At what age can a rabbit start eating treats like fruit and oxbow?

[mschoonover11]

Hoppy New Years Eve Everybunny!!!

Hello my bun bun is turning 3 months on January 6th and I want to know when is a good age to start giving him treats. I also want to know how often I can give him treats. Is every other day good? 

The treats I’m planning to feed are oxbow dietary supplements, small pieces of apple and banana, and dried pieces of papaya. 

[Deleted User]

Fruit should wait until at least 6 months so that the gut can develop. When starting out on fruits some buns can get diarrhea. When you do start giving them fruit, 2tsp a day is a good amount. I’m not sure about the Oxbow. My boys were going through their first molt at month 4, so I started giving them digestives around that time.

[DanaNM]

Personally I almost never give my rabbits treats on a regular basis, aside from the odd tiny piece of banana or a blueberry every once in a while. I’ve found that fruit does more harm than good with mine (fun to give them, but often goes along with excess cecals)

I like to just use the plain old rabbit pellets as their “treats”, since they are on such a strict ration of them they do see them as treats, or a piece of fragrant basil, mint, or lavendar.

Remember that wild rabbits are strict herbivores, which means their digestive tract is evolved to process mostly low calorie roughage (high fiber, low energy content). With too many treats they tend to not eat as much hay, which is really the most important part of the diet.

I guess this is a long-winded way of saying, “less is more” with treats! Prob best reserved for soothing grumpy bunnies after particularly traumatic events, like nail trims.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[mschoonover11]

Thanks Asriel and Bombur !
I didn’t know that fruit should be fed until 6 months but now I know?
I’ll have to check more into the right age for the oxbow.

[mschoonover11]

Thanks DanaNM!
For treats, I wasn’t planning on giving that many. Just occasionally.
And for fruit, thx for telling me that they can overproduce cecos with them. My bun is already overproducing cecos but not anymore because I increased Timothy.
But I’ll definitely make sure to not give as much fruit!

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