New Hay, Piggies didn’t eat a lot of it

S'mores and Pockets

S'mores and Pockets

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello!
Last night I bought my piggies a new brand of hay. It’s Timothy hay, the same kind they normally have. I normally buy the Oxbow Hay, but decided to buy this new hay because it was cheaper and came with more. They normally finish all their hay during the night but this morning they still have half their hay rack filled. So they didn’t eat a lot of it.
Does it take time to get used to new hay? Should I go back to the Oxbow Hay? I think I can return the bag, even if it’s opened.

Thank you!
 
Hello and welcome. The same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I was worried they would lose weight. But over about 5 days they were eating more and more of it 👍. I think it just takes them a little while to realise that nothing else is coming so they have to eat it. They are fine now and didn’t lose any weight. Keep your eye of their weight for a week or so to make sure they are eating enough.
 
My piggies are picky with Timothy. They love it but only eat the seed heads and leafy bits. All the hard stalky bits get left and eventually end up in the bin.

Spud has so far taken to all the hay types I've given, but Dash was a bit funny with the Orchard I tried. He will eat it though if there's nothing else going.
 
weepweeps said:
Hello and welcome. The same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I was worried they would lose weight. But over about 5 days they were eating more and more of it 👍. I think it just takes them a little while to realise that nothing else is coming so they have to eat it. They are fine now and didn’t lose any weight. Keep your eye of their weight for a week or so to make sure they are eating enough.
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Thank you! I will make sure to keep an eye on their weight. I’m also worried they might lose weight, but if they don’t start to eat more hay in maybe a week, I’ll probably switch back to the normal hay.
 
CV26 said:
My piggies are picky with Timothy. They love it but only eat the seed heads and leafy bits. All the hard stalky bits get left and eventually end up in the bin.

Spud has so far taken to all the hay types I've given, but Dash was a bit funny with the Orchard I tried. He will eat it though if there's nothing else going.
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Yes my piggies are also picky, they “waste” a lot of the hay. Leaving the stalky bits. Another reason I bought the new hay was because I thought they maybe would eat it all. Although the new hay has more brown dried bits than I would like. I might try a Timothy and Orchard mixture, some people say that their piggies don’t waste as much.
 
Have you tried orchard hay? My piggies love that! They hated their timothy hay and refused to eat it. Orchard hay is softer and has less stalky bits then timothy hay. I use the Oxbow orchard hay and I order it in a 50 lb box, but they do have smaller sizes if you don't have the room for that much hay.
 
RedLoredAmazon said:
Have you tried orchard hay? My piggies love that! They hated their timothy hay and refused to eat it. Orchard hay is softer and has less stalky bits then timothy hay. I use the Oxbow orchard hay and I order it in a 50 lb box, but they do have smaller sizes if you don't have the room for that much hay.
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I just ordered the Oxbow Timothy and Orchard mix! Hopefully they will waste less 🤞 They only have 90oz bags of the mix, but if they don’t like the mix I might buy the 25 or 50 lb of Oxbow Timothy hay!
 
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