Toooo many veggies–is it possible?

[RachelB]

I give my two buns a heaping plate of veggies every night.  Usually includes one from each /

spinach/kale

broccoli/cucumber

mint/cilantro

parsley/dill

green pepper/mustard greens

 green/red lettuce. 

I like to give them lots of choices, and introduced each one week apart.  They LOVE their veggies and devour them.  Ive never measured but would think that I give about 6-8 cups total.  (Both boys are 7 months and weigh about 5-6 lbs each)  They eat their veggies they usually eat hay.  They are pretty good hay eaters.  Ive stopped giving pellets at night to try and get them to eat more hay but am not sure if this is a good idea.  They do get 1/2 c of timothy based pellets (to share) in the morning.  I am starting to cut the pellet amount down as they are getting older.  It just seems that they are STARVVVVVING in the morning, either that or they really love pellets.  When they hear me shake the pellet can they come runnnnning and munch munch munch.  After a few minutes they do go and play again (usually about half are left), by the time I get back from work the pellets are gone. 

I’ve read the diet advice under the FAQs but still have two questions:

1) Is there such a thing as too many veggies?  Will too many veggies cause a decrease in hay consumption?

2) Am I not giving them enough to eat?  Why do they act crazy starving when they get their pellets or is it just excitement?

 

Thanks-

Rachel

[Jenna, Chubs & Comet]

I also had this question…because I give Chubs 1/4 cup of pellets, a pretty fair size pile of veggies in the am. No-name gets 1/4 cup and a little bit smaller pile as he is new to veggies (but so far has loved them and has done well on them). They always have hay of course. Then at night, I usually give Chubs another fair size pile of veggies, and No-name gets a few more veggie bites and about 1/8 cup of pellets. He is still only 9 months old so I think he should still get more pellets right? I’m going to stop with 1/8 cup soon, once he has been eating veggies a little longer and up those a little. They still eat lots of hay- usually during the night and late afternoon. Is there such thing as too many veggies? (I don’t quite give the variety Rachel does because Chubs is VERY picky!) The veggie mix usually is some cilantro, celllery, parsley, and romaine. I’m trying to try the ones we haven’t yet to build up a bigger variety but no-name is new to the game so going slow with that.

I would think Rachel, that if they’re still eating their hay…it’s probably just fine?? but I’ve wondered the same thing

[Sarita]

Well, I’m pretty generous with my veggies too – the majority of my rabbits don’t get any pellets at all.

Really pellets should be the smallest amount of the diet for a rabbit. Hay is the most important. Then veggies but you don’t want to feed them so much veggies they don’t eat their hay. Both of you have young active rabbits so they may need more calories than an older rabbit and they probably have a faster metabolism.

I think also you have to look at age and activity level. My rabbits are all over 7 years old and they are not very active either.

jnc317 – I don’t think he needs more pellets if he is getting plenty of vegetables.

Rachel – I have only one one rabbit who begs (for treats) and I’m honestly not sure why but I know she’s not starving. I am bad about giving into her though but I know she’s just training me.

[KatnipCrzy]

My rabbits are by no means underfed and in the morning they go nuts for their first Tablespoon of pellets, dance and jump like crazy when they see me approach with their salad bowls and again bounce all over the pen when they hear me measure their PM pellets.  Not to mention refilling the hay bin or giving treats also results in extreme excitement.

Cotton was more casual about food- until I got Schroeder and penned him next to her- now she is just as crazy about food as he is.

[BookerTRabbit]

It seems like as Booker has gotten older she has started to like her pellets more. I was feeding her big heaping piles of veggies and she would eat every last bit. Now that she is eating more of her pellets, I have reduced the amount of veggies because they were going to waste, just wilting at the bottom of her cage. She usually gets 1/4 cup pellets a day and then veggies in the morning and night. I have cut out carrots and am real stingey with raisins. Booker gets maybe one raisin every other day. I was over treating, because she is so adorable I couldn’t help it, and I think it was giving her tummy trouble.

[Scooter]

Bunners is on all he can eat pellets for another month. lol, it takes a lot of calories to grow 13lbs (new weight today) in 4 months.

For veggies, I am limiting him on everything but lettuce and broccoli though, because he tends to get an upset tummy with just about anything else. He would eat a whole head of lettuce in minutes if I let him, so we ration. He gets one leaf at a time and has to come meet me in the kitchen to get it and take it back to his snack spot. haha… when he was first home, watching a baby bunny carry a lettuce leaf twice his size was hilarious.

[RabbitPam]

It does sound like a lot of veggies, but as Sarita said, it’s only a problem if it keeps him from eating his hay. If he starts to be overweight you could cut back. Watch for mushy poops in case some types, like the cabbage family of veggies, starts to disagree with his tummy. Or he gets gas. (You haven’t lived until you’ve had a bunny with gas!)

