litter training and handling mini potbelly pig

Question
Hello, we have a female mini potbelly pig we just got a couple weeks ago.She is 4 months old and she doesn't like to be handled much until she is ready to climb in your lap for a belly rub.She mostly sniffs around the house all day like she is searching for food.We feed her 1/3rd cup of mini pig food 3 times a day.We were feeding her 1/2 cup twice a day but she seemed to swell pretty big and had trouble using the bathroom.So that's when we started the 1/3 cup 3 times a day routine.It seems she does good with that.How can we get her to interact with us more and is 1/3 cup three times a day ok to feed her?She is around 8 pounds or so.
We are also having alot of trouble with litterbox training her.
She seemed to do good to start with but now she is really bad.
After she eats I take her to the litterbox and she will use it.If you are not there to keep an eye on her though she will use the bathroom on the outside of the box but sometimes she will get in the litterbox on her own.Most of the time she will either pee or poo in the box and do the other outside of the box.She is never consistent.At night she uses the bathroom everywhere in our kitchen.Maybe we are giving her to much room to roam?If we block off a smaller area for though she squeals like we are torturing her.She also squeals like that first thing in the morning when she gets up.The woman we bought her from assured us she was socialized but I really don't think she was.Hopefully you can help us.Thanks

Answer
Pigs are individuals with unique personalities. Your piglet is still young, and could turn into a snuggle bug.

Feeding pigs is more art than science. The general rule of thumb is 1/2 c per 15 lb of piglet per day. It's difficult to tell how much a pig weighs just by looking at them or holding them. Even experienced pig people can be mistaken. So weigh her on a scale, or use the measurement method to determine her weight. You can find it at www.farec.org  

Piglets should gain about 1 lb per week, so a 4 month old piglet should weigh roughly 16 lb. When you look at the pig, no hip bones or ribs should be visible.

Trick training is a great for both people and pigs. The people learn to understand the pig's body language. The pig learns to listen to and obey the person. Piggy's obsession with food makes it easy to keep piggy interested. Start by giving piggy a few pellets or some fresh veggies before training, to take the edge off hunger. Then during training, use only one treat at a time. It's hard to believe, but pigs enjoy just one Cheerio as much, if not more, than a whole handful.

Pigs learn quickly but unlearn slowly. Your piggy has already learned to avoid the litter box, so the best thing to do is start from the very beginning, with the realization that it will take a very, very long time for piggy to forget the bad habits. Long after piggy is behaving, she will still remember.

Confine her to a small area with the box and a bed when you can not be right with her. This is where harness training comes in handy. You can put the pig on a harness and leash, and keep her by you at all times. You'll notice when she is looking around to make a mistake.

The box itself needs to be big enough for piggy to turn around it. It must have a non-slip floor, so she can be comfortably and not worry about falling. It needs to have one side or doorway cut very low. Pig naturally go down to go potty, stepping up is unnatural because they don't want the potty rolling back down hill on them.

Take piggy to the potty box as soon as she wakes up, before and after meals, after she wakes from every nap. Make sure she is in the box at least once every two hours. The idea is to keep her so empty it won't be easy for her to make a mistake. Remember piglets under 1 year don't have a lot of bladder control. They don't always know they have to go until it's too late. So you'll have to remember that she needs to go, and take her potty often.

I highly recommend the book Pot-Bellied Pig Behavior and Training, by Priscilla Valentine. Pris really understands how pigs think and why they do the things they do. Two excellent dvds available from www.tophogs.com are There's a Pig in the House and Amazing Pig Tricks. On the internet, the Yahoo chat group PigInfoAndChat is full of pig lovers who love to talk about pigs and training. Some good websites are www.farec.org, www.pigs4ever.com, and www.petpigs.com