Rabbits does not eat grass

[James]

Hello,

 We have two rabbits, a male and a female. The male we believe to be around 6-7 years and we have had him for about 3 years so far. He seems perfectly happy and healthy apart from recently needing his back teeth trimmed. He eats almost everything we give him and he absolutely loves his dry pellets which you can often hear him crunching. He also goes absolutely mad for treat sticks and will go as far as bang his foot on the ground till he gets one. He will eat just about every veg and fruit he is given. The only trouble is he seemingly never eats any of the grass from the lawn or the dry hay in the hutch. Both food sources are permanently available to him. It is possible he is having a little nibble every now and then but we have never seen him eat it. The female rabbit is constantly grazing on the grass (as well as eating everything else) but he simply wont eat it.

I should point out that both are rabbits live permanently in the garden and have free rein being able to go anywhere they want and eat anything they like.

 

Do you think this is a problem? I know a rabbits diet is mainly meant to be grass and hay.

 

And here he is, Rabrab, king of the garden.

 

 

[Benthebunny]

A rabbit should have unlimited access to timothy hay. Rabbits can eat grass, make sure its pesticide free, Hay is very importand in a rabbits diet. a way to get them eating hay is sptinkling some herbs on top.

[James]

Thanks for the reply. The rabbits both have unlimited access to timothy hay but the male does not eat it.

[jerseygirl]

I dare say it is related to his teeth. Has he always been a poor hay eater? Does he have a malocclusion that is causing the molar points to form? 

I suppose it could also be he is sustained enough with the other foods he does eat.

I had a rabbit small who never took to eating hay. And if she did attempt it (which was rare) she ended up having gut troubles. I think because she didn’t chew it enough. She eventually had spurs form on her molars. She always had small, dry poos not perfectly round like healthy bunny poop should be. Eventually I started feeding her a hay pellet 98% just to keep her gut functioning properly.

[Benthebunny]

Is it near the litter box? rabbits enjoy eating as they are going to e washroom.

[James]

My main theory was that it is his teeth. He eats everything else though, both soft and hard so I don’t know how likely this is. Here is the only picture I have of his mouth (while he is yawning). Poor quality I am afraid so probably of little use:

 

 

I should also point out then the lawn is both the rabbits litter box. It is a large lawn and they poo anywhere on it (both of them). They only poo and wee on the lawn however. This does not stop the female from eating the grass.

[Benthebunny]

The teeth look good to me. Why dont you make little hay areas all,over the yard?

[Bam]

He’s amazingly cute!! Only his front teeth can be seen though, and those are not the problem, but it’s a lovely picture.

My guess would be that he gets enough food by eating other stuff than hay and grass. Rabbits tend to go for the most calorie-dense food first. Maybe if you were to cut back a bit on pellets and offer a different type of hay like orchard or oat hay? It doesn’t always work though, like Jersey says, if he doesn’t chew the hay properly he’ll get tummy trouble.

[jerseygirl]

That’s a fantastic picture!

[Author]

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