Stealing food

T

Tylerspigs

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Okay, so I have two guinea pigs. 1 male adult (Makai) and 1 6 month female (Mocha). Makai eats so fast as if he is on a time limit and Mocha eats so slow as if she has all day. I swear they are like polar opposites When it comes to food. Pellets are given in the morning and that goes somewhat okay. They tend to end up eating out of the same bowl even though I have two pellet dishes and water bottles. Makai just really like to take from her bowl. During veggie time it’s worse. I know she at least gets some pellets because he always gets tired halfway through eating his pellets and he ends up taking a nap and she can eat in peace. When I give veggies they were separated for a little over a month because I had to give her medicine and really wanted to make sure she was eating. Now I know she is getting pellets and hay in her body but most of the veggies are eaten by Makai and she seems to get barely any. I have taken Makai out because he will eat out of my hands but Mocha still eats slow and tends to lose interest in eating when I take him out. I’m just scared she isn’t getting the nutrients she needs from the veggies to continue growing into her full size adult body. When I say he steals I mean he will run up and take the food hanging out from her mouth even if there is a piece of lettuce next to her. I have tried keeping the veggies big and I have cut/ripped them up into multiple pieces. I have fed the veggies by hand, I have spread them out all over, I have put them in one pile and no matter what Makai gets 80% of the veggies.
 
Hello. As long as she isn’t losing any weight and they seem happy together then I’d say that’s just normal piggy behaviour. My boys steal from each other too. Are you weighing them weekly?
 
:agr:
The dominant piggy will have the pick of everything so stealing food is a normal part of piggy behaviour. Provided there is sufficient access to hay and she is not losing weight, then don’t be concerned.
Perhaps try keeping them both in the cage but hand feeding them veggies
 
I agree with @Piggies&buns. I always feed half their veggies through the bars to them.

1. So I make sure they are both eating ok (one of mine lost a tooth recently and I noticed really quickly)
2. I check their eyes, nose and behaviour are normal
3. Make sure they are happy to be close together with no fighting. I have two boys and one is in the teenage phase and I want to make sure they are happy together.

Then I scatter feed the rest.
 
When I'd feed Comet and Blitzen, Comet was the one who would come to the bars for food. Blitzen would lie in wait til Comet entered the hidey with the food in his mouth, and then he'd run away leaving Comet very confused about where his food went. He was a bit of a dolt, bless him. But despite Blitzen nicking his food at every opportunity he was still getting enough to eat, I wasn't worried about his intake at all.
 
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