Regarding Diet

[IsabellaRobyn]

My question is about the fresh produce part of the diet, I know to give her pellets and hay too

I bought my first bunny, Belle from a breeder when she was just over eight weeks old (she’s 11 weeks on friday).  When I picked her up from the breeders house she told me to give her ‘fresh greens’ (which is an actual vegetable – I didn’t know that ) which I have been getting from Tesco but the breeder showed me how much to give her a day and it is only about the size of my palm.  I was wondering if this is enough because from videos I’ve been watching the bunnies get much much more.  I was wondering if it is because she is still a young bunny that she should get less or if I’ve just been misinformed?  

I was also wondering which leafy greens you guys give to your buns that are your favourites because the fresh greens are really large and because she doesn’t get much the whole bag of two is dead within a few days because I’m peeling bits off.  I’m looking for an alternative that can keep in the fridge and is also really good for their diet and won’t give them tummy upsets (possibly more common than fresh greens too).  I know there are charts which tell you what they can have but I’d prefer to hear it from actual people because it would just make me more sure – I’d hate to make her ill, I’m just so paranoid!

[bullrider76543]

I usually give each of my bonded pairs a nice salad every morning, mixing Red and Green leaf lettuce, cilantro, and ocasionally a pepper or carrot (but those are much more like a treat) I went on the rule of 1/2 a cup of veggies for every 6 lbs your rabbit weights my vet told me. Hope I have been doing it right.

[bullrider76543]

Oh I also rotate with Kale and mustard greens too

[IsabellaRobyn]

So it is fine to give lettuce as long as it isn’t iceberg? I’ve seen so many arguments over it that I just avoided lettuce in general!

[Monkeybun]

With a young bunny, you want to start off with one kind of vegetable, very slowly, in small amounts. You can introduce a new veggie every week, but keep it small at first.

[IsabellaRobyn]

Oh okay, so I should gradually start making her portion sizes larger?
Thanks for all the help

[CinnabunMom]

Yup. Gradually make her portions larger and introduce new veggies one at a time. Sometimes bunnies won’t like what you offer, depending on how picky they are, so I made a list early on of what Cinnabun’s favorites are and made sure to always have some on hand when introducing a new veggie in case she didn’t like what I was offering that week.
Once she’s more on the adult side, 7 months, then the standard, I believe, is 2 cups of veggies a day. However, I know there are quite a few people around BB who give more. I give at least 3-4 cups a day, but Cinnabun gets less than a 1/4 cup of pellets a day.
Her favorites include: cilantro (I always have some on hand since it’s her very favorite), parsley, dandelion greens, romaine lettuce, and red leaf lettuce. I too avoided lettuce for a long time because I had read the warning about iceberg and wasn’t quite sure what to do about other lettuce, but she loves the two I offer.
Cinnabun hates: green peppers, basil, mint, kale, dill, and mustard green.

[IsabellaRobyn]

Thank you! Is cilantro the same as coriander? I tried giving Belle a sprig of parsley last night and she spat it out haha! I don’t think it’s going to be one of her favourites

[CinnabunMom]

Uh…I did a quick search online and it looks like they are the same thing.

[peppypoo]

The House Rabbit Society recommends introducing veggies at 12 weeks, and slowly at that. I don’t think there’s any harm in doing so right now, since she’s quite close already. Sometimes it takes them a little while to warm up to veggies, and figuring out what they like is part of the fun! Here’s a list of veggies you can try…all the better (and easier) if they’re already part of your normal diet so you don’t have to buy especially for her when you’re not sure that she’ll like it!

http://rabbit.org/care/veggies.html

[Sarita]

The thought behind not introducing veggies until older is that you are trying to replicate the mother’s diet as closely as possible. It sounds like the mother must be getting veggies already so it should be fine.

The main reason the House Rabbit Society recommends the pellets is that likely you may not know the mother’s diet in case of rescue, stray, etc…and the fact that many breeders normally don’t feed veggies regularly so they recommend the pellets until they are older. That’s the reasoning behind HRS’s diet guidelines for babies.

[tanlover14]

I also got all 3 of mine from the breeder when they were very young! I slowly began introducing them to veggies around 3 months old. I read to start out with a quarter sized portion and then double it every day after. My buns will be 5 months on the 15th and they are all eating a packed cup of veggies a day (all of them weight around 3 pounds). Mine love their cilantro and basil which I mix with kale (half and half). My vet actually told me they don’t need veggies as long as they are getting enough hay and pellets a day but from everything I’ve read I feel better about giving it to them and they love them so I’m not taking it away from them.

The ratio I found (I think on House Rabbit Society) was a cup of veggies for every 2 pounds of weight. Hope this is helpful! Only one of my buns will even touch carrots and green peppers but she’s not keen on them at all. And I to have been very leery of lettuce so I stay away entirely and use kale instead. I’ve actually been told by a few people that kale should only be given as a treat but on the House Rabbit Society list it says some people think it’s bad but it’s not and it’s listed on my vets website as a good one to give them so I have been and haven’t seemed to have any problems with it!

Since they’re so little though I’ve been very careful about introducing new things to them! Whenever I introduce something new I either use it as a treat in the beginning or will put 3-4 big basil sized leaves in their salad to see how they take to it.

Hope this helps!

[IsabellaRobyn]

Thanks for all your help it has seriously cleared a lot of things up and I’m glad to have some more tried and tested foods to give her once she’s older. I think I’ll start planting my own little indoor garden because all these veggies are going to add up!

[Deleted User]

@Isabella Having a garden is a great idea! It really helps on cutting costs. Especially if you bun likes dill like mine. It’s really hard to kill dill (which is great if you aren’t much of a green thumb.)

[IsabellaRobyn]

Thanks for the tip! Can you give them a lot of dill or is it meant as a sort of treat/only small amounts?

[Deleted User]

Dill is a main staple in Skipper’s diet. She absolutely loves it. You can give them a good amount of it. My boyfriend likes to say that he smells like a pickle after making her veggies for her. =] I have this: http://rabbit.org/care/veggies.html bookmarked for reference for acceptable food. =] I refer to it a lot. =p

[IsabellaRobyn]

Thank you for the link

[Deleted User]

Your welcome =] It’s a total life saver for me since I’m a new bunny owner.

[Author]

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