Piggies favorite foods

[Kealie78]

Mine all have to be difficult..haha The girl (Sugar) doesn't like collard greens, kale, corn on the cob or apple that much. My oldest boar Robin will eat just about anything but corn on the cob and squash. The other two boys will eat just about anything.

Now, they are afraid of one food.... I have no idea why! But, if you put banana in their cage they FREAK out! They run from it! Oddest thing I have ever seen.

They all love melons, sweet peppers, carrotts, their daily lettuces, seedless grapes (split in two for them), dandilions and spinach

[Partera]

The more I get to know my pig the more picky I believe he might be. He doesn't like 90% of the new foods I give him, I don't blame him he spent his life on petstore food so it's all very new.

Rejects:
Yellow squash
Oranges and peels
Bananas and peels
Green pepper
corn
Cilantro (I was sooo disappointed as everyone assured me he would love it)
watermelon and rind
apples
celery


Likes:
Leafy green lettuce
yard grass
grapes (he had one today for the first time, gobbled it)
broccoli (only sometimes)
hay
carrots

[this_lil_piggy]

Piggies can be pretty stubborn. I try to offer something several times before I chalk it up to a dislike. 9 of 10 times they will give in and eventually begin eating the items.
You might try tossing a little of the "rejected" items in the cage once in a while and they may finally take up with them.

[ellig123]

Lettuce is always the first thing to go out of Tabitha's bowl. She also loves red pepper, cucumber and bits of apple. When I cut grass for her she likes to tip it all over the floor, making as much mess as possible, and then loves to eat that too. She's not keen on carrots though and broccoli isn't that popular with her.

[Partera]

Piggies can be pretty stubborn. I try to offer something several times before I chalk it up to a dislike.

Oh yeah, just like toddlers. I keep giving him stuff (local organic produce ain't cheap!) and being amused as he throws it out of his bowl.

[Piggersrule]

Persistance usually pays off in the long run. If you keep offering something they don't like they may start to eat it. My son is driving me nuts, He keeps eating the piggies veggies. This morning my poor piggies didn't have much of a variety to eat. My son ate the last of the peppers, squash, zuccinni, cucumbers, eggplant, left very little carrots and ate most of the bag of lettuce. He eats this stuff like they were apples and the lettuce he eats right out of the bag. What am I gonna do?

[TX_2_Pigs]

Originally Posted by Piggersrule

What am I gonna do?

Buy more veggies.

Seriously though, it is good that he is snacking on veggies and not junk food. I wish I had that problem.

[Piggersrule]

It seems like the more I buy the more he eats. Alex has always been this way, he will eat fresh/raw veggies over a bag a chips which I am glad for. I remember once when he was still in diapers, he ate so many carrots that his poop was orange for 2 days. The only veggie he will eat cooked is corn on the cob with no butter or salt. He refuses to eat any veggie that is canned. My husband and I used to have a garden and when my kids were around 10 years old, I caught both of them eating the brussel sprouts right off the stem. We though we were having a problem with raccoons eating our corn. We were finding corn cobs that were husked and eaten. Turned out to be my kids were doing it. They would rip the carrots right out of the ground and eat them. Alex doesn't like candy or chocolate so for Easter I fill his basket with fruits and veggies and hard boiled eggs, he is in heaven all week.

[Piggersrule]

Well, I broke down and bought some beets. All the girls loved the green leafy part but will only get once in a great while. April and May didn't care for the beets themselves. The rest of my girls went nuts over them. Lona, who has finally started to grow a backbone was chasing Miss piggy for her share of the beets, better luck next time Lona.

[this_lil_piggy]

My two kids are polar opposites.
I have to make sure Jacob gets vitamin supplements.. He doesn't/won't eat any meats or fruits at all. He likes most all cooked veggies, but the only raw veggies he will eat are broccoli and carrots if he has ranch to dip them in.
Elijah eats anything that doesn't eat him first. He likes meat, and he adores all fruit. He eats all veggies, cooked or raw, it doesn't matter to him one bit. He will take tomatoes out of my fridge and eat them like apples. He will take the bags of lettuce out and snack on it as if it were junk food. He will pick something fresh to eat, especially tomatoes and strawberries, over a cookie or candy any day.
Funny how the two of them turned out with such different tastes and likes.

[Piggersrule]

With my two boys, their only real differences are with their personalities. My youngest, Ben is very out going, never shuts up and is my dare devil. Alex is very quiet, too himself kind of person. His IQ is at a genius level. Alex never got into anything. He could sit and play a board game by himself for hours and the funny part about that is.....he didn't always win!! Ben on the other hand was born with suction cups for hands and feet. He would climb anything and I do mean EVERYTHING.

[webjetter]

My girls love these: red, orange, yellow, and green peppers ... romaine lettuce ... fresh grass ... corn on the cob ... Spring Mix ... spinach ... parsley ... oranges ... apple ... strawberries & their tops ... watermelon ... grapefruit ... red seedless grapes. I only give them the fruit as treats once or twice weekly but they get generous portions of the peppers, lettuce and grass every day and I alternate among the other favorite veggies on different days.

It's sooooo cute how they go nuts when they hear the sequence of events leading to veggie time! My P.J. is the vocal one and she wheeks and beeps like crazy when all these activities are in order: refrigerator door opens, ziplock bags rustle, chopping begins, ziplock bags rustle closed, faucet comes on, refrigerator door closes. My hubby feeds them fresh grass every afternoon and she wheeks and beeps if she hears the flip flops hit the tile floor, the front door opening, the front door closing, and flip flops back on the tile.

I, too, recommend patience with re-introducing veggies. I've had my girls 2 1/2 months now and they went from eating 4 things when I first got them to now eating 14 things so far. I keep buying new veggies to use in our family's meals and letting the piggies sample them. I'll first give the new item alone when they're hungry and then if they don't like it I'll mix it in with their favorite foods within a couple of days. If they still don't eat it I move on to something else and try again weeks later. I keep a list so I can remember what I've tried.

Actually, this has inspired my hubby and I to eat more veggies -- especially as snacks in substitution of junk food. Thanks, little piglets!

[Ly&Pigs]

I just want to say to everyone to be very careful in feeding spinach. It's through the roof in oxalic acid, it's high in A and calcium. I eliminated it from my girls diet many months ago. The extremely high levels of oxalic acid in it concern me as oxalic acid can bind with calcium and cause oxalate stones.

[envisionary333]

My piggies eat basically everything. I give them romaine lettuce, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, and peppers (every color) daily. Every other day I give them celery, parsley, cucumber, zucchini, strawberries, and squash. Twice a week I throw in some apples and oranges. I literally bring them their food on a silver platter every morning before I eat my own breakfast. They are SPOILED!!!

[webjetter]

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

I just want to say to everyone to be very careful in feeding spinach. It's through the roof in oxalic acid, it's high in A and calcium. I eliminated it from my girls diet many months ago. The extremely high levels of oxalic acid in it concern me as oxalic acid can bind with calcium and cause oxalate stones.

Wow, I see on the nutrition chart that the oxalic acid content is outrageous, the highest on the chart. I only give them 3 or 4 little leaves of spinach once every few weeks or so ... is that okay or should I just stop feeding it? Thank you Ly&Pigs.

[envisionary333]

Here is a photo of my guinea pigs' typical breakfast (and yes, I do always bring it to them on the silver tray- they like breakfast in bed)...