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Pigs Weight

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Garden

Garden

Junior Guinea Pig
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Wilbur and ozzy are growing at really different rates. Little wilbur was 270g on the 26 Feb now only 340g. Ozzy was 340g now 535g.

Ozzy feels solid but wilbur still feels light as a feather. Not worried Wilbur eating well just growing very slow like my middle child.
 
How old are they now?
 
I will told 7 weeks when we got them, but I now think wilbur was younger. so they are 11/12 weeks
 
Garden said:
I will told 7 weeks when we got them, but I now think wilbur was younger. so they are 11/12 weeks
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Guinea pig weights vary massively at any age when you consider that the birth weight can be anything from 40-140g (that is triple the size of the lower end!) and that a healthy adult weight depending on the size can be anything from 800-1800g, although about 80% of adult piggies tend to fall between 900-1300g. Piggies reach their adult size and weight at around 15 months old; that is also the time when their hormones start settling down more. Your little boys have still got way to go!

As long as your boys are putting on weight with every passing week until they are about 4-6 months old and coming close to their genetically determined individual size/weight ratio, then you don't have to worry.
I have got three litter sister who at 8 weeks had already 100g weight difference between them. As adults at the peak of their life, they are all falling into the ideal weight range, but the largest is about 200g heavier than the smallest. In the case of my two teddy sisters, the adult weight difference at the peak of their lives was 500g although it was small 1 kg Nia who was running my big group and not greedy, lazy 1500g Nerys! Nia died at nearly 6 years of age and Nerys is still with me at coming up to 8 years...

If you are worried about food hogging, I would strongly recommend to feed 40g pellets per boy per day (i.e. about two handfuls) in 2-3 smaller portions in a bowl each per boy (placed at least a body length apart) and to do the same with the ca. 50g daily veg per piggy, so both boys get their fair share and get only as much as they can eat straight away. In the meantime, they won't go hungry, as hay should make up to 80% of the daily food intake! :)

You may find these two threads here helpful:
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight
Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet
 
no I am not worried about food hogging. wilbur the small one will take food off ozzy if he wants it.Not fighting just pull it from his month. There are always pellets in the bowls and full hay racks
 
Garden said:
no I am not worried about food hogging. wilbur the small one will take food off ozzy if he wants it.Not fighting just pull it from his month. There are always pellets in the bowls and full hay racks
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I would recommend to clear the pellet bowl regularly anyway, as some youngsters like to pee in it and there is always poos ending up in there, too.

Youngsters learn what is safe to eat by snatching it from the mouths of adults/piggies of authority. Guinea pigs (like all rodents) can't vomit, so what has gone in has to come out at the other end. They also have roughtly double the amount of taste buds than we humans to make sure that they are avoiding poisoning themselves. ;)
 
I always feed pellets and veg first thing in the morning and again at night. do you think it would be better just to feed the pellets first and see if they then eat them
 
Garden said:
I always feed pellets and veg first thing in the morning and again at night. do you think it would be better just to feed the pellets first and see if they then eat them
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Whether you feed the veg or the pellets first, doesn't matter much, but it has worked for me for years now! :)
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Wow you do have a lot of piggies, I'd love more but hubby thinks 4 is enough lol. They are gorgeous :D
 
BB3 said:
Wow you do have a lot of piggies, I'd love more but hubby thinks 4 is enough lol. They are gorgeous :D
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Thanks! I have got two dozen at the moment - that is a whole room full... My hub has been complaining that more piggies are too much since I went from 2 to 4! :whistle:
 
BB3 said:
Oh my word! Are they all rescue pigs?
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Yes, with the exception of one whose owner was not allowed by the landlord to get her a new friend after her companion died; they are still keeping in touch and are visiting, so a rescue would have been the wrong place.
 
Some pigs are just bigger or smaller than average... my original pair of girls were hugely different in size, with Linney maxing out at just under three pounds while Frenzy maxed out around two pounds even! They just had wildly different bone structures... Linney had a broad head, big feet, broad ribcage, etc. and Frenzy had a delicate little face, dainty little feet, etc.
 
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