Do pellets expand in water?

The Pellet Experiment

Do pellets expand in water? And what is the issue with this?

This is a question that I feel isn't answered enough and people do not know much about it. The short answer is, most do, but some don't. This is great because there are pellets that don't expand that are perfect as an additional food to help keep guinea pigs at a healthy weight throughout the colder months.

So, what is the issue with pellets expanding? By writing this, I do not intend to make small pet owners feel bad because it is what most people feed and you are doing what you think is best for your guinea pigs, which is fine.

I decided to do a small experiment with Burgess Excel Guinea Pig Nuggets, as this is what I used to feed my guinea pigs, to show what happens with most pellets is a guinea pig's stomach.

Before

After 5 Minutes

As you can see, the pellets have expanded a lot in just 5 minutes. Many heat pressed pellets are like this, however, some do not expand, they break apart, such as : Natures Touch Guinea Pig Food and Naturals Meadow Menu.

With this image as well, you can see the pellet is about 2 - 3 times the size as the original.

Overall, I would like to say that of course pellets can still be part of your guinea diet, they are still part of my guinea pigs winter diet. I just believe that even though something is the norm, doesn't mean that is shouldn't be contradicted; and this goes for many things in the pet industry.