While bunnies are happy to get their food anytime, I think they tend to be bouncy and excited and happy first thing in the morning in general. Sammy was so happy all week she was flying around every morning. Just a binky machine. And she ignores her breakfast for hours sometimes.

[KatnipCrzy]

I try not to disrupt my bunnies feeding schedule much- I think consistency might be more vital to GI health than anything else in a healthy rabbit already on an appropriate diet.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

The only thing I would add (and giving all those veggies-plus a variety like your doing-is WONDERFUL) is if your decreasing or excluding pellets you should give a salt block. They get salt from their pellets, and usually a salt block is unnecessary-however they are not harmful and a rabbit (or horse or cow) will only use them if necessary (unless extremely bored) so it’s a good idea to offer it if your not giving as many pellets

[RachelB]

Thanks, I would not have thought about the extra salt in the pellets. They do have a salt ring that is hanging below their shelf that Ive seen them both sniff. Not sure if they have licked it but I guess they will use it if they need to.

[BinkyBunny]

I hadn’t heard of giving the salt block when not getting pellets. Very interesting! I am very new to the Veggie and Hay ONLY diet so this is all a learning thing for me right now. I will have to ask my vet about this since, right now due to Jack’s medical condition (bladder stone), both Vivian and Jack are on a greens, and hay only diet, (small amount of fruit), per the vets recommendations.

As far as how much greens I give – I haven’t measured, but it’s a HUGE pile of 11 different kinds of greens. It’s pretty much limitless at this point, and they sort of just graze all day. Jack’s weight actually has gone back down to what it should be so at this point it’s not making him fat to have limitless greens. He still eats alot of hay, but just a little less, but the vet said not to worry because greens have alot of fiber and Jack needs to have the fluids to keep his bladder flushed. I am just keeping an eye on their weight at this point which, so far, seems to be good.

[DeVaStAt0r]

Gizmo is just getting put on a mostly veggie/hay diet so we’re introducing new veggies slowly.

In the morning and then again in the evening he gets a small bowl of bunny salad, right now it’s mostly parsley (alot of other greens result in poopy bum) he also gets alalpha sprouts (saw them on HRS and he LOVES them!) and then a sprinkling of pellets on top, then something super tasty like a fresh herb or green pepper.

he loves his salads!

[bunnycutie]

buttons eats a diet of mostly hay- bluegrass, brome, oat, and 1st cutting timothy. twice a day he gets alittle less than 1/4 cup pellets, im not sure exactly how much. i found that buttons cannot tolerate the all veggie diets- his energy runs dangersouly, his stool becomes runny, and he loses a ton of weight! so currently he is getting a salad each day, but its only 1/2 as opposed to 4 cups, which he was getting. i really think there is no specific diet for all the rabbits in the world. there can be guidelines, but what each rabbit needs is different!

[Beka27]

I think that sounds about right for a bunny’s daily diet. A medium size rabbit can have between 2 and 4 cups of veggies per day. My two split a nice, big 6 cup salad. I don’t precisely measure, so some days it may be 5 cups, some days closer to 7… but Max and Meadow LOVE LOVE LOVE their hay! They can have a bowl of greens (in the morning) or pellets (in the evening) sitting there and they will usually choose hay OVER THE PELLETS! My buns eat all their greens within about 6 hours (between napping and playing), and they eat all their pellets (1/2 cup to share) overnight. I’d say that they do go about 12 hours or so a day where their only option is hay, and they devour it. It’s normal if your bun runs out of greens and pellets, but they should never run out of hay.

[Scooter]

After reading this post, I’ve definitely upped Bunner’s veggie intake. He’s still not very interested in hay, the breeder sent us home with coastal, and he’s since tried timothy, but still nothing. It lasts quite a while in his basket, but he goes through pellets like crazy!

His behavior has changed as well, although that might be all his 5 month hormones going crazy.

[bunnycutie]

yes, it is probably his hormones- i remember my buttons went thorough a horrible stage. it lasted from 5 mo. to 8 mo. his hormones were crazy… biting all them time, spraying constantly, not wanting any thing to do with me. made me feel horrible. but now thats done, hes a wonderful cuddle bun! i just adore him. such a lover boy my baby boy anyway, heres a list of the types of hay buttons eats(he is very fussy, like your little guy)

brome
oat
timothy

thats it…. hes so fussy. silly bunny

he eats a very low amount of pellets(1/4 cup each day) to encourage hay consuption. and he gets 1/2 cup of veggies. if i feed him too much of the goods, he refuses hay. i gotta keep my eye on him

[babybunsmum]

pinky LOOOOVES her hay too! she is a little piggy. she is so excited when it’s time to feed her that she will bite at my hand or the pellet scoop to get out of they way so she can dive right into the pellet container. lol. and she does a pellet dance before i even get there with the container. but she’s even MORE crazy about hay and will leave behind pellets or greens to jump inot her hay bin if i’m filling it up. htere’s always hay in it but for some reason when i top it up she goes crazy.

[Scooter]

Where do you get brome and oat hay?

[Author]

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