Introducing Fresh Veggies

[Bunbun500]

 Hey everyone, I am a new bunny owner and am looking for advice on the proper way to help introduce my bunny to fresh vegetables. I was reading the Diet section under bunny info and am a bit confused. I have a 6 month old bunny who is used to hay and pellets, but I want to start transitioning her into fresh veggies. If I start to introduce one veggie should I continue to give her pellets and how much should I give? Once I have worked my way up to the recommended 2 cups of chopped greens a day, should I still give pellets? 

 

Another question I had about nutrients: Is it necessary to give vitamin drops in my rabbits water if she’s on pellets and/or eating fresh veggies? 

 

Thanks for your help!!  

[Stickerbunny]

No you don’t need to give vitamins, in fact, you probably don’t want to give them since it builds up bacteria in the water in only a few hours… plus buns should get all they need from fresh vegs and pellets. Yes you should keep giving pellets, the recommended amount is WITH fresh vegs in the diet (about 1/4 cup per 5lbs). Give just one veggie, then see if that upsets her tummy, if not give a little more of it, then after a couple of days if everything is still OK introduce a new one.

A proper diet for a bun is fresh veggies daily (at least 3 types of leafy green), pellets and hay. Some do without the pellets, but it requires upping the veggies/giving a wide variety.

[CocoVermont802]

My bunny is also 6 months old… i started her on lettuce and carrots when she was about four months. I feed about one cup of fresh veggies aday right now since she is a little small… along with unlimited pellets and hay, until she is one year then i will limit the pellets.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

No to added vitamins-in fact I wouldn’t bother giving them now
Start one veggie at a time so you can tell which veggie is the culprit if there are tummy problems. I think your bunny will naturally eat less pellets as she/he fills up on veggies, so I wouldn’t worry about decreasing pellets, unless your bunny is eating all the veggies and all the pellets every day. Then you could probably back off about a teaspoon of pellets per day to gradually decrease-and see how things go.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

PS-Welcome!!

[Les huit scaroles]

Hi !

What is usually recommended is : 2-3% of your bunny weight of pellets every day, and 8% of your bunny weight of vegetables every day (and 3 different vegetables at least). If you choose to feed him only with vegetables, it’s about 10% of his weight everyday, with more dark green vegetables thant anything else (salads, aromatics, celery, etc …) and only a few root vegetables (I’m sorry, I don’t know what the right word is ; I mean vegetables such as celeriac, Jerusalem artichoke, etc …).

Of course, you have to introduce them one by one before giving the 8%  to avoid any problem ; remember that you have to introduce salads and cabbages last because they’re not the easier to digest for a rabbit that never ate vegetables.

Right now, as you’re only introducing vegetables, you don’t have to give your rabbit less pellets, but then yup it will be necessary. Most of rabbits are so greedy then they would eat as long as there’s food ! ^^ And anyway, pellets are the thing they’re supposed to eat the less.

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