Vegetable feeding times and amounts?

[Knabbel Did It]

Lovin’ our new bun, but a bit confused about how much and how often to feed him his vegetables.  I see here that at least 2 cups per day for an adult rabbit is recommended, but do you feed it all at one time, or spread it out two or three times per day?  I’m also having a hard time deciding just how much a cup is.  Would that be if you crammed it in a measuring cup like packing in brown sugar, or placed loosely as if it were your own salad bowl?

The House Rabbit Handbook that we were given when we adopted our little sweetie last week recommends 4 to 6 oz. of vegetables daily.  I can handle weight pretty easily because I have a great little kitchen scale.  A good size romaine leaf weighs almost 1 oz., so we’ve been giving a romaine leaf and a some parsley (or other mix) three times a day.  Does that sound like enough?  Is that too many times a day; would he rather have it all at once?  He loves his greens and always looks for more as soon as they are devoured, but then he’ll go to his hay box and munch on that when he realizes there’s no more, so I guess that’s a good thing?  I look at it as a good morning treat to start the day, a nice little snack in the early afternoon, and then as an enticement to lure him into his bunny bungalow for the night.  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

[LizzyBunny]

I feed my bun two “salads”, one in the morning and one in the evening. Basically around my eating times since she sleeps during the day and night. I have an old light metal dog bowl that i put her salads in, usually 1/2 – 2 cups in each. The bowl is light and she likes flinging it around

[LoveChaCha]

I feed my rabbit typically:

2-3 romaine leaves, a small bunch of cilantro.

Usually this is given at night. I feed her pellets in the morning when I wake up, refill hay, and lettuce greens at 9:30 pm daily. It just depends on your schedule

[OskarAnnie]

I have a dwarf rabbit and a regular sized rabbit, but I typically feed them less veggies in the morning with fresh pellets and hay, and around dusk is when they get about 1/3 more veggies for their dinnertime.

[peppypoo]

I think the 4-6 oz. from your local HRS sounds like a good standard for amount of veggies. As for feeding times, I just try to make sure my buns have food spread out throughout the day; half the pellets in the morning, salad in the afternoon, and half pellets again before bedtime, of course with plenty of hay throughout the day.

[tobyluv]

Since I work at home and I’m here most of the time, I give my two rabbits various veggies at different times of the day, instead of giving them one or two mixed salads a day like many people do. I’ve never measured the quantities, but they eat what I give them rather quickly, so I don’t think I’m giving them too much. I give kale or turnip greens, along with some Romaine or leaf lettuce in the morning, cilantro in the early afternoon, dandelion greens in the late afternoon, parsley in mid evening, then carrot tops or more lettuce or greens late at night. I may also giave cabbage, broccoli or Brussells sprouts at times–they don’t get those that often. I replenish their hay throughout the day, and I feed them pellets twice a day, for a total of 1/4 cup each.

[jerseygirl]

Feeding times is up to you but I recommend finding something that best fits in your schedule to you can keep it regular. The buns learn the schedule and adapt to it but they also remind you you’re late. My Doe comes to find the food always 10 minutes before or the dot. I regret my current feeding schedule but find it hard to change on them because it has been there routine for so long. I do pellets morning and night and greens at night. I tried to try imitate when they naturally would eat (dawn and dusk) though it’s certainly not dawn for that 1st feed! Ideally, i’d rather it be 1 morning and 1 night feed. Maybe one day….

[Knabbel Did It]

Thanks everyone. I’m noticing that Tesoro (we finally named him…I think! lol!) does seem to expect food at certain times and not really at others. I did start measuring out the pellets, and he’s not too happy about the amount! I gave him some more this evening, he ate till he was content (not too much) and then flopped down in his bunny throne like he was the most content animal on the planet! Gotta love ’em! <3

[Jenna, Chubs & Comet]

I think the 2 cups is a minimum guideline. I know mine get way more than that, probably almost double each. However, they do really well digestively so I don’t think that that’s bad as long as they are still eating their hay! Times of day really are up to you. I split the times for mine because otherwise one of them tends to eat more than his share when the other one gets more full.

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