Not accepting veggies

[GuineaPigWonder]

My little guinea pig isn't accepting veggies for her vitamin C intake.. What should I do so I won't lose her?

 

[LittleSqueakers]

What are the circumstances? Is she ill or just generally not interested in eating veggies?

 

[bpatters]

Has she eaten them before and has stopped, or has never eaten them while you've had her?

 

[GuineaPigWonder]

Has she eaten them before and has stopped, or has never eaten them while you've had her?

She hasn't eaten them while I've had her. I try to eat them in front of her in hopes that she will eat them but she doesn't.

 

[LittleSqueakers]

How long have you had her and how old is she? Young guinea pigs may not know how to eat vegetables until they've watched another pig eating them.

 

[LittleSqueakers]

Does she seem sick in any way?

 

[GuineaPigWonder]

She's only 5 months and she hasn't seemed sick at all she's healthy.

 

[LittleSqueakers]

She may just not know how to eat veggies yet. Guinea pigs don't intuitively know how to eat veggies, they usually watch other pigs to learn what's good to eat. Young pigs that haven't been around older pigs eating veggies haven't learned that yet. Is she alone or do you have another pig? Also, is she eating hay and pellets? What brand of food pellets does she eat?

 

[GuineaPigWonder]

She eats essential young adult pellets but I don't know if she eats the hay I give her. I'm not sure if I should get vitamin c drops for her water.

 

[LittleSqueakers]

We don't recommend putting anything in the water, because it changes the taste and many pigs will not drink as much. Also, Vitamin C degrades quickly in water and when exposed to sunlight, so after an hour or two in the water bottle it's pretty much useless.

Oxbow young guinea pig pellets do have SOME stabilized vitamin C added into them, so she's not getting nothing.

If she doesn't have another pig housed with her to show her how to eat veggies, you can try chopping some veggies up - like REALLY finely, minced - and mixing them into her food pellets. The hope with this method is that they get used to the smell of the vegetable and hopefully they accidentally get enough of it into their mouth to get used to the taste and learn that it's food. Do one veggie at a time over a number of days when trying this method. Also, try whole leafy greens like green or red leaf lettuce. Sometimes pigs that haven't ever had veggies before have any easier time accepting leafy greens.

 

[LittleSqueakers]

Oh, and the first two veggies you should teach her to eat are: either red or green leaf lettuce (should make up the bulk of her daily veggies) and bell pepper (also called "sweet" pepper, which will provide the bulk of her daily vitamin C).

 

[GuineaPigWonder]

Thank you, I'll definitely try that.

 

[bpatters]

See this: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/105287-How-to-teach-a-guinea-pig-to-eat-vegetables. And the best way to get a pig to eat is to get another pig.

 

[PiggyGrandma15]

Our girls out right refused veggies for a couple days, I buried them into the hay and they were devoured. Now all I have to do is say the word "veggies" and they both go nuts.

 

[foggycreekcavy]

I recommend getting her a companion. Guinea pigs are great copycats.

Oh, but make sure the cage is large enough--
https://www.guineapigcages.com