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Forum DIET & CARE Feeding Pellets to Bonded Pair

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    • Hokankai
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        I’ve been feeding Theodore and Ariadne separately ever since she was a baby. At first it was because she needed alfalfa and he wanted it, but now it’s because he’s a 2.5lb pig and will eat her pellets if they are available. 

        Currently I have him being fed on the floor in their house (because Ariadne will try to get to his food) and her bowl on top of the box (because he will go eat hers when he’s done). However I’m seeing that a lot of people don’t sweat it too much and just put the bowls down for them to sort out. Theodore gets 2 TBSP a day (1 morning and night) and Ariadne gets a little less than a 1/2 cup a day (she is 5lb).

        I’m getting annoyed with being the pellet police, but I don’t want Theodore to get back to his chubby self like when I first brought him home. What do you guys do with your bonded bunnies of different sizes?


      • mia
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          Mine only have a 1lb difference but the larger one needs much more pellets to maintain a good weight while the smaller one could probably live without pellets. They also have food wars constantly. That said, I was advised, and do follow as advised, to not feed them separately unless it’s an emergency.

          You said that your bun was chubby before but have you tried letting them sort it out and see if he gets chubby? Maybe his previous food was just bad rather than him eating too much. Also, if you have multi-levels, putting food on the different levels will give him some exercise which might help with weight. My piggy bun jumps up and down the levels more because he’s always looking for food.


        • Hokankai
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            I could try it and see what happens. Why aren’t you supposed to feed them separately? Their current cage does not have multiple levels as their C&C cage is in the garage currently, so they’re living in an Xpen with spurts of open cage time during the day (they don’t leave my bedroom).

            The only thing I’m worried about is he eats all his food in one sitting, and she eats with breaks in between. So if I gave them one bowl and put food in it morning and night he would eat the rest of the food while she was distracted. That would also mean him eating a lot less hay.


          • Hokankai
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              What I did tonight was put their allotted amount of food in a shallow, wide dish and let them go at it. After Ariadne hopped away I took the dish and emptied the rest into the food container. I figure she’ll eventually eat more at a sitting. However I’m sure Theodore ate more than he was supposed to, but I’m not sure I really care anymore hahaha. They don’t really get enough food for him to get fat, so he’ll just eat more pellets. *shrug*


            • LittlePuffyTail
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                If I ever get to bonding my two I know for sure I will have to feed them their meals separately. Bindi is a huge food pig and Olivia is a dainty eater. He eats about 3 times as fast as she does.


              • Hokankai
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                  Yeah I don’t think I’m going to feed them together. Ariadne was much more irritable today: lunging at Theodore when he went to go into their box, chasing and nipping before I put their bowl in there, grunting, and rushing my hand with her ears down and grunting. I don’t know if it’s because of the feeding arrangement, but that’s the only change that’s been made. That and she doesn’t eat in one sitting so it’s more work to monitor their food that way than to just put her bowl where he can’t get it.


                • Elrohwen
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                    I just try to spread the food out enough so that when Hannah chases Otto away from one dish, he will have a second dish to go to. Usually the pellets are in one bowl, but it works for them because he goes for pellets first and Hannah works on veggies first. By the time she’s ready for pellets and chases him away, he’s eaten more than half the bowl anyway.

                    Hannah’s my chubbier one though, so if she was hogging the pellets I would definitely separate. With feeding such small pellet amounts, if only takes them a minute or two to finish off the pellets so having to watch them during that time wouldn’t be too hard.


                  • sir-rabbit-pants
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                      I had the same concern about my buns when they started eating together. Thumper (3 lb) eats everything in sight until it is gone. Flower (6 lb) eats a little bit, takes a nap, comes back for more…if Thumper had left any. First, I gave them separate bowls but they seemed to want to eat from the same bowl no matter what. Then for awhile, I would take the bowl away when Flower lost interest but I think that just made Thumper feel the need to eat even faster. Gradually Thumper has learned that he can walk away from the food bowl and there’ll still be food when he comes back and they share perfectly. But it was a bit frustrating at first. I can empathize.


                    • Hokankai
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                        I’ve decided to feed separately. Theodore will eat any pellets he can find and never leaves any in the bowl. When I left them to share he ended up eating 3/4 the bowl because Ariadne leaves. Just after a few days I noticed a little pudge, so I’ve separated them again. Sometimes Ariadne tries to get his food but I just squirt her with a squirt bottle. They both know where to go for pellet time and its worked well so far.

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                    Forum DIET & CARE Feeding Pellets to Bonded Pair