Eat more pellet than hay

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This topic has 11sd replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 4 months ago by tofrus.

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- 10/22/2017 at 5:18 AM
  tofrus
  Participant
  9 posts
  Hi,
  
  So I have a happy bunny here, but she is prefer to eat her pellet rather than hay lately, when i didnt fill back the pellet when its empty she start eating her hay again, the problem is alot of site says that you need to give rabbit below 5 months unlimited pellet.
  
  Is there a way to make her eat more hay than pellet? Thank you
- 10/22/2017 at 6:53 AM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  Unlimited pellets are often reccomended but only if it doesn’t impact their hay consumption. I never gave mine unlimited because they didn’t eat much hay. I would cut down on the pellets It’s okay, unlimited doesn’t work for every bun!
- 10/22/2017 at 8:07 AM
  Amy
  Participant
  15 posts
  Definitely decrease the amount of pellets you give her. If she is eating too many pellets, she will feel too full to eat hay.
- 10/22/2017 at 8:15 AM
  tofrus
  Participant
  9 posts
  Posted By sarahthegemini on 10/22/2017 6:53 AM
  
  Unlimited pellets are often reccomended but only if it doesn’t impact their hay consumption. I never gave mine unlimited because they didn’t eat much hay. I would cut down on the pellets It’s okay, unlimited doesn’t work for every bun!
  
  Posted By Amy on 10/22/2017 8:07 AM
  Definitely decrease the amount of pellets you give her. If she is eating too many pellets, she will feel too full to eat hay.
  
  thank you so much guys, such a relief
- 10/25/2017 at 9:16 AM
  princessbookworm
  Participant
  135 posts
  I think it depends on the individual bunny if they can handle truly “unlimited” pellets and still be interested in hay
  
  With Yulie, when she was only 10weeks-about 5 months, to assist in her growing, I gave her two bowls FILLED with oxbow young rabbit and oxbow adult rabbit (gradually increased). She also got a bit of the pellet her foster family had on her (more in the beginning, obviously.).
  
  At first, neither the hay nor the pellets ever ran empty until I changed them out. I just wanted her to be *eating* and since she was nibbling on both, unlimited pellets were fine. But as she got bigger, that began to change.
  
  As I noticed less of the hay was disappearing, I started decreasing the pellets and offering more adult pellets. I think bunnies are are very good at “telling” you when they begin to prefer pellets over hay
- 11/15/2017 at 2:20 AM
  tofrus
  Participant
  9 posts
  Posted By princessbookworm on 10/25/2017 9:16 AM
  
  I think it depends on the individual bunny if they can handle truly “unlimited” pellets and still be interested in hay
  
  With Yulie, when she was only 10weeks-about 5 months, to assist in her growing, I gave her two bowls FILLED with oxbow young rabbit and oxbow adult rabbit (gradually increased). She also got a bit of the pellet her foster family had on her (more in the beginning, obviously.).
  
  At first, neither the hay nor the pellets ever ran empty until I changed them out. I just wanted her to be *eating* and since she was nibbling on both, unlimited pellets were fine. But as she got bigger, that began to change.
  
  As I noticed less of the hay was disappearing, I started decreasing the pellets and offering more adult pellets. I think bunnies are are very good at “telling” you when they begin to prefer pellets over hay
  
  yeah, this is very helpful, I think the previous owner gave them only pellets (or bad pellets) because the pee smells were really bad and then she cant control herself when I gave her pellet, sooner or later the pee smells disappeared after I take care of poofy and give her hay more ofc.
  
  I noticed you said pellets oxbow young rabbit and adult. is it necessary to use young rabbit pellet instead of <g class="gr_ gr_13 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="13" data-gr-id="13">adult</g>? because <g class="gr_ gr_15 gr-alert gr_tiny gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="15" data-gr-id="15">i</g> just gave him the adult one thank you</p>
  
  ^why the text is messy?
- 11/15/2017 at 3:41 AM
  Sirius&Luna
  Participant
  2320 posts
  Young rabbit pellets are better for bunnies under 6 months, as they contain different nutrients to help them grow.
  
  Adult pellets are adapted for adult bunny needs.
  
  So you should feed them young rabbit pellets until they’re about 7 months old, then start slowly transitioning them onto adult by mixing the two types together (eg. start a week with 75% young, 25%adult, then the next week do 50/50).
  
  If she’s not already eating young rabbit pellets you’ll need to transition her onto them in a similar way.
- 11/15/2017 at 8:50 AM
  joea64
  Participant
  1423 posts
  I gather your bunny is 5 months old or less from the OP, so at this point in time she should continue to be offered a good quantity of alfalfa pellets. However, you should also start encouraging her to eat alfalfa hay, which will get her the nutrients she needs for growth and also set up for transitioning her to timothy and other grass hay. As Sirius&Luna mentioned, in a couple of months, you should start transitioning her to adult (timothy-based) pellets as well as timothy hay. My own two buns are definitely hay-centered as far as their diet goes, though they do love their timothy pellets in the morning. In fact, I’ve often seen one or both of them – usually Fernando, the male of the pair – ignoring their evening salad for a while in favor of eating the fresh hay I’ve just put into the buns’ litterbox and hay rack.
- 11/19/2017 at 7:23 AM
  tofrus
  Participant
  9 posts
  alright thanks alot
  
  for the info guys, it really helps me out
  
  sorry for late reply because there was no notification
  
  I appreacite the long words, i got alot of info in here
- 11/19/2017 at 11:13 PM
  tofrus
  Participant
  9 posts
  guys, I tried to give her alfalfa hay but she doesnt like it at all. she just want to eat timothy hay
  
  however she does eat her alfalfa based pellet (for young <g class="gr_ gr_11 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="11" data-gr-id="11">rabbit),</g> since <g class="gr_ gr_12 gr-alert gr_tiny gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="12" data-gr-id="12">i</g> cant just throw the alfalfa hay, is there a way to make her <g class="gr_ gr_10 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar replaceWithoutSep" id="10" data-gr-id="10">to</g> eat it? thank you</strong></p>
  
  ^ if the text messy just click here https://pastebin.com/gJENtZec
- 11/19/2017 at 11:38 PM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  Timothy hay is fine. Neither of my buns liked alfalfa, and have been happily consuming Timothy since about 1 month old. So it’s totally fine if she doesn’t like alfalfa. If she doesn’t like Timothy you may need to start experimenting with other hays like orchard or oat. You could even try a blend of hays. Oxbow offers one that has orchard and Timothy blended.
- 11/20/2017 at 12:23 AM
  tofrus
  Participant
  9 posts
  Posted By Asriel and Bombur on 11/19/2017 11:38 PM
  
  Timothy hay is fine. Neither of my buns liked alfalfa, and have been happily consuming Timothy since about 1 month old. So it’s totally fine if she doesn’t like alfalfa. If she doesn’t like Timothy you may need to start experimenting with other hays like orchard or oat. You could even try a blend of hays. Oxbow offers one that has orchard and Timothy blended.
  
  Hi, thank you for your info. since the beginning I always give her timothy hay, maybe that is why she won’t touch alfalfa, but the problem is since I bought 4.5 pounds of alfa I cant just throw it away, is there a way to make her eat it, at least a little bit? if there is no way then i would just throw it away
  
  –
  
  NVM, now she loves it
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