80% of their Diet...?

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 10sd replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 13 years ago by Hokankai.

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- 02/24/2013 at 9:24 PM
  Hokankai
  Participant
  252 posts
  My rabbits’ diet is definitely not 80% hay even though I feed them the correct amounts of everything else. Between the two of them they get a 1/2 cup pellets (for 7.5 lbs of rabbit), 2 cups of veggies, and then have free choice hay. Problem is that when they aren’t eating their pellets or veggies they’re pretty much just sleeping and therefore not eating hay. They do pick through it, but I can wake up, shove the wasted hay back in the feeder, come back at the end of the day and it looks exactly the same.
  
  I’m not sure how to get them to eat more hay, seeing as they pretty much just wait for their next yummy meal. Any ideas? Is it important or can I just leave the system as is?
  
  ETA: It’s the same whether the hay is fresh off the bale or from the previous day. They pick at their hay during the evening but even then it takes them several days to “finish off” (there’s a lot of waste) a shoe box amount of hay.
- 02/24/2013 at 9:30 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  What kind of hay do you provide? Some bunnies definitely tend to be kind of finicky about hay.
- 02/24/2013 at 10:07 PM
  Hokankai
  Participant
  252 posts
  It’s local, horse quality Timothy mixed with orchard that is dead and brown. They pick out the brown stuff and I gather it for the rodents to use as bedding, haha. They only like Timothy.
- 02/25/2013 at 9:18 AM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  My Chacha bun only will eat 2nd cut hays. She will just avoid the other stuff. The second cut tends to be a bit more soft.
- 02/25/2013 at 9:18 AM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  Have you tried any other types of hay to entice them to eat?
- 02/25/2013 at 9:26 AM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  I’m a bit confused on what you mean that “they aren’t eating their pellets for veggies and are pretty much just sleeping”….can you clarify what you mean by this?
- 02/25/2013 at 10:59 AM
  Hokankai
  Participant
  252 posts
  That would be a typo, LOL. What I mean is that they don’t really eat much when on their “off” meals, so when they aren’t eating their pellets or veggies they aren’t really eating. They just wait until it’s pellet or veggies time again.
  
  Pellets 9am
  Pellets 7pm
  Veggies 11pm
  
  Between those times they don’t really eat. They just lay around or run around when I open the cage. I have tried other hay types and they don’t like them, only Timothy. I got this bale at the feed store and they really like the hay, but they just snack on it occasionally. In fact it looks like they barely touched it last night too.
- 02/25/2013 at 11:18 AM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  My rabbits aren’t grazers either – they seem to have the same schedule as yours. I think the occasional snacking is about what most rabbits do really.
- 02/25/2013 at 11:51 AM
  Malp_15
  Participant
  601 posts
  My rabbits graze, but they still eat a lot of hay. They average a pile of hay just larger than themselves, in a 24 hour period and they’re both 3 lbs.
- 02/25/2013 at 11:55 AM
  mia
  Participant
  617 posts
  Have you tried adding hay toppers, mixes, or flowers to encourage more eating? Something like http://store.binkybunny.com/bunny-bouquet-hay-topper—reformulated-p118.aspx
  Have you tried not giving any pellets and veges and/or decreasing it, temporary, to see if they’ll eat more hay?
- 02/25/2013 at 12:22 PM
  Hokankai
  Participant
  252 posts
  If I skip out on veggies they will definitely eat more hay, but that’s a rarity (I run out and it’s too late to run to the store). I don’t want to decrease their pellets by too much because they already get very little (2TBSP for 2.5lb bun and a little less than 1/2 cup for 5lb bun who’s only a year old). I haven’t had any problems with obstructions and their condition is perfect right now so I’m not too worried about changing anything. The only thing I can think of that would help would be to fill the box with less hay and fill it more often, since they really enjoy the hay right after I put it in there. But even then they’ll leave it until the evening when I go to bed, haha.
  
  That must be it, they just aren’t grazers. Maip_15 I’d be amazed if mine ate that much hay! They mostly just go through the box once the first time I fill it and pull out all their favorite pieces. Once they’ve made a mess of that I’ll shove it all back in and they’ll pick through whatever’s left for the next couple days.
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