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Won't Eat My guy won't eat his pellets

chrisshane09

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I am glad to report that Lenny has started eating his Bell Pepper, and will be getting him more veggies to try today, but he won't touch his pellets.

At first he wouldn't eat the kind that came with the kit (Fiesta) So I bought just the pellets at walmart, and he has decided not to eat those. I pour in some of the fiesta brand and he eats the dehydrated veggies (The bad parts)

Any Suggestions? It seems like the beginning is a lot of trial and error.
 

foggycreekcavy

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Any pellets you can buy at Walmart are not going to be a good quality. Neither are the Fiesta. You need a guinea pig pellet with some type of hay as the first ingredient (either alfalfa or timothy, depending on the age of the pig).

The best brand to buy at a store is Oxbow. Check pet supply stores. The best brand to get online is (broken link removed) .
 

chrisshane09

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I will get this right eventually, thank you.
 

Mellisenda

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I went through this with my two boys when we first got them. They were spoiled from junk food. The gradually adjusted to the Oxbow Cavy Cuisine pellets (one of the best) when they realized that was all they were getting until dinner time. Now they eat them just fine, and no more than 2 tablespoons each per day. Tough love, lol. It really is what is best for them.
 

chrisshane09

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You measure it out?
I wasn't sure if that was ok, I have his edibles just in the cage for when he wants them.
 

Mellisenda

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You measure it out?
I wasn't sure if that was ok, I have his edibles just in the cage for when he wants them.

Yeah. The appropriate amount is 1/8th cup pellets, or 2 tablespoons, per piggy per day and 1 cup fresh food (ie. romaine, green leaf lettuce, bell pepper, etc.). :)
 

lissie

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You measure it out?
I wasn't sure if that was ok, I have his edibles just in the cage for when he wants them.

If your guinea pig is less than 6 months old, he can have unlimited pellets.

Hay should be unlimited, 24/7.
 

chrisshane09

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Petco told me hes "Less than 6 months old"
I guess I'll just need to watch him. Thank you both.
 

puddin18

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I gradually took the junk out of mines food when I first got her. I did it over a week. I just picked the bad stuff out. She eventually got to where she was fine with just pellets. But, as others have mentioned a better quality pellet is best. My male was eating cheap pellets when I first got him and he would actually pick the KMS pellets out when I was switching him over. So they can tell the difference.

They are like kids and try to get over on you. My male wouldn't touch bell peppers at all at first, but now he really likes them. Good luck.
 

Rhyue

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I think a good quality pellet will help tempt your piggy as well. I had girls a long time ago (10-15+ years) which were fed a cheaper brand, probably kaytee or something. And they were never interested in their pellets, just the junk, and even then they weren't all that amazed by them.

With my boys they have oxbow and they're just as excited about the pellets as they are fresh veggies. They run up to the front of the cage and hope to get a few pellets hand fed right to their mouths. They were feed a cheaper brand for a little while (don't remember what, it was just one bad, if I even finished it). It was a non-junk stuff straight pellet, but it had a preservative in it that wasn't rated for human consumption and was also often used as a pesticide with suspicion of being a carcinogen so I was just like NOPE new food and found oxbow. They weren't anywhere as thrilled with the old stuff either.
 

Artista

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My gp was eating pure pellets but it wasn't Oxbow or KMS. The funny thing is I got the gp cage and start up kit and in it was Fiesta food, Kaytee Hay, some bird toy and a cheap water bottle. Petco said this super pet cage is big and the pellets and Kaytee hay are the best! Yeah, right. I immediately tossed the pellets because it was full of junk and everything else but kept the cage for if I need to have someone watch her for a short time at their own home.

After 5 months with my girl, she and I have bonded very nicely. She is sometimes too glued to me but that's ok! The benefit for her with having me home 24/7 with no one else around. I even sleep right next to her and many times she wakes up so do I and we chat together.

Since we have bonded, she is eating more pellets. She has built this trust at long last! I pretend to eat them myself and go mmm mmm and it makes her to want to eat what mom is eating. Otherwise before she would eat 1/16 cup of her KMS pellets a day most of the time. 1/8 cups is 1 oz so I use a 1 oz shot glass to measure.
 

chrisshane09

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My gp was eating pure pellets but it wasn't Oxbow or KMS. The funny thing is I got the gp cage and start up kit and in it was Fiesta food, Kaytee Hay, some bird toy and a cheap water bottle. Petco said this super pet cage is big and the pellets and Kaytee hay are the best! Yeah, right. I immediately tossed the pellets because it was full of junk and everything else but kept the cage for if I need to have someone watch her for a short time at their own home.

After 5 months with my girl, she and I have bonded very nicely. She is sometimes too glued to me but that's ok! The benefit for her with having me home 24/7 with no one else around. I even sleep right next to her and many times she wakes up so do I and we chat together.

Since we have bonded, she is eating more pellets. She has built this trust at long last! I pretend to eat them myself and go mmm mmm and it makes her to want to eat what mom is eating. Otherwise before she would eat 1/16 cup of her KMS pellets a day most of the time. 1/8 cups is 1 oz so I use a 1 oz shot glass to measure.

I got the exact same thing you did at petco. I didn't know better at the time so He will be stuck with the cage for a few weeks.
He likes the hay and is just starting to eat the bell peppers, I bought a bunch of stuff today. Babby carrots, cherry tomatoes, green leaf lettece. Just to see what he will eat, and he hasn't eaten any of it. He won't eat off a plate, or his food bowl. So I am debating weather to just pour it in his cage.
 

Artista

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Watch the bite size carrots too. We have to worry about calcium, vitamin A being too much and provide enough vitamic C to them.

It can take time for them to warm up to new things. Just keep putting it there. My girl takes her veggies out of the bowl and eats it from the ground but I still make her work to get it so to speak, kind of like a game. My gp likes everything but some days she won't touch something. Don't know why but the next days it's gone. It is tough in the beginning to figure out what is right with your pig but keep trying and don't push. Lettuce seems to be the most popular up there with good quality hay for my pig but I don't do more than a large leaf of lettuce a day for my girl.

Mine was stuck in that cage for 4 months but she was out when she wanted. Now with a c & c cage she and I feel so much better about her living space.
 

iluvguineapigs2

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Yeah. The appropriate amount is 1/8th cup pellets, or 2 tablespoons, per piggy per day and 1 cup fresh food (ie. romaine, green leaf lettuce, bell pepper, etc.). :)

I should probably limit my guinea pig's pellets more. They get unlimited hay and hay-based pellets, but they get very picky when it comes to fruits. Veggies are their favorites.
 

Mellisenda

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The Humane Society of the United States website is an excellant resource, as well;

(broken link removed)
 
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