New diet, A few Problems

[Guineapigslave]

For the longest time I took bad care of my guinea pigs but in the last year or so I've have made a full 360! They went from a large pet store cage to a 15 square foot C&C cage. Before the only vegies I gave them were lettuce and carrots.

I know the lettuce is okay but carrots are bad in large amounts. Unfortunately this is all they like now. I have recently switched it to yellow bell peppers, romain lettuce, and cilantro. And the results are...

Lulu- Eats lettuce, nothing else.

Peanut- Eats lettuce, nothing else.

Thumper(baby)- Only eats hay and pellets.

Is there anything I can do to persuage them to eat the new vegies!?

Why are they so picky with what they eat?

All responses are greatly appreciated.

[Ly&Pigs]

The key is persistence and patience. You have to keep giving them the new veggies (bell peppers and cilantro) everyday for a while. Pigs are often picky about eating new things. Just offer it several times a day in small amounts. Then once they do eat it, offer it daily in larger amounts. Work up to 1/8 of a bell pepper per pig and a good handful of cilantro.

In the meantime, don't offer carrots.

[MapleSyrup]

Give them a little time to get used to eat the veggies. Maple used to not like Green Bell Peppers, but I kept on trying and now she eats every bit of it! Keep on giving them the veggies, but give them by hand until they eat every bit of it for you to put in a bowl. Some piggies like to be hand fed than eat from a bowl.

[Kareen]

My trick with the bell peppers was to cut them into extremely small pieces (about the size of a grain of rice) and mixing them with the lettuce. There was really no way for them to pick out the peppers. By sneaking them in this way I guess they developed a taste for the peppers because eventually I started cutting them into larger pieces and the piggies loved them!

[JD In Van]

I find sometimes it's best to offer new foods before they get their other foods so they're hungry. So like when I was trying to get my guys to eat Zucchini I would give it about 20 before they got their lettuce and stuff. With out other favorites around they were more willing to taste it. I also offer new foods between rather then at meals and that helps too for the same reasons.

[hurleyslave]

I'm having the same problem as well. My piggie only nibbles on ONE piece of lettuce and leaves everything else. Do I take pellets out of the equation for the time being and just make him eat veggies and hay? Or is that not a good idea?

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Because they are pet store pigs. Pet stores and breeding mills don't feed them veggies. They are not picky really - they just don't know it is food and as prey animals, they don't eat strange things so they can stay alive.

[Cogni]

I followed Ly and others' suggestions, focusing on the patience part, and my piggies now eat things they rejected earlier, notably green peppers and cilantro. (they still won't eat the stems of cilantro though, even though they gobble much tougher stems of parsley sprigs. )
For green peppers, I got small very fresh ones with light green parts, and cut them into strips. I hand fed the strips and they took them that way although ignoring the strips on a plate at first. But soon they went for the strips on the plate too and now they eat all green peppers I offer. It is still not their absolute favorite but I feed them first thing in the morning when they are hungry and have not had veggies for many hours. Only after they finish their alloted pepper strips do they get a little treat.

[JD In Van]

I'm having the same problem as well. My piggie only nibbles on ONE piece of lettuce and leaves everything else. Do I take pellets out of the equation for the time being and just make him eat veggies and hay? Or is that not a good idea?

So you know how old he is? If he's over 6 months you should be restricting his pellets to 1/8 - 1/4 cup a day at most.

You can also divide this into two feedings which you give AFTER veggies not before. That way they don't stuff themselves with pellets instead of eatting thier veggies.

[donaldsl]

I seem to be having the same problem with some of my pigs. The woman that I got them from was only feeding pellets (rabbit pellets to be exact). Thats what she was told to feed them by the petstore. So the babies that i have will not eat pellets or vggies or hay for that matter. They are approx 6 weeks old she said. The older two that I have love the lettuce!

Any suggestions??

Thanks!