LOOK at my new spoiled rotton baby!New video, 12/6/11

[chilling in muscadine]

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They say they are easy to litter box train. As smart as these animals are I don't dought it. I'm sure they could even be trained to go out like a dog.

 

[rebecca10782]

Ohhhh, I shouldn't of asked that. Now I want one! Do they have miniture pigs?

 

[chilling in muscadine]

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Pitunia is a pot belly pig. Her mother is around 40lbs. To keep them small you have to have a handle on there diet. This is easier said than done because they will let you know when they want to eat. This morning Pitunia had already had her breakfast but a little while later she wanted something else so I gave her some sliced raw carrots. Low fat is the way we are going to go for her snacks. Gotta watch that figure ya know. I'm not regretting for one minute getting her. She has been alot of fun to have around.

 

[Skyesrocket]

It's very good that you are aware of dog/pig interactions.
The first trick I taught my pots was to sit. It's super easy. Just show her a treat holding it by her nose, then slowly move the treat up and back. She will try to keep looking at it, but pigs can't look up. So her butt will go down when she does this. Say sit while you are doing it and she will learn in one session how to sit on command. If she is like mine she will sit everytime she sees you heading to the fridge.....

 

[lovemychix]

That's cutie patootie piggie!

 

[chilling in muscadine]

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This is hilarious. Pitunia doesn't know the sit trick yet but she knows the squeal trick any time you go to the fridge.

 

[chilling in muscadine]

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Thanks and you can bet she already knows this. She has me wrapped around her little hoof.

 

[Haviris]

I figure if I'm not breeding her, having her spayed would be the healthiest for her, and I've read that when they go into heat they can be tempermental and it messes w/ their potty training. I've also heard it's best to spay them earlyish, so not something I can wait and see and do later.

One note on size and feeding, genetics is what will determine their adult size, they need their diet monitored because they are prone to obesity. A PBP can be 150lbs and be an ideal weight for that pig! Another PBP can be 150lbs, and be 50lbs over weight. Just saying monitored feeding is important, but genetics will be the real determiner. I know everyone here is meeting their pig's needs, I'm just mentioning this in case someone misunderstands, I know some breeders reccommend starving piglets to keep them small, and some just aren't ment to be.

Hilda is eating about 2 cups of food devided into 3 feedings a day, she was getting free choice until maybe a week ago, she was starting to get pudgy so I cut her back, she's looking just right now, so we're sticking w/ this feeding schedule.

And for those that have or are planning to teach tricks, I'd love it if you'd share what you have taught or are planning to teach with those of us that are looking for ideas! Hilda has learned sit and spin around, and is learning to sit up. I want to teach her something that involves pushing, she already loves to rearrange her furniture.

 

[Skyesrocket]

I don't have the info right here, but I will look it up. The woman that takes her pots on the show Pet Stars has written a book or two about pots and training them.
One of the most important things to do is to teach them to let their feet be handled and trimmed. Because it's something that has to be done regularly and you don't want a wrestling match everytime you do it.

 

[shelleyd2008]

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That's a good point. I read once on a PBP site that 'starving' them will keep them small, but that all their internal organs still grow to the size they should be. This causes a lot of health problems. The really healthy PBP's that I have seen have a noticeable pot-belly, and that's about all that is chubby on them. Now my Horton is overweight, but right now, he doesn't have much room to roam around. I'm thinking I'll start letting him out everyday when I feed the chickens, so he can get more exercise. I know that he'll go right back in his pen if I have food, so there's no problem with that!

He will have a really big area to roam in as soon as the weather warms up enough for me to go out and build it!

I just love PBP's, I wish I could get more!