Behavior Pig that perfers isolation and won't even look at a fruit or vegetable?

butterflylover5 · Apr 5, 2018

About 2 months ago I got a pig that I named Peggy. The previous owners were getting rid of her because their child didn't want to care for her anymore. I had 2 girl pigs already and was excited to possibly add her in with them after a few weeks. I had asked the owners what kind of veggies she liked so that I could be prepared when we got her and they said they never gave her vegetables. Since it was just one pig, I asked if she has always been alone (she's around 2 years old) or if she had been with another pig, but she's always been alone. I asked what kind of pellets and hay they gave her and, to no surprise by now, they gave her hay about once a week and gave her a really crappy brand of pellets. But all of that information made me more excited to get her because I knew she was going to have such a better life!

Now here's the thing. When I got her I took her to the vet and everything was fine. She wasn't taking any of the veggies I was offering her but I figured she wouldn't take to them right away. Over 2 months later and she still hasn't eaten a single bite of veggies! She LOVES hay and eats very good quality pellets now (Small Pet Select) and she is now in a cage with my 2 pigs who are obsessed with veggies but guys...she is deathly afraid of them! If you even set a vegetable or a fruit next to her she BOLTS. She won't eat treats either...only pellets and hay.

Now here's another thing. She doesn't really socialize with the other pigs much, she just sits in the corner. They all get along, they often sniff each other and the never fight, but Peggy just prefers to be by herself.

Has anyone else experienced either of things in a pig? Any tips or tricks to get her to eat veggies or to socialize more? I just feel so sad seeing my 2 pigs playing and then she's just sitting all by herself. She doesn't care to be held either and it just breaks my heart! Any help is appreciated.

Thank you!

bpatters · Apr 5, 2018

Poor piggy! Thanks for taking her in.

I would hope that she'll eventually adjust to her cagemates.

Here are some suggestions on the veggies: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/105287-How-to-teach-a-guinea-pig-to-eat-vegetables

sallyvh · Apr 5, 2018

Thanks for taking her in! It sounds like you are doing everything right with her, I would suggest to just keep at it and hope over time she adjusts.

I have a pig that I would say is similar in behaviour after extended isolation and even after 2 years with me she has some quirks. I adopted her as a 3 year old who had been kept solo since she was purchased as a tiny baby from Petsmart. She was an owner surrender to my local shelter, in a very small pet store cage. Fed only junky pellets and limited hay, never any veggies.

She has severe socialization issues, I swear she doesn't understand social cues from other guinea pigs. She lives alone at my house, with a dividing wall with other guinea pigs. She drew blood during 3 separate proper introductions, one of those times was with a tiny baby sow who was not displaying any dominance behaviours. After that I decided it wasn't worth it to risk carnage on any other guinea pigs. She seems content living alone, still being able to see, hear and smell the other girls. Luckily your girl is accepting of her cagemates and hopefully over time she will warm up to them.

As far as veggies go, I have had my girl for 2 years and she will still barely touch them. When I brought her home she immediately adjusted to eating hay and proper pellets, but she just doesn't enjoy vegetables. She will eat a smidgen of lettuce and a bit of tomato, but that is about it. I tried a few times the trick of mincing veggies in pellets, but all I succeeded in doing was getting her to avoid her pellets for days at a time. I finally gave up and accepted that veggies are not her thing. She gets one of the Oxbow vitamin C tabs instead, which she loves.

I think that living alone for long periods of time can really mess with a guinea pigs behavior, especially when they don't have adequate human interaction and an improper diet certainly doesn't help anything!

butterflylover5 · Apr 6, 2018

bpatters said:
Poor piggy! Thanks for taking her in.

I would hope that she'll eventually adjust to her cagemates.

Here are some suggestions on the veggies: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/105287-How-to-teach-a-guinea-pig-to-eat-vegetables

Thank you for the link! My once concern with mincing the veggies into the pellets is that pellets is one of the two things she'll eat, could mincing the veggies in it turn her off from eating the pellets if she hates it? I might try doing this with a little bowl and put it by her while the other pigs are eating veggies, since she won't go near them during that time anyway. Thanks!

sallyvh said:
Thanks for taking her in! It sounds like you are doing everything right with her, I would suggest to just keep at it and hope over time she adjusts.

I have a pig that I would say is similar in behaviour after extended isolation and even after 2 years with me she has some quirks. I adopted her as a 3 year old who had been kept solo since she was purchased as a tiny baby from Petsmart. She was an owner surrender to my local shelter, in a very small pet store cage. Fed only junky pellets and limited hay, never any veggies.

She has severe socialization issues, I swear she doesn't understand social cues from other guinea pigs. She lives alone at my house, with a dividing wall with other guinea pigs. She drew blood during 3 separate proper introductions, one of those times was with a tiny baby sow who was not displaying any dominance behaviours. After that I decided it wasn't worth it to risk carnage on any other guinea pigs. She seems content living alone, still being able to see, hear and smell the other girls. Luckily your girl is accepting of her cagemates and hopefully over time she will warm up to them.

As far as veggies go, I have had my girl for 2 years and she will still barely touch them. When I brought her home she immediately adjusted to eating hay and proper pellets, but she just doesn't enjoy vegetables. She will eat a smidgen of lettuce and a bit of tomato, but that is about it. I tried a few times the trick of mincing veggies in pellets, but all I succeeded in doing was getting her to avoid her pellets for days at a time. I finally gave up and accepted that veggies are not her thing. She gets one of the Oxbow vitamin C tabs instead, which she loves.

I think that living alone for long periods of time can really mess with a guinea pigs behavior, especially when they don't have adequate human interaction and an improper diet certainly doesn't help anything!

Oh no! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one in this type of situation. Sorry that your pig gave you trouble during introductions though!

Yeah I think that's my main concern with mincing the veggies and mixing them with the pellets, I don't want her to stop eating them all together.

Since I have seen improvements over the past few months, I'm hoping she continues to get better!

bpatters · Apr 6, 2018

Mincing the veggies in the pellets is not at all likely to make her ignore the pellets. And it won't do any good to give her a pile of plain pellets alongside the ones with the veggies.

Why don't you just try it for a few days? She's eating hay, and if she goes on a sit-down strike over the veggies, a couple of day of it won't hurt her. But I doubt seriously that's going to happen.

butterflylover5 · Apr 6, 2018

bpatters said:
Mincing the veggies in the pellets is not at all likely to make her ignore the pellets. And it won't do any good to give her a pile of plain pellets alongside the ones with the veggies.

Why don't you just try it for a few days? She's eating hay, and if she goes on a sit-down strike over the veggies, a couple of day of it won't hurt her. But I doubt seriously that's going to happen.

Sorry, I meant a separate bowl of the pellet/minced veggie mix. I'll start giving that a try in the morning, thank you for your help!

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Behavior Pig that perfers isolation and won't even look at a fruit or vegetable?

butterflylover5

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butterflylover5

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