How Many Bowls and Bottles?

It really helps to have 2 of everything. I have 4 boars and in each pen I have 2 bottles for water, two food dishes, 2 hay/litter bins and 3 hidey's with multiple ways in and out. It has stopped the fighting and everyone can have their own thing. Good luck with your pigs and be glad you found this site! It has SO much info. Be prepared to have a wonderful life full of wheeks and squeals from your spoiled piggers.

I discovered quickly that my boys needed a veggie and pellet bowl each to avoid squabbling (especially the veggie bowls).

I actually have about 8 small bowls (the pellet bowls I got look like plastic ash trays so that they can't be tipped easily, the ceramic veggie bowls I got at the thrift store, they're creme broulle/small souffle dishes and they were like .99/each), so that I can have extras to clean between feedings and to prep feedings ahead if I'm not going to be the one feeding the boys.

Some people say two water bottles are nessesary, so far I'm doing alright with one but I haven't had my boys very long and they really don't seem to drink much water.

I have two boys and I only have one large water bottle - they do fine with that, they take turns, and as they don't drink too much they don't really quarrell over it.

However they do bicker a bit about food and hay - I also find it easier with two hay racks and two bowls of veggies. They are okay with one larger bowl of pellets - they don't really eat pellets too much. When it comes to veggies and fruits though they go so far as to chase each other about when one of them gets a really good crunchy piece lol. So it's often a lot easier having two veggie bowls - they usually go to their seperate corners in the kitchen and munch away.

It depends on your pigs. My girls share one water bottle, one pellet dish, and one veggie dish. It works just fine. You can start with one of each thing and see how it goes. If you notice some squabbling, then add more. The only thing you should definitely have at least two, and preferably three, of is hideys.

I have one bowl for pellets, one big bowl for veggies, and 2 water bottles. I don't have a hay rack yet, so their hay is in another dish. It seems to be working out fine for now, but I have only had my 3 girls for about a week and a half now. When I do get a hay rack, the other dish will be used for pellets as well.

I just went out today to the Dollar Store and got some ceramic dishes, because they kept tipping the little plastic ones over and making a mess everywhere, these seem to be working better, since they are heavier, and the twins are too little to actually reach into them, so they kinda stand on the edge, and they still haven't tipped them over, I usually clean their cage after supper, and usually have a mess within the first 5 minutes of refilling their food dishes, no mess so far, so I think these dishes will be better.

Good luck with your new piggies!

My piggies seem to be fine sharing their. I have five girls and use two veggies bowls for them and one pellet bowl and haven't had any problems, and three water bottles (which I refill everyday...I may give them another).

My three boys share their veggies from one bowl and pellets from one bowl also and i haven't had any problems from them either. They have two water bottles.

I also have other three girls in a separate cage. I just introduce one with the other two (the twins) and they seem to be doing ok with sharing too. Although, the one girl who was used to being by herself is being a bit shy so I gave her a separate veggie bowl. They have two water bottles. One is 32 oz...the two girls (the twins) drink a lot!

So, so far, my piggies are great at sharing


...just in case you're confused I have 12 piggies in 3 cages

I only have one pellet bowl (they seems never fight for pellets, and share pretty good) two veggie bowls (i usually put them on the separate way to make them eat same proportion), one hay rack (since i give unlimited hay, they never fight for hay), and one hamster bottle for every cages. I have 4 piggies in 2 different cages.

I have three food dishes (never a problem though), two water bottles, 2 pigloos, 1 plastic wood-looking thing, 2 hayracks and 2 cozies.

I adopting another piggie or two next Saturday and plan to get one or two of everything so they all have their own.

Thanks SO much! This helps A LOT!

Barb1222 said:

My piggies seem to be fine sharing their. I have five girls and use two veggies bowls for them and one pellet bowl and haven't had any problems, and three water bottles (which I refill everyday...I may give them another).

My three boys share their veggies from one bowl and pellets from one bowl also and i haven't had any problems from them either. They have two water bottles.

I also have other three girls in a separate cage. I just introduce one with the other two (the twins) and they seem to be doing ok with sharing too. Although, the one girl who was used to being by herself is being a bit shy so I gave her a separate veggie bowl. They have two water bottles. One is 32 oz...the two girls (the twins) drink a lot!

So, so far, my piggies are great at sharing


...just in case you're confused I have 12 piggies in 3 cages

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HOLY COW!!!!! A dozen FULL GROWN pigs eh. I have 13/five adults and eight babies barely over a week old now. I can't imagine how much WORK you must do Course I will not have 13 much longer (about a month longer now) and I am run ragged keeping up with my little shitters LOL. Kudos to you for your dedication to your kids. Mine have squabbles over the four food bowls in the main pen where they are kept 10 hours a day but nothing serious. I only put one bottle in the pen and they do fine with that too but I do think having some extras for multiple pig households isn't a bad idea. Like you said, it all depends on the pigs personalities

We have two boys that share everything. I do have the hay/pellet bowl/water bowl on one floor of the cage and I put the veggie bowl in the other just in case someone decides to get bossy, but it is very rare that they are not eating from the same thing. It's funny, though, one piggy insists on the pellet dish being right at the edge of their "kitchen" so that he can have his little bum on the fleece outside the kitchen while he eats. If the bowl is not in the "right" place he goes and gets it and drags it backward with his teeth until it is where he likes it.

I even got rid of one hidey because I had them on different floors, one pig always rested in one, and his buddy (who is the one who is particular about the location of the pellet dish) always sacked out on the fleece right next to him anyhow. It all depends on the pigs!

My two boys have two pellet bowls (although, honestly, they still end up quarreling about who gets to eat out of the "good" one), and two water bottles (although they only use one regularly). There's one big hay rack. I just place all their veggies onto the fleece, so no fighting over bowls there. They also have two hideys on each floor, plus towel tents on the corners. Most of the time they just lay out on the fleece in the open, though. Goofy. Overall, there is minimal bickering -- pretty good for teenage boars.

Depends on the pig! My three girls share one pellet bowl, one veggie bowl, one water bottle, one hayrack, and three cuddle cups. They've never had problems sharing.

I would say that two water bottles are necessary in any cage to be honest. Not so much to prevent fighting but just in case one water bottle 'stops working' which can happen quite easily with ball-bearing style bottles that most of us use.

It's sensible to have two water bottles as it's unlikely that both bottles will stop working at once and it means that your Guinea Pigs don't have to face the danger of being without water should one of them fail.

I have had a water bottle 'stop working' - there was no way of knowing from the actual bottle itself. The degus were acting strangely and when I had them out to free range they were licking the floor tiles and I quickly realised what was wrong! The result of all this was that the degus refused to 'trust' a water bottle ever again and I had to use a fixed water bowl for them after this incident. Now I always use two sources of water in all my cages of animals - big or small.