How Much To Feed Rabbit?

[Micky]

I have 1 male bunny, he’s nearly a year old (16th or 17th July is his bday!). So far, I’ve only been feeding him unlimited hay, and limited pellets with occasional veggies.

I heard from someone that I should limit his pellets, and feed more veggies. I want to start doing so (unless it’s bad for him) 

my frist question is: what veggies are good for a stable diet? I am aware that I should always rotate by some veggies. Which ones are best? 

my second question is: how much should I feed him? Or, how much do you feed yours

he is an average sized holland lop male, sometimes I tink he’s a bit chunky, but not much. He is already used to arugula, romaine lettuce, carrots, kohlrabi greens. also eats cucumber and iceberg salad (but in veryyy small amounts).

But he doesn’t eat them regularely. Help me make a staple diet for my bun? 

He will still be getting some pellets on the side, just not as many as he used to get. I will probably mostly be using them as training treats.

[Kai & Sophie]

I would definitely limit the pellets for my little bunbun! The recommended portion is usually 1/4th cup of pellets for every 6 lbs per day. This is usually because pellets can easily make a rabbit overweight (and cause many health problems) if given excessive pellets. My bunny is less than 6 lbs (he is 4.2 lbs) and I give him just a small handful of pellets per day.

I would definitely recommend feeding more fresh veggies. My bunbun’s favorite veggies are; cilantro (he goes crazy for this stuff), mustard greens, parsley, and watercress. There are numerous other vegetables your bunny may eat, you can easily search this up on google. But it really depends on you bunny’s taste buds! Experiment with different vegetables (small amounts at a time) and see what veggies he prefers! There are some veggies that you should give sparingly because they are high in calcium. Two cups per 6 lbs of rabbit per day is usually the recommended portion for fresh vegetables.

This is the website I like to go to —> http://www.mybunny.org/info/rabbit-diet-and-nutrition/vegetables-and-fruits-for-bunnies/

If you have any more questions, just let me know! I’m here to help <3

– Sophie

[kurottabun]

How much pellets are you giving currently and what kind of pellets are they? If you could mention the brand that would be helpful Pellets can actually be fed daily (in limited amounts) to an adult bunny as long as the bunny is healthy and the pellets are timothy based, without any seeds or other unnecessary ingredients. When Kurotta was in the healthy weight range (about 800g), I fed him two tablespoons of Oxbow Essentials for Adult Rabbit pellets daily. I’m now feeding more (about 3-4 tbs) because he was sick recently and lost a lot of weight.

How much does your bunny weigh? A bunny’s diet has to be determined by weight, so you need to know his weight to know how much to feed.

In any case, carrots should be categorised as a treat and not a staple vegetable to feed as it’s high in sugar. Iceberg (I’m assuming lettuce here, but it should be the same for any iceberg) is not recommended as it can contain lactucarium which is a harmful chemical. It’s also made up of >90% water and doesn’t really have much nutritional value. Dark green lettuce types are usually more nutritious.

When introducing a new vegetable, do it one at a time and in small portions to see how the bunny reacts. Some buns have more sensitive guts and would react negatively to certain types of vegetables even though it may be deemed as a “safe” type.

The House Rabbit Society’s website is a good reference: https://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

[Q8bunny]

Different buns thrive on different regimens.

My little guy started on a balanced mix of pellets and fresh produce. He is now on minimal pellets but more fresh produce and his poops went from nice to gorgeous. He has always been a wonderful hay eater, though.

Start off with some recommended quantities of quality food (this site also has info if you go to the Bunny Info tab at the top). Then adjust as needed to optimize for your bun’s needs.

[Author]

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