Vegetable Serving Size?

[Gina Won]

What is the approximately appropriate serving size of greens for a bunny? Is there a rule of thumb?

I’m talkin for a full-grown, used to eating greens kind of bun.

I have heard that it’s ~ 2 cups… but that seems a bit general! Two cups might be too much for a little dwarf bun but perhaps not enough for a flemish giant. And it depends on the amount of pellets they’re being given as well as whether or not they’re eating full amounts of hay, yes?

[Hilde]

Hi Ligeia,
Well, according to our vet, there is not really a limit to how many greens. The minimum seems to be about 1 heaping cup per 4 lbs body weight, but they can eat as much as a heap the size of the bunny per day! When they get that much, though, they don’t get extra pellets, just hay.
Our Hazel can definately eat almost her size of greens in a day, she gets 2 full baskets of greens, 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening. She also has access to hay, but she doesn’t seem to like it much. We’re trying to get her to eat more hay though, so we dried some mint and basil from our garden for her, and she likes those. Very spoiled bunny
Our Chocolate is starting to eat more greens now, though as she was a shelter bunny and used to pellets and hay, she doesn’t eat as many greens yet and still gets pellets at night, and has hay aswell.
You do have to be carefull though and make sure your bunny tolerates vegetables, and definately very gradually lower the amount of pellets while adding more greens.
Hilde

[dmh426]

I give my mini rex/rex mix Sophie 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup at night. She still gets an eighth cup of pellets morning and night and unlimited timothy hay. treats should be limited, I know but she loves her fruit! I give her a piece of banana or some other fruit everyday.

[Gina Won]

Thank you so much for the replies!

Aw, Hazel-mom and dmh426, you both sound like such sweet bunny parents! And that’s good to know, that a bunny can have up to a heap the size of themselves per day!

I give both my buns a big, hearty serving of greens daily– they both get a plateful that is at least half and up to 3/4ths the size of themselves, usually. I was a bit worried that it might be too much, though both of them poop very normally so I think everything’s alright. You know how it is, sometimes an overly worried bunny mom… 🙂 so I just had to ask!

[BinkyBunny]

The general HRS guideline is a minimum of 2 cups (chopped) per 6 lbs, and of course this can all vary (more or less) depending on the metabolism, exercise and how many pellets are being fed.

Also note: you don’t HAVE to chop greens, that’s just how they measured it.

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