Strange "eating" habits

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Piggypopcorn

Post   » Wed May 03, 2017 11:13 am


Hi,

I'm a long time lurker with a few questions. We have had several different pigs over many years, but right now we have 2 teddy bear females who are around 2 years old. One of them, Banana Butt, loves to chew on and/or eat our hair when we are holding her. She also likes to do this with any strings that may be hanging off our clothes or blankets. We stop her as soon as possible, and I don't think she has ever really eaten enough hair or string to be of concern, but I was just wondering if any other pigs do this? Or do we have a pig that suffers from pica?

Another thing that she does is when we have her out (she may do this in her cage too, but we don't watch her there as much), is she will take poop out of her butt and only eat 1/2 of it. Or take it out and not eat it at all. I thought they knew when the "special poops" were available and wouldn't take ones out with their mouth that weren't edible. Sometimes we take ones that she has done this with and offer it to her again and she will eat it then. Is this normal?

Thanks for any responses!

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Wed May 03, 2017 11:26 am


There are plenty of "barber" pigs around. Nobody knows why they do it, but a few owners of them have had to give all the other pigs in the cage short haircuts to keep them from being barbered.

They usually eat all the cecal poops, but not always. And they do sometimes eat the fecal ones.

kailaeve1271

Post   » Wed May 03, 2017 12:12 pm


One of my pigs chews on my hair but doesn't eat it but doesn't really eat it. Usually if I give her a treated something to chew while I hole her, she is content and will stop. Maybe they are demanding some kind of different attention or maybe it's a guinea pig thing we don't understand yet like Bpatters has said

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed May 03, 2017 9:12 pm


A rare handful of pigs have eaten enough hair (usually guinea pig hair) to cause digestive problems. Stopping them from eating your hair when you notice is certainly advised.

MariusMum

Post   » Sun Oct 29, 2017 11:35 am


My Marius enjoys eating anything. Cardboard boxes,paper, pee pad (disposable), and plastic bag so far Ironically, he will only eat wet, shampooed hair.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Oct 29, 2017 2:43 pm


You don't want him to eat pee pads or plastic bags. Remove them from the area.

MariusMum

Post   » Sun Dec 24, 2017 11:15 am


He didn't eat enough to get sick. Guinea pigs will eat anything that can fit in their mouth. My boar has even attempted to eat a shrub branch

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pigjes
Cavy Comic

Post   » Sun Dec 24, 2017 12:31 pm


It also might be possible that your hair smells edible, due to your shampoo. I switched brands once, because they all went for my peach shampoo.

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