Vegetables?

[bigmak5]

I bought kale the other day and put it away in the fridge. Just before i went to feed it to him and i found one stalk was yellow and had black dots all over i threw that stalk away. Is that bad to give to rabbits? is that normal with kale?

Also i by regular vegetables not organic. how well should i rinse the vegetables? do i just give it a rinse? a little bit of finger scrubbing while rinsing? or is just rinsing enough? because if i rinse/scrub some vegetables half disappears by the time i am done rinsing.

Also anybody have good tips to preserve vegetables in the fridge?

[NewBunnyOwner123]

I find it quite normal with kale to have a stalk or two that is yellowing and I usually just toss out the yellow part. I feed only what looks good enough that I would eat. And I just do a quick rinse before feeding, nothing too vigorous as I don’t want to tear and destroy the veggies. The veggies with rougher skin like peppers, collards, apples and such I will give a good scrub because it can handle the handling.

To make the veggies last longer I find that wrapping them in a damp paper towel and placed in the crisper drawer in the fridge seems to help a lot. Also I spray them with a water bottle every day, usually after I’m finished making their dinner salad and put all the veggies back in I give it a quick spray. The buns eat so much I’ve never had veggies really spoil and if I notice a particular veggie getting a little limp and not as crisp I just feed that first so it doesn’t go to waste. Usually my red leaf doesn’t last as long as my kale and romaine so I try to feed that off quickly.

[Bam]

I agree with NBO, I often grow kale myself (not this year though, the slugs ate all the baby-plants) and it’s quite normal for some leaves to go yellow and get black spots on the stems. Just throw such leaves out.

With the rinsing, I too agree with NBO. But keep in mind that not all pesticides used in conventional production of veggies can be rinsed off, some of them are systemic. Some produce require more pesticides than others, it depends on where they are grown, but f ex bananas and strawberries are particularly heavy on pesticides and should preferably be bought organic.

If leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, kale etc has become a little limp, you can put them in a bowl of cold water with a few ice-cubes in it for like an hour or so, if they’re not too far gone they’ll regain their freshness. I often do that when I make salad for humans.

[bigmak5]

I also feed him about a quarter of a cup of pellets in the morning. Should i worry how much vegetables he gets? Or just grab some rinse it and give it to him? Right now i have five different types of leafy greens. I used to feed him leafy greens every other day with a pellet adjustment. Because this week i got a lot of greens i have been giving him two types of leafy greens for the past few days.

[Bam]

Is he very yong? Greens should be introduced slowly to young buns.

But if he’s used to greens and older than 6 months or so, it’s really his stomach that has to decide. If you suddenly feed lots of greens, there could be excess cecals and/or sticky butt. Some rabbits are more sensitive than others. I’ve one that’s sensitive and one that seems to be able to handle anything including small rubber toys.

If you’re at home during the day you could spread out the portions over the day, that resembles how rabbits eat in the wild. Then you can keep a closer eye on how his stomach is doing, if there’s any sign of surplus cecals, stop the greens and let him have just hay.

And if you’ve got lots of f ex kale, you can dry it and then use the dried leaves as a hay-topper. Lettuce and spinach don’t dry well, though. But dandelion, kale and herbs f ex dry very well and when dry keep for years.

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