Not eating romaine anymore? Why? ?

[Caspar'sHome]

Hi guys.

My now 11 month old mini lop has been eating romaine lettuce everyday since he was allowed to eat veggies. So about 7-8 months.
He’s been eating hay and pellets and his usual tablespoon of rolled oats (Food Lion Brand), but won’t touch the romaine. I even threw in some kale and he ate that but not the lettuce. Is he getting sick of eating that? Is he sick overall? Oh wow as I’m typing this now he just started eating the romaine.

Anyway, should I give him more variety? Other than romaine (and kale once in a while)? If so, I don’t know what to give him. I’ve searched and searched and searched for what to give for a variety of diet, and on each website I find all these lists of foods to give, but they each have warning s like high in oxalis acid or low in oxalis acid and I’m very confused with it. I don’t know what to do. Can you guys give me some advice I’ll appreciate tremendously!!

????❤️❤️

[tobyluv]

Rabbits can definitely get tired of certain veggies, so it’s a good idea to give them a variety and to rotate them.

This link should be helpful: http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

The veggies in the first list of 7 should be given more sparingly. The veggies in the second, longer list can be given more frequently, and you could even give those on a daily basis. Go slowly and add one new veggie a week to find out which he likes best, and you also go slowly in case there are any veggies that don’t agree with him.

[LBJ10]

Maybe it’s a bad batch? I know I’ve bought lettuce before and the buns turned their noses up at it. Try some new lettuce and see if he’ll eat that.

To answer your question, sometimes bunnies do get tired of stuff. So I suppose it’s possible. But I would try some new lettuce first to see if maybe it was a bad batch. He probably ate the kale because it didn’t taste funny.

Variety is always good. Minimum variation would be two veggies from the low oxalic acid list and one from the high oxalic acid list on any given day. It’s best to switch it up. So each time you go shopping, pick out some different things. That way your bun is getting more variety, but you’re not having to buy a ton of different things at the same time.

Another option might be to buy prepackaged mixes. My buns like organic spring mix.

[Caspar'sHome]

Thanks @tobyluv for the link!! That’s so helpful. And the way you explained the chart, short and sweet, got me to understand it way better than the website. It is one of the websites that I looked at, but went to a different one because it was so confusing. But what does moderation mean? Once a week, – month, a day?

LBJ,
Are the prepackaged veggies not treated heavily as fresh produce is? I always s thought they were more harmful since they were processed and then put into the packages.
so I will go out and I’ll get two types of the “low-oxalic” and one of the “high oxalc”? Do I feed that for the week or however long it lasts and then get three different veggies?

Thanks guys for responding so quick !!!

[Luna]

I usually just feed the veggies to Luna for however long it lasts – by the way, they never last a full week with her! I don’t differentiate between packaged and unpackaged veggies, though I do try to buy organic. Even if organic is not available, I’ll still get the non-organic. Just wash them really good.

[tobyluv]

It can be confusing when reading these veggies articles, since some are contradictory. The link that I gave before, from the House Rabbit Society, seems to be saying that for every 3 greens that you give daily, only one should be from the first list (high oxalic acid content). So, if you gave a variety of 6 greens a day, 2 could be from the first list and 4 could be from the second list. At least that’s how I interpret it. Instead of going so much by numbers, I think it would be easier to have several kinds of greens on hand from the second list, but just one or two kinds of greens on hand from the first list, and when you make your salads, go heavy on the greens from the second list and go light on the ones from the first list. Your rabbit will have preferences, and you can determine those as time goes by and you try different greens.

I do buy prepacked spring mix, usually the organic brands.  I first look for the best dates, and I won’t get a package that’s less than 5 days away from the use by date.  It try to get ones that are 7 or more days from the use by date.  Even with the very best dates on bags or containers, there always seem to be some bad/slimy pieces.  And some never stay fresh through that date.  Some brands seem to be generally better than others.  So you have to carefully look at the pieces and not just grab a handful to put out for your rabbit.  Some bags or containers I can tell aren’t going to be good right from the start because the lettuces are too wet.  I find the best thing to do is a day or two after opening the bag or container, I put down a paper towel and sort through the bag, placing the good greens on the paper towel, then back in the bag, and the bad ones get put in the compost.  The bad or too wet greens will start sticking to the good ones and making them go bad. 

[LBJ10]

Of course more is better. If you can do more, then try to keep the ratio 2:1 like how tobyluv explained. My suggestion was just a minimum if you’re wanting to give your bunny variety. Yes, you would just feed what you have until it’s gone and then choose some new things when you buy more and repeat the process each time. After awhile, you will learn what your bun prefers as well and you can create a schedule of what to buy each week (or whatever).

For spring mix, I agree with tobyluv. You have to be careful when picking it out and it does seem that brand does matter. I tend to have the best luck with Earthbound, which has organic salad mixes. It seems fresher (at least at my local store) and it has a nice variety. There are a few high oxalic acid items in there, but since it’s such a diverse mix it seems to balance out well. My buns love it and I know they are getting a nice variety.

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