Young rabbits Diet Questions

[Lucky Star]

I recently adopted two five month old rabbits and I have a few questions about their diet:

1) How do I introduce new veggies? They are currently on hay, pellets, and lettuce, but I read online that I should be introducing new veggies. How do I go about doing that? I tried to give them some new veggies, but they don’t seem to know that they are food. They have picked out the new veggies and sat on them, tossed them around, but never eaten/chewed on them. How do I encourage them to eat other veggies? 

2) I am trying to get them to like me. I found online that I am supposed to sit there and have treats near me so that they understand that me=treats. But what treats can five-month old buns have? Can they have little bites of fruit or dried fruit or applesauce? How about oats? Anything else I can try?

3) Any tips for teaching the buns to eat from a hay rack? They eat their lettuce from a hay rack, but prefer that I put their hay in their litter box. I don’t like this because they get their hay filthy. They also mix their hay in with their litter, is there any reason for this? Are they uncomfortable in their litter box and thus use their hay to make it more cushy? Do they want something to dig in? 

Thanks in advance to all answers/suggestions! I’ve been asking a ton of questions on here and you have all been so helpful that I want to thank you all so so much.

[bpash89]

There is tons of information in the diet section as well as a list of bunny safe veggies. The main thing is to introduce new veggies one at a time and slowly so that if the new veggies disagree with the bunnies you will know what to remove from their diet. I’ve never had any issues getting mine to try new veggies, I just put it on the plate with all her other veggies for the day. If they are hesitant to eat new things though, some people have suggested waving it in their face to kind of annoy them with it. That way they will try to grab it and toss it away and will get a little taste of it that way.

Fruit makes a good treat. Bananas and apples are always popular and carrots too. Dried fruit is okay but it’s higher in sugar so you can’t give much. As long as there is nothing added to the applesauce it would be fine but I think just apples would be better – gives them something to chew and all… No oats. Oats aren’t good for them. May people just use pellets (if your bunny likes them enough) as a treat. That way there isn’t much of a worry about over feeding them.

The bunny wants what the bunny wants. Some bunnies just like to spread their hay everywhere. Maybe they don’t like the design of the hay rack? Is it difficult for them to pull the hay out?

[Lucky Star]

So young rabbits can have fruit as a treat? The hay rack appears to be easy for them to pull the hay out of, but maybe not? It seems to fall out when I am filling it, so I didn’t think that was a problem. I’ve seen them get the hay out of the hay rack, they grab a mouthful and then move it into their litter box. I’ll try the teasing them with veggies, maybe that will work. Thanks for the advice!

[bpash89]

Fruit and veggies can be introduced at 12 weeks so your bunnies are plenty old enough. I personally don’t use a hay rack but I know my little one is quite particular about her hay, digging around for the exact piece she wants so maybe they just don’t like the set up… idk

[Lucky Star]

Ok, makes sense, I’ll start giving them fruit treats today! Thanks!

[Stickerbunny]

Bunnies like hay in their litter boxes because they like to eat hay while they go potty. Is the hay rack positioned directly over the litter box so they can comfortably eat from it and use the box at the same time?

[Lucky Star]

The hay rack is hanging right over their litterbox, so that isn’t the problem. Their food dish and lettuce rack is also hanging over their litter box and they eat from those fine, just not from the hay rack.

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