Your guide to the wonderful world of miniature pigs! | Miniature Pigs: Bringing piggy home

My mini pig, cupcake piggiewickles, learns tricks very quickly. Because they are so smart we need to keep his mind entertained, but I don’t know what else to teach him and how. He can sit, spin, bowl, ask, and go up and down the stairs. He knows the word come and no very well, and therefore he can go on walks pretty well. But I live in a town where I am probably the only one with a mini pig. What toys can I give him so that he won’t destroy them or swallow them? How do I teach him to play, and where can I get these toys?

How do i find out what kind of mini pig i have ,as in how big,tall and specialdiet, please email me info. thankyou

Grace - I would recommend many of the same high-durability toys offered for dogs. These are generally made of strong canvas material. Keep in mind, though, that there simply isn’t such a thing as a toy a dog (or for our purposes, a mini pig) “can’t” destroy. The best you can hope for is extended durability. Find these at your local pet store. Also, monitor Cupcake carefully and remove any toys that look near destruction.

As for games and tricks to keep him entertained, cater to Cupcake’s natural instinct to root. That means your games and tricks of choice should involve his nose. Try hiding a favorite treat under some heavy cups or shells and praise him when he finds the one with the treat. Teach him to roll balls or other objects around the room. If you really want a challenge, set up a goal and when he rolls the ball through it, reward him with a treat. It won’t be easy. Keep a treat handy and the goal large until he rolls the ball through by random chance, then reward him. Repeat this until he gets the objective, then begin to shrink the size of the goal.

Most importantly, I LOVE Cupcake’s name!

Dave

Tim - Could you forward on some pictures of your mini pig? My contact info is in my contact page.

is there a way to get my pig to be friendly with other people as well as me? my mini pig Tiger-Lily does really good with me , i can pick her up and walk her, pet her, be in her face and she is fine with me, but if someone else tries to pet her she tries to run so fast that she usually falls over, and if someone else tries to pick her up she usually gets so scarred that she poops! is there anyway to make my piggy a people pig?

Allyssa - That’s a huge topic and worthy of its own dedicated post which I promise to try to get to soon (horribly busy in the real world right now). For now, what you are talking about is socialization and it’s the kind of thing which, if not addressed early, can lead to a lifetime of anti-social piggy behavior.

Though some animals are more gregarious than others, even the social butterflies of the pet world, dogs, require socialization before the age of 3 months or may become severely territorial, shy or agressive around strangers.

If you neglected to socialize your piggy for too long you may have a tough road ahead and, even then, may only be able to create a fairly small circle of friends for tiger-Lily.

I’ll try to get to that post as soon as possible to help you out.

Hello, I live in an apartment and I wondered if it is not viable to have a mini pig? I understand they are pigs and they need grass to graze on but i wanted to ask either way. Thanks

hi- i am from northern virginia and am very very interested in finding a miniature pit breeder. do you know of any? we are willing to drive up to three hours away. thank you!

My son just recently moved back home with his 4 month mini-pig, I think she is a Pygmy. She is all black and about 20 pounds and 10 inches high. My question is about her rooting and jumping. She does this to our legs and it can be quiet painful and then gets excited and starts to jump up like she wants to be picked up. My son says she never does this to him. My son says to just hit her hard (because she doesn’t really feel it) and yell “NO”. We don’t like to hit animals and wonder why she it doing this and if there is something we can do to help her or train her not to. Thank you for any help you can give.

i’d like to purchase two micro piglets but will mainly be living indoors. it can be taken out regulary but there is no garden. would like some advise on taking care of the piglets and more information on which piglets are the smallest, many thanks

Hi!! Im new to mini pigs, and just got a Juliana…..I think! She isnt spotted so I know she isnt full blooded, so Id like to know if anyone could help me figure it out……Thanks!