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Pellets guinea pigs not eating new pellets

blaze462

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My two guinea pigs Rosalina and Zelda have been on some pretty unhealthy pellets because I thought that there weren't any healthy pellets where I live, but i recently found Oxbow Cavy Cuisine and bought it for them. I've been introducing it to them slowly and been mixing it with their other pellets ( 1/4 of that to 3/4 their other pellets) and they haven't been eating the Oxbow ones. I understand that they'll obviously eat the unhealthy ones first, like offering a kid a cheeseburger and an apple, 9 times out of 10 they'll choose the hamburger, but they just won't eat all the Oxbow ones, they eat some, but they never finish them, they eat about half of the Oxbow after they've eaten all their other ones, but they barely finish them, and I have been doing this for about a week. Apart from the pellets they get a healthy diet in all other aspects, they get about 2 cups of vegges a day, unlimited Oaten hay (there's no Timothy hay where i live and i get it fresh and green from a horse supplier and they love it) fruit about once a week, and obviously fresh water in a bottle at all times. I'd just like to know how to get them to eat the Oxbow pellets because I really want them to have the best possible life and the old pellets are quite bad.
 

bpatters

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I'd just stop feeding the old ones. They'll eat the Oxbow ones if they're hungry enough, and it won't hurt if they don't finish them. My three get 3/8 of a cup of pellets every night. Sometimes they scarf them all right up, and sometimes the dish will still be nearly full the next day.
 

blaze462

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Thanks, but should i still only give them a small amount and slowly build it up? Because i don't want to hurt their digestive system
 

FoxOfShadows

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full amount is fine...my two youngest were on junky pellets and once i had them hpme they got KMS pellets my other pair eat and got their full 1/8th cup each and did fine
 

bpatters

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No, you can give them whatever you feed them. If they're not eating much of them, giving them a small amount isn't going to make any difference.
 

pigger123

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I don't know why it's such common advice to introduce new foods slowly for guinea pigs. I have never heard of any piggy actually getting an upset stomach from it, and all my pets (piggies, rabbit, hedgehog) have always been perfectly fine abruptly switching to new foods. The only thing you have to watch out for is if they're not eating anything at all, but as long as they're still eating hay it's okay for them to not eat all their pellets.
 

bpatters

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I agree with you about pellets, @pigger123. It's more important to introduce fresh foods slowly, particularly some of them. Starting off with too much fresh green grass, for instance, can cause major digestive upsets, not only in guinea pigs, but in other animals as well.
 
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