One Week Old baby pot belly pig

Question
I have recently been given a one week old pot belly pig, not realizing how dangerous it is for the baby. The woman who gave him to me told me to feed him every 4 hrs with a goats milk formula and said to give him as much as he would take. I have been doing this and he seems to love it. I have not noticed any diarrhea but i have only had him one day so far. I worry that something may go wrong and would just like to get more information on how to care for him. He is in a big cardboard box with a towel and blanket in it. He also has a stuffed bear to cuddle with at night. Half of the box has a training pad for puppies and I am trying to train him to use that instead of his blankets as a bathroom. So far everything has gone well. He is still a little skittish around me except during feeding and his after feeding naps he likes to take on my lap. I have taken him outside today and he seemed scared, he shook for awhile even though the sun was shining and it was warm out, I did however get him to follow me around the yard. How long will this nervous scared behavior last? and what could i use to better his housing and overall care?

Answer
One week is very young for baby to be away from Mom. The goat milk formula is the next best thing to mothers milk. Give it to him at room temperature or just slightly warm (NOT hot!).

When he's about 4 weeks old, he can begin eating starter pellets and sampling other foods. At first, he may just roll things around in his mouth and spit them back out. But pretty soon he'll learn what's tasty. If he's reluctant to eat the pellets, mix them with his formula, then gradually reduce the amount of formula until he's eating plain or moist pellets. It's ok to keep him on moist food, just dampen the pellets with a bit of warm water instead of formula.

Give him as much formula as he wants. When he starts on pellets, the general rule of thumb is 1/2 cup pellets per day for piglets 15 lb or less. If he's much smaller than 15 lb, he may not want to eat the whole thing. That's ok, as he grows, his appetite will increase. For piglets over 15 lb, the rule is 1/2 cup per 15 lb of piglet.

Young piglets are very sensitive to temperature, they do best when it's quite warm (over 85 F) and can die from hypothermia in temperatures that are comfortable to us.

Keeping him confined is a good idea, even when he gets older. It makes potty training much easier. Put a heating pad or hot water bottle in his box at bedtime, so he can keep warm overnight.

He'll need some toys to keep himself busy when he must stay confined by himself. Toys for human infants work well, as do cat toys on stretchy strings, and any toy that makes noise.

Piglets are never far from their mothers side, so it's natural for him to be skittish and clingy. This will gradually diminish as he gets older and bigger. But, a lot depends upon the individual pigs personality. Some pigs are always a little skittish and/or clingy, others become quite independent when they are just a few months old.

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. Piglets taken from their mothers at young ages and raised indoors by people, like yours, sometimes have adjustment issues as they grow, her book explains how to avoid this. She covers potty training in depth.

The danger signs are sluggishness, lethargy, lack of appetite, not drinking, and not going pee or poo. If your piglet exhibits any of these symptoms, seek veterinary help at once. There's a list of vets that treat pot-bellied pigs, along with lots of other piggy information, at www.farec.com