Food/my rex

[Bun-Bun]

I have this mini rex, and the pet store told me that as she was was her normal size[a bit bigger than my hand note im a 13 year old] and now shes doubled in size. I love her but i expected a smaller bunbun. Im totally confused. Also, i trained her to sit in her litter box when she eats and she stopped pooping all over her cage, but now shes gone right back at it! I thought she learned it was a no-no!

Also, how much food should i give her? 1/2 a cup. 1 cup, idk. I feed her in morning before i leave to school and at night before i go to bed. Normally its all eaten except a couple peices, but shes getting a bit um, "poofy" like i can grab a little flab of flabbieness. Shes not super overweight but should i be careful? I give her excersize at least once a day to run around the house…

[Lion_Lop_Lover]

How old is she? Usually when females mature, they lose their litter habits… is she spayed?

I have 4 rabbits under 6 months of age, and I give them 1/2 cup of pellets per day, unlimited timothy hay…

[JK]

 

Make sure you are following the diet below!!!!

DIET FOR NON-BREEDING NEUTERED ADULTS (over 1 year):  

Click here for Guidelines for rabbits UNDER a year

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UNLIMITED HAY : This is extremely important for a bunny’s digestive system. Always have it available.  My bunnies eat more hay when they have a variety.  Their favorite it is Bunny Blend with six different types of fresh premium hay.
HAY TIP: A great trick that encourages more hay consumption is to offer a little handful a few times a day.  For some reason this entices them to eat more, even though they still have plenty of hay in their rack.  Maybe it’s the whole "newness" factor, I don’t know but it seems to work well

PELLETS: 1/4 to 1/2 cup pellets per 6 lbs. 

              

Recommended Nutrional Value: (Compare these against yours) Fiber 18% minimum (20 -25% best) Fat 1 – 2% max, Protein 12 – 14% max (long-haired breeds,angoras, need higher) Calcium 1% max

Avoid pellets with nuts and dried fruit.  That’s like feeding snicker bars on your salad everyday.  Stick with pellets that are Timothy based.  Some alfalfa based pellets do have a high fiber content, but most are still  too high in calories, protein, and calcium for many adult rabbits. 
PELLET TIP: A rabbit’s system is meant for foraging.  Instead of putting your bunny’s pellets in a bowl that can quickly be consumed, spread his pellets out all over his pen or cage, either throw all over, or hide in specific place.   This way he can’t consume everything at once and it will add a bit of exercise and entertainment.

GREENS: Minimum 2 cups of chopped greens per 6 lbs  See Veggie/Fruit List from the House Rabbit Society.

FRUIT:   1 oz. to 2 oz. max per 6 lbs. body weight.  High in calories, but still a better treat than some of the "junkfood" treats that are sold at pet stores.  See Veggie/Fruit List

Sources:
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html, http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/treat.html, http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-4/pellets.html

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[bunny04]

Hi,

I also have a mini rex rabbit, he is 3 years old weighs about 3.9 lbs. I once read somewhere on a bunny site cant remember which one but generally a mini rex is suppose to be a maximum weight up to 4.5 lbs, more than that is considered overweight. Yes, you should be careful about her weight because being overweight can lead to serious health problems in bunnies.

How old is she? Another thing to consider is the type of pellet that you feed your bunny. There are alfalfa pellets and timothy pellets. A bunny that is over the age of 7 months that is healthy or if is overweight should be getting timothy pellets they are lower in protein, fat, and calcium that older bunnies do not need and benefit from. Some good quality plain rabbit pellet brands are sweet meadow farms, oxbow, kaytee.

The change in her litter habits could be because she might need to be spayed if she isn’t.

In terms of diet a general guideline for pellets is the following
1/8 cup for 2-4 lbs body weight per day
1/4 cup for 5-7 lbs body weight per day
1/2 cup for 8-10 lbs body weight per day
3/4 cup for 11-15 lbs body weight per day

I give my mini rex 1/8 cup of pellets per day. It is important to give a limited amount of pellets because hay and greens/veggies should be main diet, if bunny is always full off of pellets wont eat other foods that are more important and a diet only of pellets can lead to serious health and dental issues.

Unlimited timothy hay (or any grass hay oat, brome, orchard) is the most important thing in a rabbits diet and they should consume about their body size daily, it keeps them busy and its high in fibre. So if you feed your bunny once in the morning just say pellets and give its veggies/greens in evening or night, and have hay available at all times that is good. Im not sure what you meant by ½ cup is it of pellets/ or greens if its pellets ½ cup of pellets for a mini rex is waaaaay too much, not healthy, it should be between 1/8- 1 /4 cup depending on weight.

The diet that I have my mini rex on is 1/8 cup of timothy pellets, 1 ½ cup of 3 different green/veggies, unlimited timothy hay, and tablespoon of fruit 3-4 times a week. As well recently I got him neutered.

A really good article that I would encourage you to read that has a lot of good information in it about diet/ behaviour/ proper care is the following http://www.hrschicago.org/dietcarefr.html

Hope that has answered your questions

[bunny04]

Another thing that i wanted to add forgot to mention in helping to maintain weight or help loose weight is more time out of the cage. I would say minium of 4 hours daily is important keeps them active and provides mental stimulation.

[Beka27]

bunnylover summed it up nicely! 

is she getting hay and veggies?  those are the most important part of her diet.

i’m guessing if you got her from a pet store, she was probably very young and not close to full-grown.  pet stores will say what they need to in order to make the sale.  my mini-rex is nearing 4 pounds and she’s 10 months old.  she is probably about as big as she’s gonna get.

have you taken her to a vet yet?  if not, you will want to do that to make sure she is healthy and find out info on spaying.  the loss of litter habits is a good indication that the time may be coming soon.  depending on her age, she may be ready now.  has her behavior changed?  a rabbit in puberty, not altered, can often become very territorial and aggressive. 

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome bunbun and bunnylover! Good advice Bunnylover!!

[skunklionshow]

I have an adult lion head & netherland dwarf.  I feed them both 1/2 cup of pellets in the morning and unlimited hay.  I remove the pellets in the evening and give them a huge bunny salad.  Both were predominately fed pellets when I got them.  They had to get into the veggie habit.  Sometimes I am tempted after a long awful work day to just throw in a scoop of pellets to get them through the night…but hey they’re my buns and they need their veggies.  Now they get so psyched when they get their salads…it makes me really proud.

We had a mini-rex, Trigger, at our pet therapy program.  He was extremely high energy!  He got 6-8 hrs a day of hip hop time and then tended to keep him fit and trim.  He also ate like a bandit, but he exercised so much that it didn’t seem to matter.  Please do check into getting your bunny fixed.  Its amazing how helpful it can be w/ litterbox habits.  Jessica wavered back / forth w/ her litterbox skills.  I only truly gained consistency once she was spayed.

[Bun-Bun]

thanks for all the deets! Im really glad you helped me! =) You guys are great! If there are anymore replies that would be nice too =-)

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