Guinea Pig Constantly Wheeking For Food

Janee74

Janee74

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Is it normal to have a guinea pig who wheeks all day everyday constantly to be fed? My 5 month old sow is literally screaming the house down at all hours of the day and night for vegetables. I give them unlimited hay and pellets once a day but she just won’t stop. She is a picky eater as she will only eat babyleaf salad bags and the occasional carrot. She refuses to touch anything else. I really don’t know what else I can do she just doesn’t ever stop. I’ve tried putting down more for her, but then she leaves loafs left over in her dish which she won’t touch and then she will scream for more. Any advice on what I can do please? I’m at my wits end
 
What happens when you ignore it? If she’s had her share of veg for the day then you shouldn’t give her any more. Also what what is in the baby leaf salads as they shouldn’t have spinach too often. Have you tried her on romaine or gem lettuce? Sometimes you have to just be persistent if they’ve not been used to eating a wide variety of veg.

How is her companion with food, does (s)he eat everything? Perhaps before you go to bed, fluff the hay and top it up. And during the day just fluff it up.
 
Her friend is as good as gold and will eat anything. Thankfully she seems to have calmed down a bit now. I’m not going to give her anymore babyleaf salad as I didn’t realise that Spinach was a bad idea to feed her. I’m going to try again with butter head lettuce and greens and add a few veggies to that. I’m just waiting for my partner to come back from the shop with it. Fingers crossed that she will eat some of it. I keep their hay topped up all day as well. Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated
 
Have a read of the feeding guide. It’s more comprehensive and gives an outline of how often veg can be fed. Daily staples can be cucumber, a leaf of lettuce (except iceberg), bell pepper, coriander (both good sources of vitamin c) and green beans. Hopefully she will learn slowly. You’re not alone, they really know how to train us 😂one of my boars used to bar bite quite a lot when we were in the kitchen. At first my husband thought he was hungry so would give him veg - even if they’d had their portion for the day and had fresh hay. We did eventually cotton on that it may be ‘attention seeking’. We stopped the extra and he eventually stopped doing it.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Piggies can also assure you that they hate a particular vegetable and the a week later it’s the favourite.
Ours have cadged a second snack by telling my husband they’re starving and then later assuring me they really haven’t had their snack yet!
Patience and stay strong - resist the attempts at brainwashing
 
Get a routine - they'll soon learn it. Mine went nuts as soon as I got up and I was giving veg titbits constantly to keep them quiet so they didn't wake the house. So they squeaked whenever they heard me move! Then I read a forum tip about a handful of fresh hay for enthusiastic wheekers and it worked.
Now it's:
Get up - 1 piece veg each - then one big handful fresh hay always in the same place so they all come out and munch together.
Someone fetches grass in a bag (usually between 8 and 10 am, depending on the day) - pigs know it's coming and lie silently in wait out in the open, like in that Alfred Hitchcock film 'The Birds'! (I must get a photo of this)
Grass arrives - bag rustle - pigs go mental - serious face-stuffing - retreat to hideys and collapse to sleep it off and don't emerge until after lunch.
Few hours outside if nice weather - bopping round inside if not.
Dinner prep for humans - more veg for piggies as they hear me chopping and just assume it's for them anyway. They've even learnt to stop squeaking if they hear me say "for goodness sake, it's an onion - it's an ONION!"
Cage-clean and more hay/pellets.

I don't give veggies in a bowl as there are 4 pigs (two pairs) so I hand-feed to make sure everybody gets the same. My older boar's bowel does not react well to a lot of veg! They know what's happening now and don't snatch from each other any more - they all know they'll get one but each runs off to a hiding place to eat undisturbed. Lovely Louise is now so trusting that when she occasionally drops her morning lump of pepper as she dashes back into her bedroom she leaves it there, reaches the hidey and then pokes her head out, waiting for me to pass it in to her! 💕
 
I think trying to offer food (including treats) on a schedule may help. Pigs are good at learning the schedule and she may be less likely to get overexcited for food if she knows it isn't food time. Also bear in mind that if you sometimes give treats after a wheeking spell, you are reinforcing her behavior... she will keep on trying the same behavior to get what she wants (i.e. you bringing the food!)

My pigs become unbearable wheeking moochers when we go to the cottage... I think because there, unlike home, the kitchen is on the same floor as them. All those crinkling bags and fridge doors are just SO CLOSE! Plus their schedule is a bit old when they aren't at home and they are eternally hopeful that food is coming.
 
My girls know that once they are in the run in the morning they get their morning pellets, then after I've had my breakfast its forage time. The pellets are scatterfed but the forage is always served in a bowl. In the evening veg is scatterfed in the hutch. If I don't serve it quickly enough, Betsy is teeth chattering away showing her displeasure. As she always gets put in the hutch first she starts teeth chattering as soon as she is in the hutch but I have to persuade the other two that they do want to go in the hutch before I can give them all veg and this sometimes takes a while.

This is the routine we have been in for the last 5 months or so since we lost the boys. It took them a while to learn the new routine but we got there in the end. Patience and perserverance and always doing things in the same way and your girl will realise what is happening and when.
 
Our routine is breakfast of pellets- 2 tablespoons for 3 piggies in 2 bowls, a lettuce leaf each and a heap of hay in 2 piles. This is any time between 7 - 8:30am

Middle of the day - a handful of herbs to share.
Given their eagerness the herbs get put into the tiny gap they leave between noses.

Late afternoon their main veggies - whatever variety we have in.

Hay gets topped up whenever needed.
 
Thanks everyone 😀 you’re so right. I need to set a routine and stick to it. Think I will be taking a few leaves out of all your books. Thankfully Butterscotch is a lot calmer and quieter, now she doesn’t have a choice when it comes to her leafy greens. She still wheeks at night, at least twice which is keeping me awake. I saw her eating a small piece of baby corn which was great, since she will only eat carrots. I’m only giving them different types of lettuce now with a few veggies thrown in, and I will try them on spring greens tomorrow. Thanks for all your help and advice 😀😀
 
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