Wouldn’t know about the celery. I think a lot of folks here on BB give the stalks if they are cut into the right size pieces, but I choke on it enough myself, I wouldn’t want my bun to have the same problem. As far as the leaves, not sure.
I give my buns dandelions from my yard all the time while they are in season. They love them, greens and flowers. The stems they eat like spaghetti, it’s so funny the sound it makes going down! xD
Sadly my grocer has decided to clip carrot tops from the organic carrots. Made me VERY mad, as that’s the only reason I buy these overpriced carrots. But Mimzy loves the tops, I do not know if they have the same calcium or sugar content as the carrots do…I notice there will be more white deposits in the litter box from the excess calcium when I feed carrots, their tops or parsley.

Carrot tops are fine as a regular green and so are dandelion greens-your lucky your store carries them!!
Celery leaves are fine too-just cut stalks up

Sophie looooves dandelion greens. And Curley parsley. those are her two favotires. you can feed them limitless. Kokanee- i visit a small grocer, not a major one, and they will normally have the carrot tops in the back. I asked once and they continue to sell them to me now on a weekly basis very cheaply. Think about it— one man’s trash is one rabbit’s dinner! Doesn’t hurt to ask if they would sell you the carrot tops if they chop them off ont he premises.

Posted By Kokaneeandkahlua on 09/07/2008 10:20 PM
Carrot tops are fine as a regular green and so are dandelion greens-your lucky your store carries them!!
Celery leaves are fine too-just cut stalks up

ditto!  i will add that the reason the celery stalks have to be cut up into one-inch or smaller pieces is b/c the strings can cause all sorts of tummy trouble for bunnies.  and not all bunnies will even eat the celery.  mine snub the stalks but will eat the leaves.  i actually just bought dandelion greens yesterday, i haven’t bought those in awhile…

We are lucky to live in a really diverse city – so I find all sorts of lovely bits at a variety of grocers. Coco loves the home grown dandelions as much as she loves the giant bunches I get at an outdoor market for a buck a bunch. Dandelions were the first food I saw her really lose her marble about….

All the grocery stores here carry them YAY we pay anywhere from .99 to 1.99 depending on what store really.

The local green grocer near me just gives me the carrot and beet tops if I ask for them, though I sometimes have to split them with the guy who has a small herd of goats :-}

I really need to start trying farmers markets…do they have things like dandelion greens? The regular Ralphs or Albertsons only has Green Leaf Lettuce, Romaine, Endive, Parsley, Cilantro. I’m sick of looking at them, so I’m sure the buns are sick of eating them…

Robbie the Park-Bunny actually snubbed endive tonight when his parsley was all gone! What’s up with that!? The wild-thing is picking up Lizzy’s diva-habits, and they don’t even know each other, yet!

I can’t bring myself to buy organic carrots just to cut the tops off…

What about cabbages? (Napa, Chinese, Red, etc). Are any of these okay for buns? I can’t find cabbage on either the good-for or bad-for diet lists anywhere…

Hey everyone,
While we’re on the subject- I noticed on the Rabbit Food List that it says items with a * next to them have a certain vitamin (can’t remember!) and that one of these should be fed daily. I took it to mean that I can ONLY feed one of the items with a * on it daily- not 2 or 3. And this is pretty limiting cuz most of my bun’s favorites (parsley, dandelion greens,romaine, carrot tops) have the * next to it… . Am I misunderstanding- does it mean to feed AT LEAST one item with a * next to it?

Yeah, my market has a really nice produce section and there is always dandelion greens… I left Felony a big bunch for breakfast this morning.

As for the cabbage, I’ve heard, like humans, it can make them gassy, and that is never good. I’ve given Fel some napa from time to time, and he seems to handle it well, but I think he takes after me and has a cast iron stomach…

Our grocery store has dandelion greens year round- I am not sure what everyone else buys them for though. 

