Healthiest treats?

[leyley904]

 I want to find a motivating treat for my buns, neither seem to like anything. Nothing will get them to come my way (well, occasionally curiosity)

Here are things I’ve tried, nothing sticks out. If I HAD to pick, I would say they both like banana the best. Beans seems to like cilantro.

(some of the greens aren’t what I feed as treats, but I’m just listing what they have tried)

Banana 

Apple

Blueberries

Strawberry

Cilantro

Yellow Bell Pepper

Romaine

Green leaf lettuce

Cherry tomato

Parsley

Red leaf lettuce

Basil

baby dill

Peach

Pear

Plum

Broccoli

Craisins

Grapes

 I could be leaving out some….

 

I want to try:

Raisins

Papaya tablet (are these the Oxbow ones?)

dried papaya

 

Okay, what brand of raisins? What brand of dried papaya? Or do you dry them yourself? Oxbow papaya?

Just to let you know, I’m extremely paranoid about feeding my animals different foods. So, if you says something is okay to feed, and I ask a second opinion, please don’t be offended!

It’s hard to say this…. but I may have killed my two hamsters by feeding them a treat. It was a treat made for hamsters, but I should have checked the ingredients. It could have been something else that killed them, but it’s unlikely. They both died the same night. I found Pickles (RIP!) dead and Pudge (RIP!) was dying on the other side of the cage. I helped him to eat and drink and put him in a little shoe box next to my bed to watch him, but he didn’t make it through the night. This was a few years ago, I was young, but I know that’s no excuse. 

So, I guess I have a good reason to be paranoid.  

 

So, a sad story to go along with my question! Please, please, please, recommend brands that have been used widely with rabbits, and you have used yourself with (obviously) success! I think all raisins are the same, but still, tell me brands! 

Also, if you have any healthy treats to suggest that would be great. I know treats aren’t necessarily ever going to be healthy. But, what would you say is probably the healthiest? One that I don’t have to just give them one of because I’m scared to give them too much!

[Sarita]

Well you can always use a different hay as a treat – something they don’t get daily.

Mine like Craisins and Acidophilous tablets (American Health in Banana, Strawberry, and Blueberry).

Obviously if you feed very limited pellets those could be considered treats as well.

[leyley904]

Thanks! I’ll look around for some different hay!
Where can you get those tablets?

[Sarita]

I find them in Sprouts, Whole Foods and Central Market.

[leyley904]

Thanks! Are they made for rabbits? Or for people? Just to know where to look

[Monkeybun]

My 2 adore dried papaya and raisins, you can get organic for both, so you don’t have to worry about what is in them

[Sarita]

They are made for people – they are in the digestive section – you want milk free and these are. I love the way they taste too.

[RabbitPam]

Sammy loves matchstick carrots that are precut in bags from the grocery store. She just does anything for them, and they are so small that you can give several before it adds up to the size of a carrot slice.

Raisins are more fattening, but the kind that doesn’t add sugar is ok.

I pay more, but I stock up on the treats made by oxbow and others that are ground hays or veggies and shaped into treats. I like the barley, veggie or timothy treats. Often shaped like hearts or circles.

Sammy has discovered she loves parsley, too.

[Elrohwen]

I like to use pellets as treats. You can feed a lot (because they’re so small) and my buns don’t seem to realize they’re not treats.

My other favorite treat is dried papaya. I’ve found some at the pet store in little cubes with no added sugar. When the pet store ran out, I bought some from the grocery store, but it was next to impossible to find it without added sugar (I had to find a specialty store). I don’t feed craisins for this same reason – I don’t like the added sugar.

[BinkyBunny]

Wow… it’s actually good your bunny doesn’t seem to have a sweet tooth as we humans can be swayed by bunny begging so often! Maybe try Mint, or even dried bunny safe flowers & herbs that are sold for bunnies.

If your bunny does take to raisins, I recommend cutting each raisin up into several little pieces — makes it sticky and a bit messy to give, but if you are doing it to “motivate” your bunny and need to give many treats to get a your bunny to do something” (cliicker training, or getting a bunny back into their pen or area) then cutting raisins up allows for more “treats” without overloading their system with sugar. I can get five craisin/raisin bits out of one.  My bunnies love dried cranberry but I get the organic kind.  Sometimes you can find raisin and dried cranberry in those plastic bins at the store where they also sell nuts, but I do find it very hard to find dried cranberry without some sort of sugar additive.   I think since it’s for human consumption, most people don’t want that bitter cranberry tastes.  (but many bunnies like bitter stuff).    I have to go to a store that actually sells organic to find the option of dried cranberry without some sweetener.

[leyley904]

Thanks everyone! Now I just need to get my mom to bring me shopping!

[leyley904]

I’m about to order some things from the binky bunny store. I’m going to get some treats.
Which is suggested? I know they are all good and healthy, but do you rabbits especially like any from the store?

-Apple Pie Cookies (APD)
-Berry Mini Heart Smaks (APD)
-Garden Treats (3 types)
-Tropical Fruit Salad Cookies (APD)
-Pumpkin Pie Cookies (APD)
-Organic Barley Biscuits (Oxbow)
-Simple Rewards Banana Treat (Oxbow)
—Strawberry
—Veggie
-Papaya Fruit Plus – 90 ct (Oxbow)

 

I was thinking maybe the pumpkin pie cookies and the organic oxbow biscuits. What do you think?

[earthisours]

My buns go insaaaane or the APD Pumpkin cookies. But they’re kinda big, so I cut them into 4 pieces at least. But my buns go crazy for all the APD cookies. Even then, these are the ‘good stuff’ that the buns only get for an extra special treat.

You didn’t put it on your list, but the Simple Rewards Timothy Treats from Oxbow are the commercial treats I use most often, as I figure it’s one of the less sugary treats available, and they do go crazy for them. I can’t say for sure (I forget…), but I think they didn’t like the Oxbow Veggie ones.

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