I am curious how much he weighs?

Wow, is he still young my 3 yr old lop is 10.5 lbs. I have never seem a flemish in person so I was interested. Did you want a big bunny?

That is sad. I like having a bigger bunny too he is easier to pick up and he can’t fit behind everything. I’d love to see pictures of your bunny. I hope he cheers up soon. My bunny had a mate at one time and it got out and could not be found so sometimes I am not sure if he is just laid back or still depressed.

Have you tried a water bottle with him? He may prefer that to a bowl. I’d try both

The hay intake will increase as the amount of pellets he has go down. You may also want to try a few different varieties of hay, to see if another gets his interest. Mine do enjoy their orchard grass

I wouldn’t worry about the water at this point – we go days without seeing either of our buns drink, but they are perfectly well hydrated – they just drink once a day when we’re not looking. I’ve noticed that they drink once a day (that I noticed when I was unemployed and home all day, they might also be drinking at night) around 10am. Everybun is different, but in general they won’t be drinking very often like dogs tend to do. Just keep an eye on the water level.

Everybun is different with hay too. My buns only eat hay at certain times of the day, so giving it to them at times when they don’t feel like eating it will be unsuccessful. He could also not be as into hay as other buns are. He might like different kinds more, so you can try orchard, brome, meadow, etc to find his favorite.

Has he seen a vet? The other thought I had is that his molars are bothering him – often the first sign of molar issues is not eating hay, even though they’ll still eat other foods. If he has had a vet check up recently and his teeth were good, then it’s probably a matter of taste or time of day.

I agree about Elrohwen and the water – mine are not big water drinkers – I think being indoors and not active they just don’t have as much of a need to hydrate themselves.

If he’s gobbling up pellets he may be filling himself up on those instead of hay. I think wants you start decreasing the pellets he should hopefully munch more on the hay.

The veggies definitely play a role – the more watery veggies he gets, the less he’ll need to drink. Thinks like lettuce have a lot of water per volume, so they hydrate really well. If he’s eating a lot of greens I wouldn’t worry about the water.

As for the hay, he might not be a big hay eater.

Eddie wasn’t. Would munch a little here or there, but generally refused to eat it. Until I got Lolli. She is a good little hay eater, preferring hay over pellets. Eddie thought she was getting something “special” so he started trying to eat HER hay thru the pen. And it was alfalfa hay which he didn’t even like. Then I got them bonded and now they both eat hay really well. But if Eddie would’ve remained an only bun, I really don’t think he would ever ate a lot of hay. So it all depends.

For water, mine seem to drink the most at night. Rabbits don’t generally have a need to drink water all day long like humans or other animals. So as long as you can tell he’s been drinking at all, he’s fine!

Another suggestion for the hay – my rabbit Sammy really likes the hay topper (the dried flowers and herbs) that they sell here at the binkybunny store. I sprinkle just a little in his hay every few days and he definitely eats more now. Even in his free run time, when he’d usually never go in his area to eat, he runs back in there now and sticks his head in the hay rack lol I also am now combining orchard and timothy together since he does prefer the orchard, and he seems to eat both now that they’re mixed.

Jack and Vivian drink mostly in the middle of the night. I would not put apple juice in the water unless there was a real medical problem. I wouldn’t want your bunny to get used to drinking sweet water so early on, and adding that extra sugar wouldn’t be the first route to go—It should be the very very last resort — if there were severe medical consequences for little water intake.

Jack does get an apple juice mix, but he has a medical condition (sludge and stones) and if he does not take in enough water he has serious side effects, but again, it’s still alot of sugar for a bunny so, in my opinion, the juice mix should not be done normally.

As for the hay, do you notice he eats more of the alfalfa or more of the Timothy? Or not much of either?  Some bunnies who are not fond of Timothy, will like other hays like Orchard.  

Now that I think of it, my crew seem to empty their bowls overnight too, and just drink a little bit during the day. They must party hard at night or something while I am sleeping.

It can be a good idea at first to get samples or very small quantities of different kinds of hay to discover his favorite kind. With a bunny his size, although he was skinny, I expect the alfalfa will pack on the lbs. fast, but it might lead to fat. I would try the softer kinds, ie. Orchard grass, 2nd cut Timothy, and then the other kinds, like Oat Hay or Broam, to see how his taste runs. I couldn’t wait to try O. grass and 3rd cut Timmy for Samantha since I’d heard how much bunnies love them – she wouldn’t touch it. But when I got her Mature Oat Hay that looked like it fell of a broomstick it was so dry – she went nuts and finished it all! So you can’t predict.