But as typical some days when I am there they look really green and fresh and other days not as fresh.  That is what I base most of our greens purchase on- how fresh it looks and what Cotton will eat.  She is so picky- she doesn’t like parsley and only likes part of the “mixed field greens”- she always leaves a certain leaf that she will not eat- I think it must be red chard as it is green leaf with red stem and veins.  Well. I was fixing her salad so I tried one (they are sold as human salad) and it was soooo disgusting- it was really bitter and juicy- I can’t really even describe it.  I have made salads with the greens before mixed with romaine so I have never noticed that alone some of the “fancy” greens are disgusting.  Now I know why she won’t eat it.  Yeck!

Any of the brassicas (cabbages, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) can cause gas in bunnies. When I am preparing some for dinner I’ll give them perhaps one leaf to chew on, no more than that. Some people freely feed their bunnies these things, but I do not.

Funny about the arugula. I grew some last winter and it grew like crazy. After a few weeks of getting a steady diet of it, mine went on strike and would not eat it again. Most of it ended up in the compost (I did not like it either, the flavor was too strong)

Posted By deendabuns on 09/09/2008 10:13 AM
Hey everyone,
While we’re on the subject- I noticed on the Rabbit Food List that it says items with a * next to them have a certain vitamin (can’t remember!) and that one of these should be fed daily. I took it to mean that I can ONLY feed one of the items with a * on it daily- not 2 or 3. And this is pretty limiting cuz most of my bun’s favorites (parsley, dandelion greens,romaine, carrot tops) have the * next to it… . Am I misunderstanding- does it mean to feed AT LEAST one item with a * next to it?

this is a question that has come up often, and i agree the wording of it is a little bit confusing… the last time, i emailed rabbit expert, Dana Krempels to ask her opinion… this was my question and her response (hope this helps!):

Hi again, Beka!
Thank you SO much for taking the time to check out the Vitamin A question. I’m so pleased that it’s safe to feed all the veggies my buns like! I went shopping the other day, trying to get mainly Vitamin A free greens, and the buns weren’t very pleased with my selections. I can’t wait to go back to the food they like- they will be sending you a big “thank you” also .

Wow I just mindlessly took it to mean feed at least one of these each day, never even thought about it the other way!!

Tucker loves her some celery.  Mmm mmm it’s one of her favorites! Mine too   I try to give her mostly the leaves with a few pieces of cut up celery but honestly that’s just to save more for myself…greedy bun mom I am! 

She also loves dandelion greens but I can’t keep them fresh long enough.  I’d have to give her half the big bundle each day for two days to use it before it’s all gone.

She definitely is getting sick of her “regulars” though which makes me so sad because I love getting romaine since a pack lasts a whole two weeks!  Guess I’m going to have to start getting out of the house more to go to the store.  (Working from home I’ve become a home body during the work week) but as it is right now she hasn’t been eating hardly any veggies because she’s sick of romaine, bok choy, and kale. 

Coco loved some of the fresh Chinese cabbage that we got a few weeks ago from the market….but I don’t think it was “real” chinese cabbage…I think it was the best interpretation I could understand from my terrible French.

And I tried arugula. And it was rejected.

Although as I offered the salad mix tonight, It was greeted with very indifferent looks. Like “Dear Lord – Flat leaf parsley AGAIN? And red leaf lettuce? And mint? Doesn’t this woman know how sick I am of this mix?”

I could practically hear her telling me to step up my veggie game.

Buns and their picky ways! Miss-Thing eats better veggies than I do, and you’d think I was trying to foist pond-sludge on her!

I finally gave in and bought her an “Herb Spring” mix in a package, which I have resolutely refused to do, until now. I won’t spend $3-4 a bag on my own salad, and she and Robbie would slurp up a bag a day if that was all I was feeding them… Of course they both love it. They get a TINY handfull as treats at the end of the day. The greedy beggars!

It is so true. I have never bought so many fresh greens and veggies since Coco came to live…and half the time she looks at me like I am serving the McDonald’s rabbit equivalent!

Thanks for the curly parsley idea, dmh – I never thought about it, although I have always offered the flat leaf. She dove into it as soon as I brought it to her.

My favorite moment is as she is mowing down the stalk and trying to get her lips around much more than she can chew, the curly ends are all around her mouth like green lace.