Bunny prefers fresh veggies over hay!

[Sarahsoofee]

I got a female Lionhead rabbit a week ago and the breeder sold it to me when it is over a month old. In my country, nobody really cares about animal rights here so unsurprisingly, they’d let rabbit breeders sell their rabbits at a month old. Now I’m not particularly sure if she was weaned properly but she is alright and perfectly healthy. The breeder gave her carrots and pellets with limited water. After I read up on bunny stuff online, I found out that shes too young to be sold and etc, including the fact that they cant eat much vegetables. However, her poops were normal when I first got her but after I started giving her hay (from reading all the things online, I wanted to switch her diet to healthy), her poops became smaller. She did love to eat her hay and at the same time, I gave her a small amount of fresh veggies. One day, I noticed she started picking out her hay cause she would dig into the hay as if she was looking for tolerable hay pieces to eat. The first few times she didnt have this problem. She actually ate a lot of it but her poops were still small. Then I increased her vegetable intake since she wasnt eating much hay anymore, her poop got bigger although more moist. So i decided she’d just eat fresh vegetables for one whole day as a test but her poops became even smaller and softer (not diarrhea level). It was also really black, which I’m guessing was also because of the pellets I gave her that has a high level of protein in it. She refuses to eat that hay now. I’ve had that bag of hay for two and a half weeks. I stored it in a dry place but not in an airtight container or anything. The whole bag is just put on the floor with the top of the bag open.

My questions are:
1) Is she just being picky about hay?
2) she doesnt want to eat the hay because its gone stale now?

Please help!
Clueless rabbit owner.

[Bam]

She’s probably picky. Hay doesn’t get stale indoors in 2,5 weeks. It doesn’t need to be stored in an air-tight container. Hay never is stored in air-tight containers. It should be stored dry though.

I think perhaps she’s figured out that fresh veg is yummier than hay. But she needs hay. Try and get her to eat more of it f ex by hand-feeding it or scattering it in small heaps so she can forage for the best bits. It’s NOT recommended to stop other food so the bun will eat the hay when it gets hungry enough – that often works with dogs, but bunnies need to eat continously and even a short period (hours) of refusal to eat can lead to gastro-intestinal slowdown. You can decrease the amount of vegs a bit though, but keep an eye on the poop just like you’ve been doing. Here’s a nice picture-guide to bunny poop: http://imgur.com/a/5N4lD

[Vienna Blue in France]

bam – absolutely brilliant – thanks ! Who’d have thought so many different poops !!! Thanks, very clear and concise !

[BB & Tiny]

My bunnies eat hay but they eat more if I cram some in their little woven treat ball or even a paper towel roll tucked up on both ends. They like pulling the hay out of the treat ball.

[Sarahsoofee]

I forgot to mention that the hay I got was from a local pet store. I dont have access to fresh hay in my country. I’m guessing thats why shes picky? She seems to get quickly bored if I just give her just one type of vegetables.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Sarah, do you have access to grass? Grass which you absolutely know has NOT been weed-treated or had chemicals on it?

It’s a nice change for the buns, mine jumps on hers which I cut from my garden with scissors on all fours… (much less grass now though as it’s not growing much in the winter!) What the neighbours must think as most don’t know I have a rabbit !! LOL. Geeeee, cheap lawnmower !!

Maybe your picky bun may like fresh grass…. just a thought. :o)

[Sarahsoofee]

Yeah I think I should start giving her grass as fortunately, I have more access to that than hay. The hay from the pet store looks so yellow and dry and shes used to eating fresh stuff cause when I bought her from the breeder, I saw her grazing on grass.

I still bought hay from the pet store just to make sure I was right about her just wanting fresh stuff. She just sniffed the newly bought hay then turned to eat her carrot leftovers lol.

[animallove7]

My rabbits poops as i can tell from those pictures are too dark so how can I fix this what does my rabbit need I would like her too be really healthy thankx .

[Author]

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