More greens/less hay OR less greens/more hay?

[bunnnnnnie!]

Which is healthier?  More hay and less greens, or less hay and more greens?

I’ve discovered that the more greens I feed, the less hay Zeus eats.  The other night I was low on greens (went to the grocery store the next day!), so I gave him a smaller amount of greens.  Lo and behold, he ate more hay that night than he ever has.

So I’m just wondering if I should cut back his greens to ensure he eats enough hay?  Or is it better for him to fill up on greens, and then just pick at hay?  

[Deleted User]

You can give untreated grass in place of hay but a rabbit would have to get accustomed to fresh grass first to avoid GI trouble. Other greens differ in their roughage content and should given in addition to hay and not instead of. So if you give more than the recommended 2 cups of greens per bunny per day I would cut back to get him eating his hay.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Petzy on 06/03/2010 05:02 PM

You can give untreated grass in place of hay but a rabbit would have to get accustomed to fresh grass first to avoid GI trouble. Other greens differ in their roughage content and should given in addition to hay and not instead of. So if you give more than the recommended 2 cups of greens per bunny per day I would cut back to get him eating his hay.

I think you misunderstand.  I was not substituting greens for hay.  He always has hay, ad lib.  It was just that I noticed when I fed less greens he ate more of the hay available.
 

Maybe I’ll try and cut him back to the 2 cups.  He’s DEFINITELY getting way more than that. 

[Monkeybun]

Definitely more hay than greens.

[Deleted User]

I will rephrase: if more greens in his diet makes him eat less hay, even though the hay is available to him, reduce the greens.

[mocha200]

what if your bunnys LOVE fresh hay, but when it is about 12 hours old they just don’t eat it untill there is fresh stuff? should i be giving them smaller handfuls of hay at a time and replace it more often so they don’t wast a lot?

[Monkeybun]

That would be a good plan Mocha. Give them less per handful, but more handfuls per day as they eat it.

[mocha200]

ok i think i will try that!

[Beka27]

Posted By mocha200 on 06/03/2010 05:59 PM
what if your bunnys LOVE fresh hay, but when it is about 12 hours old they just don’t eat it untill there is fresh stuff? should i be giving them smaller handfuls of hay at a time and replace it more often so they don’t wast a lot?

 

Very good question!  I try to give an extra handful or two about every 12 hours, or even if you go in there and mix the hay up, pull the stuff from the bottom up on top, you can trick them into thinking there is fresh hay!

[Elrohwen]

Mocha, the hay you give is already dried and not exactly fresh, so I bet your bunnies wouldn’t know the difference if you took the “old” hay out and replaced it with “new” hay, then used the “old” hay again the next day. They seem to like it when you add more, but I’m not sure they can really tell the difference. It’s more a mental thing I think 😉

And I agree with the others that eating hay is more important than veggies, so that should be the priority. Personally, I would probably cut back on the pellets before I cut back veggies. Hannah had teeth problems and to prevent them from returning, I try to get her to eat a lot of hay. My vet recommended cutting her back to less than 1/4c per day to get her to eat hay, but didn’t want me to reduce veggies at all.

[Deleted User]

It will save you hay, too, if you give less at a time as many rabbits tend to prefer the freshly served hay.

[Author]

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