Switching foods and selective eating

[iamsnape]

For a year I've been feeding the pigs Wagg Guinea Pig Crunch, but recently I've wanted to change foods, due to the amount of mixed colours (can't be a good thing) and seeds in it. So I bit the bullet and bought some burgess excel (the blackcurrant an oregano one). For a few days I've been mixing it with Wagg, but with their old food there, they won't touch the new stuff. I'm worried about just giving them the excel in case they don't eat it at all.

How do you go about successfully changing their food? Or do you think they'll stop being fussy and eat it if it's there?
If they really won't have it I'll go back to wagg (excel is double the price so my bank balance won't mind) but I'd like to think they're getting a higher quality of pellets.

 

[klee]

For a year I've been feeding the pigs Wagg Guinea Pig Crunch, but recently I've wanted to change foods, due to the amount of mixed colours (can't be a good thing) and seeds in it. So I bit the bullet and bought some burgess excel (the blackcurrant an oregano one). For a few days I've been mixing it with Wagg, but with their old food there, they won't touch the new stuff. I'm worried about just giving them the excel in case they don't eat it at all.

How do you go about successfully changing their food? Or do you think they'll stop being fussy and eat it if it's there?
If they really won't have it I'll go back to wagg (excel is double the price so my bank balance won't mind) but I'd like to think they're getting a higher quality of pellets.

My girls weren't keen on the blackcurrant and oregano excel, they love the harringtons pellets and I mix a little bit of excel original and normally they will have eaten it all by the end of night. between 4 they have 2 small bowls half full with pellets. Harringtons you can get from Asda or online ( not sure where else sells it) it works out about 3.98 a bag.

Meant to add, Rosie has had wagg crunch for about 6 years of her life until we got the other girls last year when we gradually changed to harringtons and then added a little excel for variety. Rosie loves harringtons tons more than the wagg cruch and she can be quite fussy.

 

[Rodentopia]

I would possibly try putting a small bowl of the new stuff in and seeing if it goes down at all maybe do this in a morning, not a large amount just small and see how much has gone by evening time. I think as long as you feed plenty of hay and good selection of veggies the pellets/dried food ain't so much of an issue. I'm weaning some rescues i took in off wagg at the moment and they are now leaving the wagg for the plain old pellets and got nearly a full bag

 

[iamsnape]

Done that, they've had a poke at it and eaten a couple of pellets but haven't been scoffing it like they normally do. They've had lettuce & tomato today though and hay so they might not be that hungry. Knowing them they're just ignoring it til their wagg turns up but they may end up trying more of it by tonight.

 

[MrsSuzy]

It might be that they simply don't like those nuggets. When I changed my girls diet I first bought the Burgess blackcurrant and they didn't touch it. I then tried the mint and they loved it. If you can, try different brands to see if it makes a difference. I then donated the blackcurrant one to a rescue.

 

[NASH]

They are like fussy children aren't they? When we first had Frank he would only eat a special dried food mix that we couldn't buy around here, i was reduced to buying loose mix at a pet shop and picking all the peas out for him to eat! I kept trying him with the wagg nuggets but he turned his fussy nose up. I mixed them with the peas, i tried different nuggets all to no avail. We went away for a week and my mother looked after the piggies, when we got back Frank was munching on the nuggets with no peas without so much as a wheek of apology, my mother just gave him the same stuff as the others and I think he realised it was nuggets or nothing! In the past with other piggies we have mixed their usual food with the new stuff and gradually reduced the amount of the old and luckily it has worked every time. Good luck.