Behavior My guinea pigs are only eating their veggies

[mossz]

I have two female guinea pigs a bit older than a year. About three days ago, they started to slowly ignore their pellets and hay. Just today, as I was about to feed them their veggies, I noticed that their pellet bowl was completely full. The hay has been messed around with but it is still fairly full. They were very willing to eat their vegetables and vitamin tablets/ treats but when I tried to give them their pellets, they just turn away. What do I do?

 

[4boipigs]

Is the hay they have been offered fresh or has it been sitting out? What about the bag it's been coming from? My 4 bozos can have a huge pile of hay, but if it's old (for them "old" is after a few hours) they won't touch it but will go after brand new hay.

You can also try different types of hay to see if they want something new.

 

[bpatters]

How many veggies are you feeding them? Like kids, they can prefer the goodies over the stuff they really need, and they need hay more than veggies. I'd cut back on the veggies to half a cup a day per pig and see if they don't eat more hay and pellets. If so, you can gradually increase the veggies to a cup each.

 

[mossz]

Their hay is kept in a bin and I replace their hay every morning. They didn’t seem to have any problems with the until recently but I can definitely change it out more often to see. I can also buy some orchid since my local pet shop offers a variety of hay.

Thank you for your reply

 

[mossz]

I feed them each a cup of veggies with lettuce, bell peppers, and other vegetables I decide to mix in. I will cut back on their veggies and see how everything goes from there.

Thank you for your help!

 

[ItsaZoo]

Since they are both avoiding pellets and hay, I think it's a food preference issue rather than an illness. I put small amounts of hay in the pile, then top it off every so often with a pinch of fresh just to get her interested again.

 

[mossz]

Update: I cut back on the vegetables and are eating their pellets and hay again. Turns out they really were just uninterested in eating anything but veggies and treats. I’ll start to give them their regular amount of veggies eventually. Thank you for all those who replied!!