I’ve never heard of mangos replacing hay for bunnies, just sounds odd to me as they care totally different textures and stuff.

They can have celery, just cut it into 1 inch pieces because of the stringiness of it.  Mine LOVE the leaves too.  I buy the whole big stalk of celery instead of the hearts because it’s cheaper for one thing and also because I then give the bunnies the leafy parts with a little bit of the celery part cut up and then I eat the hearts of it 

I have never heard of anything replacing hay..only thing I can think of is if she means it can replace on aspect of the hay?? but I have no idea about that..is she maybe thinking of papaya?

Oh I wasnt aware celery was a bad thing, i gave my buns a stick each the other day, only Mouse aint it all , becasue the other bun, who ive only had 2 weeks doesnt really eat anything like that on offer! I didnt think the stringyness would be a problem, well it didnt seem to be for mouse! Her daily veg is usually broccilli and cabbage, sometimes an apple, she likes pears too, and she likes her baby carrots. There hasnt been any noticable difference in her poop, so does that mean what she has is normal!?! I hope so, never tried Mango tho.

Back to the point tho, I dont think anything could replace hay either, you know the things it gives them. I dont know though im a novice at this

No, mango can not replace Hay – Hay serves as an overall fiber that keeps their guts moving. It is “said” that Mango may act like papaya or pineapple in that the enzymes may help break down hair they ingest during grooming.

Mango – like any treat is a once in a while thing. Actually, to be honest, we keep frozen Mango for our smoothies and when it is as Hot as it has been, each Bun gets a little square of frozen mango yumminess.

Hay on the other hand, is an all the time, on demand, the more the better kind of rabbit food.

sally, you may want to cut back on cabbage, broccoli and baby carrots, too much of hte cabbage family can cause problems, and baby carrots are loaded with sugar. keep the baby carrots as treats

The carrots are for treats, as I discovered that they arent good for them, I Just dont know what else to buy , on a daily basis i got to Asda and pick up either a stew veg pack, or shredded veg pack, What should I be giving them?

Romaine, or green leaf lettuces are always good, no iceburg lettuce tho, cilantro, parslep, the green tops of carrots are tasty, spinach and cabbage in moderation. My monkey goes bonkers over her carrot greens, she was so happy to get them this morning that she took a piece in her mouth and ran around her pen with it, she usually saves that routine for her treats

https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=144

That’s a good link here at BB for a list of rabbit-friendly veggies

Celery should be fine for your rabbit. Bunniecutie, you mentioned not daily, why is that? I think celery is a good way to keep the bunnies hydrated. The main thing is you include veggies that are high in vit A in the daily salad.

I’d be asking that person where she got her info from if you get a chance. Then maybe quote some sources that state that Hay is the no.1 most important thing in a rabbits diet. Perhaps she has been misinformed from someone else.

Celery can be given daily, but it’s not going to be the most nutritious veggie and should not be the main part of the diet. As long as you are feeding a good variety with an emphasis on green, leafy veggies, I think Buttons will do well.

I’ve never heard anything about mangoes being used for that purpose. There are enzymes in papaya and pineapple (papain and bromelain) that *may* assist with digestion. But this is not proven, and any kind of fruit needs to be fed in strict moderation.

Many of us feed Oxbow Papaya tablets as a daily treat (only 1-2 tablets a day) b/c they might be beneficial (and our buns like them). The Oxbow tablets “do not contain added sugar, salt, starch or artificial preservatives”. You may want to try them.

But nothing is going to replace hay as the most important part of the diet. I would encourage your friend to start feeding hay to the bunnies… and as if the health aspect were not enough… if she purchases hay bales, that will be MUCH, MUCH cheaper than feeding mangoes every day. I’m not entirely sure why anyone would think that mangoes are preferable daily over hay. The only issue I can foresee is that her buns might be so accustomed to the daily sugar intake that they will snub the hay.

Yep, as Beka said, you wouldn’t want celery to be the main part of the veggies. I find it’s good because it lasts well. I guess it can be likened to iceberg lettuce though.
Buttons is getting his Vit A. Kale, Collard greens & Parsley are all good for that. They’re marked in bold on the BB veg list, have a * on the HRS list.

Leroy loves loves loves celery. And after he has celery, I love smelling his breath; it’is always so sweet! Of course, it should always be cut into smaller pieces instead of just giving the whole stalk because a bun that just mows down the stalk might swallow long pieces of the celery strings and then have a blockage. Leroy likes the celery leaves too, so I can buy the whole celery and not just the hearts, I can give him the leaves and eat the hearts myself!

Bunnycutie, if you do convince your friend to feed them hay, which would be VERY beneficial for her buns, and if she has trouble getting them to eat hay, she could try a mix of timothy and some other “tastier” hay. There are threads on here that have suggestions for getting buns to eat hay, but I don’t remember any of the tips off the top of my head, since I’ve never had to use any of them… sorry!

I love celery bunny breath too! Bunny used to turn his nose up at celery about a year ago, but he loves it now.
He usually gets fed mostly the leafy parts.
I even am growing him his own celery that he has been munching the whole summer.

celery is a high-calcium veggie so, as with most things, should be given in moderation.

Lol BC! That’s so cute. Maybe they can put out a celery flavoured toothpaste, breath “mints”?

Petz – thanks for tip about calcium, didn’t know that.

Celery leaves were one of the first greens I fed Jersey but then she went off them too. A year later and after I got Rumball, she’s suddenly eating it again. Strange girl.

Very strange… my buns have always snubbed celery so I stopped offering it a long time ago (and we’re not big celery eaters ourselves…) might have to try it again with them…

Petzy, thanks for the tip about the high calcuim. I though celery was pretty much just water. Leroy doesn’t get much of it anyway, since we eat it too, but that’s good to keep in mind

I really love celery myself  and every time I cut it up for Jack, I can’t stop myself from eating it. The vet recommended celery for Jack for the very reasons that Jerseygirl said – hydration. Jack needs to have more fluid intake than other bunnies because he doesn’t process calcium as well, so the more fluid the better, and celery is a good source of that.

My bunnies are fed mostly on celery, so I was a bit worried to read this. But apparently celery is fine when it comes to calcium – at least according to House Rabbit Society:

Most greens are comparatively high in calcium but they are also a very important component of a healthy rabbit diet and should not be eliminated. Broccoli flowers and stem, cilantro, dark leaf lettuce, watercress, Brussels sprouts, celery leaves, cabbage, and endive are good choices when trying to reduce dietary calcium.
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-5/calcium.html

This last week I’ve been feeding Pepper mostly celery for “bulk” but with sprigs of herbs and greens from my deck garden for variety and nutrition.

Thanks Karla, this is a helpful quote you posted from HRS. I feed celery to all my rabbts myself. i didn’t mean for anyone to think it was best to avoid it altogether. Also, with celery, as BB stated, the high water content is a plus, meaning a celery piece is primarily made up of water which flushes out excess minerals.
Apparently, for a human, in takes more calories to digest a stalk of celery than the celery gives me…

…With all this talk of celery breath I almost want to try to smell it for myself.

Just don’t tell my friends who don’t have bunnies. They will think I’m crazy…(as if they don’t already)