My babies won't eat pellets

Lovely V

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello everyone! I am a new mommy to 2 female guinea pigs (Rogue & Domino). I've had them for 2 months so far. They were 8 weeks olds when I got them. It's has been 2 months so far and I have been having a hard time trying to get them to eat the pellets. They love their hay and veggies especially parsley. I have tried 4 different brands of Timothy based pellets, and still my babies won't eat them. What am I doing wrong?
 
Hello everyone! I am a new mommy to 2 female guinea pigs (Rogue & Domino). I've had them for 2 months so far. They were 8 weeks olds when I got them. It's has been 2 months so far and I have been having a hard time trying to get them to eat the pellets. They love their hay and veggies especially parsley. I have tried 4 different brands of Timothy based pellets, and still my babies won't eat them. What am I doing wrong?
 
Sometimes it's hard to get piggies to eat new foods, but you have the opposite problem of most people! Usually new piggies (especially pet shop ones) wont eat veggies and gorge themselves on pellets. Try to add tiny bit of veggie into their pellet bowls - once they go for the veg, they will get some pellets in the mouthful. Keep their pellet bowls near their hay to encourage them to smell it. Use pellets as treats, act like it's a reward. When you feed them veggies, shake the pellet bag/container to create a positive association with the sound of the pellets.
Feed them a large variety of veggies, and you should be fine without pellets, however they add a sense of security that your piggies are getting everything they need.
 
What pellets were they on when you got them? I’d buy those and then slowly start introducing the pellets you want them to eat. By the time the bag is finished they would hopefully be eating the ones you want to give them.

Our girls were like that. They were on burgess excel and would plain refuse to eat Harrington’s. In the end I had to go cold turkey. Now they eat them no problem 🙄
 
Hello everyone! I am a new mommy to 2 female guinea pigs (Rogue & Domino). I've had them for 2 months so far. They were 8 weeks olds when I got them. It's has been 2 months so far and I have been having a hard time trying to get them to eat the pellets. They love their hay and veggies especially parsley. I have tried 4 different brands of Timothy based pellets, and still my babies won't eat them. What am I doing wrong?
are they in a bowl ? You could try just scatter feeding them and see if that works. Might do

Welcome to the forum 😊
 
Please ask to have one of your threads deleted.
 
Hi @Lovely V I have merged your threads so all the advice is in one place for you

Please ask to have one of your threads deleted.

If you notice duplicate threads the easiest way to highlight this to moderators is to hit the report button. Then we can merge or delete as appropriate once one of us is online :)
 
Sometimes it's hard to get piggies to eat new foods, but you have the opposite problem of most people! Usually new piggies (especially pet shop ones) wont eat veggies and gorge themselves on pellets. Try to add tiny bit of veggie into their pellet bowls - once they go for the veg, they will get some pellets in the mouthful. Keep their pellet bowls near their hay to encourage them to smell it. Use pellets as treats, act like it's a reward. When you feed them veggies, shake the pellet bag/container to create a positive association with the sound of the pellets.
Feed them a large variety of veggies, and you should be fine without pellets, however they add a sense of security that your piggies are getting everything they need.

Thank you so much for the advice. I have two bowls for food. One for pellets and one for veggies. So I will definitely try to hide a veggie or two under their pellets.
 
What pellets were they on when you got them? I’d buy those and then slowly start introducing the pellets you want them to eat. By the time the bag is finished they would hopefully be eating the ones you want to give them.

Our girls were like that. They were on burgess excel and would plain refuse to eat Harrington’s. In the end I had to go cold turkey. Now they eat them no problem 🙄

Thanks for the advice. I never thought about asking what they were on before I got them. I will definitely have to go back to Petco. They didn't really give me advice other than showing me where the food and bedding was located. I have been doing some research to make sure my babies are receiving the best care possible.
 
Hi @Lovely V I have merged your threads so all the advice is in one place for you



If you notice duplicate threads the easiest way to highlight this to moderators is to hit the report button. Then we can merge or delete as appropriate once one of us is online :)
Thanks for the pointer 😊 Thoughg the reporting thing is for worse things 😳
 
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