Picky Piggies

Cavymama78

Cavymama78

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Apr 14, 2020
Messages
79
Reaction score
89
Points
170
Location
Northern California
Do you ask havebsupernpicky piggies? Here they are wheeking and STARVING! But what is this? Beet stalks? Parsley? Carrots?!? Kibble?! No way, Jose! How dare you?
I swear my little Angel's are way too spoiled.only green lead maybe red leaf lettuce, cilantro, cucumber, and bell pepper, otherwise I'll turn my little piggy nose up at it! One of my piggies picks our all the vitamin c yummies from his kibble and doesnt touch any of the pellets at all! And if that hay isn't fresh? Shoot, I might as well just try and feed them garbage
Who else has picky piggies?
 
Mine are luckily quite good eaters. Even strawberries that used to make them back up and run off in terror (never understood that 🤷🏾‍♀️) are now eaten!

Just a little something. I notice you say kibble where one picks out the bits. Muesli isnt good for piggies. It can lead to selective eating and also the seeds and nuts in there can pose a choking hazard. They’re also not needed in piggy diets. It’s best to get them a hay based pellet and not muesli mix.

Pigtures please 😁
 
I would avoid it.

First off - if says food and treat in one - that would be a clue that the ingredients aren’t great!

Secondly, having looked at the ingredients, I would definitely avoid. It’s full of fruit and sugar. The first ingredient on the list is alfalfa which is very high in calcium and is not good to be fed to guinea pigs.

The fact you said that he only eats the treats means that he is selective feeding and only picking out the sweet, fattening bits.

You want to feed one tablespoon per pig per day of a plain hay/grass based pellet. This is our comparison chart Nugget Comparison Chart. The pellets bridge any gaps and ensure they get all round nutrition but they need to be kept strictly limited with the main part of the diet being hay, with a small amount of veggies and an even smaller amount of plain pellets

Some further guides Pellets Or Muesli / Dry Mix?
 
Last edited:
Piggies&buns said:
I would avoid it.

First off - if says food and treat in one - that would be a clue that the ingredients aren’t great!

Secondly, having looked at the ingredients, I would definitely avoid. It’s full of fruit and sugar. The first ingredient on the list is alfalfa which is very high in calcium and is not good to be fed to guinea pigs.

The fact you said that he only eats the treats means that he is selective feeding and only picking out the sweet, fattening bits.

You want to feed one tablespoon per pig per day of a plain hay/grass based pellet. This is our comparison chart Nugget Comparison Chart. The pellets bridge any gaps and ensure they get all round nutrition but they need to be kept strictly limited with the main part of the diet being hay, with a small amount of veggies and an even smaller amount of plain pellets

Some further guides Pellets Or Muesli / Dry Mix?
Click to expand...
You are awesome! Thank you!
 
Piggies&buns said:
I would avoid it.

First off - if says food and treat in one - that would be a clue that the ingredients aren’t great!

Secondly, having looked at the ingredients, I would definitely avoid. It’s full of fruit and sugar. The first ingredient on the list is alfalfa which is very high in calcium and is not good to be fed to guinea pigs.

The fact you said that he only eats the treats means that he is selective feeding and only picking out the sweet, fattening bits.

You want to feed one tablespoon per pig per day of a plain hay/grass based pellet. This is our comparison chart Nugget Comparison Chart. The pellets bridge any gaps and ensure they get all round nutrition but they need to be kept strictly limited with the main part of the diet being hay, with a small amount of veggies and an even smaller amount of plain pellets

Some further guides Pellets Or Muesli / Dry Mix?
Click to expand...
Okay, so I think I may be feeding them too much and maybe that's why they are picky. I keep hay full at all times, filling up probably three times a day. I do a probably 1/8th of a cup of kibble, twice girls, because they eat it and once a day for the boys. I feed Veg in the morning, a little treat midday(and a snack before bed. This morning I fed them the parsley first and they ate it. If I offer it last, they don't.
 
I give them a leaf of lettuce in the morning and a few pieces of parsley or cilantro. At mid-day a slice of cucumber or bell pepper. And in the evening a few pieces of cilantro.
 
I can’t help thinking that maybe pickiness isn’t the right phrasing.
If you are feeding that dry food in the picture - that isn’t pickiness. That is selective feeding - they are choosing to eat the sweet bits, and leaving the pieces which aren’t full of sugar.
Giving it to the girls twice is only encouraging the selectiveness but it’s also overdoing the sugar.
As I have said - I would absolutely switch to a plain pellet and stop feeding that dry mix. There is nothing healthy about that type of food.

Your feeding ratios sound fine but that’s only if you are sticking to it! Weights can be more useful as a guide for veg and dry food. Hay obviously you can’t weigh out!

Hay, hay and more hay as the main part. Around one cup of veg per day and one tablespoon per pig per day of plain pellets.

How you split their feeding is entirely up to you, that in itself won’t create ‘pickiness’.

This is how I choose to do my feeding - For breakfast my boys get hay and i sprinkle their one tablespoon of pellets each on the floor and they forage for them. Any pellets that are left after about an half an hour/45 minutes I scoop up and throw away. I top up their hay as and when throughout the day (usually 3 of 4 times a day). In the evening I give them their one cup of veg each (again sprinkled around to encourage foraging) and ensure hay is topped up for the night.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top