hi there,

what kind of pellets are you offering him? since he is under 6 months he should be on alfalfa pellets. it’s a good idea to avoid pellets with treats, seeds or fruit in them, since that’s not good for bunnies. If the food has things besides pellets (or different types of pellets) he likely is picking out the tastier things.

Rabbits always seem to dig out what tastes best and then leave the less desireable for later when they have nothing else to much on.

Sounds like you have one of those deluxe pellet mixtures that can really put weight on your bun. I fed that type to my girls for a long time and my minirex got really overweight but once I switched to timothy pellets with nothing added the weight came off pretty quickly.

My little Junebug does the same thing…I feed her a mix of the green pellets and peanuts and corn, other such things they are framilliar to in the wild. For some reason the silly girl devours the peanuts and cares less about the rest

same here. that’s what my bun does.I feed him sun seed rabbit formula. And it has some dried veggies. So he eats that first then the pellets.

We gave Sable unlimited food (hay and alfalfa pellets) until he was about 7 months old.  Then we started switching him to timothy based pellets and reducing the amount.  Now he gets straight timothy pellets about a quarter cup (he’s a dwarf and only weighs about 3 lbs.) but he still has unlimited timothy hay.  At 7 months we also started introducing greens and fruit.

there is always ordering them online.
here are some you can order:

http://www.petlifeonline.co.uk/Store/Small-Animals/Feed/Oxbow-Bunny-Basics-15$923
(i think its only 1/2 a cup a day and then unlimited hay, hay depending on age and lovely greens so he poos regularly)

or u can contact the distributor directly and see which stores they sell them to

Ireland

Distributor:

Petlife International Limited
Minster House Western Way,
Bury St. Edmunds
IP33 3SP
United Kingdom
Phone: 011 44 1284 761131
Fax: +44 (0)1284 761139
Email: petlife@vetbed.co.uk

and i think u can order it online through oxbow from ireland. not sure if it would work though but u can try.
http://www.oxbowhay.com/Shop/Order/quickOrder.sp

and as for greens, here is a list of greens you should feed ur bun daily.
http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html

his weight should rise normally and very gradually. by feeding him too much daiyl it will just make him fat and not naturally big. for example you feed babies only certain amounts each day. if you continuously feed him alot because he should weigh 100 lbs by the time hes a teen, he will just be a fat baby because his bones havent yet grown to his correct size. so his expected weight doesnt help till he nears that age and sometimes buns dont get to that size naturally, sometimes they are small because they are the oddball in their family. u just have to monitor him and if he seems like he is starving, give him a little more healthy veggies. ive read somewhere that pellets were created for bunny producers who need to produce tons of bunnies to skin but it has been adopted by pet owners as well. thats why it is suggested that buns only eat a little big of pellets a day but more hay and some veggies. hopefully i made some sense. =P

Welcome Reni!!

The next information is for everyone:

I understand that in other parts of the world getting a healthy type of rabbit pellet can be more challenging. (THANK YOU xliddobunnyx  for finding options for lilmizzsnickers!)
 
For those of us that are in the U.S., there are many options for healthy rabbit food, and so there is no reason to feed what is really considered a  "junkfood" type of pellet.  The ones with nuts, seeds, etc etc.  This type of feed are much too rich in sugars, fats and/or carbs and can not only lead to obesity but over time it can also lead to serious digestive issues.   A pellet should be less than 4% fat, and be a minimum of 18% fiber.  

Here are some great links to give you even more information about what you should be looking for in a healthy pellet and why it’s so important!

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/diet/pellets.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-4/pellets.html

Just a suggestion,  I wrote down the guidelines regarding fat and fiber % (now I have it in my PDA) so that I can check any time while shopping if I come across a pellet brand I haven’t seen before.  I was also having trouble finding timothy pellets but have bought Martin’s Less Active Adult formula.. the girl in the store who keeps buns herself pointed it out and said the name was misleading and just indicated a timothy pellet.

Sable seems to enjoy his pellets.  Another note, though I said I put out a 1/4 cup for him he doesn’t usually eat all of it.  He prefers his hay.

When I lived in the UK I fed my bunnies on Burgess pellets…. there are no bits so no selective feeding. I fed Edward on the junior one up until he was 6 months old and then changed to the adult one. I also fed my old man bunny on the junior as my vet recommened he have a little more protein. He died just a couple of weeks before we moved to the USA at the grand old age of 13 1/2… I think he didn’t want to be left behind! Any way the burgess link is here http://www.burgesssupafeeds.co.uk/small/index.php. Pets at home stock this stuff… I think there is one in or near Belfast.

Also have you dicovered the Rabbit welfare association? They have very good information on their site and if you become a member they have a great magazine (I still subscribe). They do a lot of good work running campaigns and working with pet stores (pets at home is one) to ensure if stores do sell bunnies they at least give accurate information to new owners! Also this year they managed to get a store to stop advertising- then selling bunnies for Easter! Their motto is …beacuse rabbits deserve better! Which I love!

I found a link to a bit about feeding young rabbits….. they also have lots of other information about all things bunny related!http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/rwf/articles/young_buns.htm. Hope this helps!

http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/rwf/information.htm     

^^ I don’t know about that food – sorry.   The pellets comes under heading Livestock breeding/rabbit farming.  The feed is to high in protein for just pet rabbits.   Also, all other rabbit products are listed under Rodent. Rabbits are not rodents! I would suspect they don’t really know their stuff.

Are you in Europe?  (The website priced items in Euros)  There are a lot of members here, from around the world.  Some may know of a better and cheap alternative feed.