he was 6 months but we think he was a lot closer to 3 months based on his physical development) is there any concern about how much he's eating with still being young? We think this summer he will be a year.

Also, we tried this product a guinea pig shop online was selling at one point- they were "carrots" (hay wrapped in corn husk to look like a carrot) and they had different pig safe herbs mixed in as a forage kind of thing, our boys loved them so we started growing some of our own herbs for them. We're a little worried about just cutting them cold turkey off their pellet food and the mix-ins because it was all they ate when they came from their old house (they've gotten a lot better but some days they're still very picky about what they'll eat), would it be okay to mix a little pinch of herbs in their pellet food and slowly take away mix-ins completely? I figure herbs mixed in is probably somewhat healthier than dried vegg/fruit mix-ins.

 

[Siikibam]

You could mix in some herbs. But if they still don’t eat them then I’d just abandon the idea. What you’d have to do then is to ensure their diet is varied. You could try getting them some forage. You could hide the forage underneath the hay, or inside a paper bag (handles cut off) stuffed with hay as well.

Pellets are a very small part of their diet and so I don’t know that it would have a large impact if stopped cold turkey style.

In that note, I need to let the piggies know it’s back to pellet free Sundays

 

[Piggies&buns]

Once weaned, their diet is an adult one in that it needs to be 80% hay, one cup of veg and just one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day.
As long as they are eating plenty of hay and a good variety of veg, the pellets aren’t essential (they have their place in ensuring a mix of nutrients are provided but that’s only any good if they are eating them!)
Fresh herbs are healthier and would be part of their daily veg allowance.

I simply throw veg in loose into a pile of hay and then on a pellet day, I throw the pellets in loose with the veg into the same hay. They forage through and find what they want.