Feeding 8 week old bunnies

My 2 are fab hay eaters but I'm a little unsure what amount of pellets they should be on and if Science Selective ok for them at this age??

i found this website very useful when i first got alvin

http://exoticpets.about.com/gi/dyna...=http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

That's a great link, thanks

hehe it was my bible till i found RU :lol::lol::lol:

HRS is a great source for information about rabbits. But I don't agree with giving babies and youngsters unlimited pellets. It's not good for them if they eat too much (cecum poos, diarrhea, overweight, colic etc). If you know what their parents look like, or you can tell which breeds they're likely to be a mix of - you can estimate their adult size and weight. Or you can post i picture of them next to you for example to compare size with. If they're going to be about 2 kilos when grown up, 40 grams of pellets a day for each of them is a good amount. A 2 kilo rabbit should put on about 100 grams a week, untill it's 4-6 months. After that the weight curve will not be as steep. It's useful to weigh them once a week so you can make sure they're putting on enough

Also I would recommend oxbow basics 15/23 for babies and young rabbits (up to 6 months), because this feed gives baby best prerequisite for healthy growth. But of course, other feeds are ok too

Ida said:

HRS is a great source for information about rabbits. But I don't agree with giving babies and youngsters unlimited pellets. It's not good for them if they eat too much (cecum poos, diarrhea, overweight, colic etc). If you know what their parents look like, or you can tell which breeds they're likely to be a mix of - you can estimate their adult size and weight. Or you can post i picture of them next to you for example to compare size with. If they're going to be about 2 kilos when grown up, 40 grams of pellets a day for each of them is a good amount. A 2 kilo rabbit should put on about 100 grams a week, untill it's 4-6 months. After that the weight curve will not be as steep. It's useful to weigh them once a week so you can make sure they're putting on enough

Also I would recommend oxbow basics 15/23 for babies and young rabbits (up to 6 months), because this feed gives baby best prerequisite for healthy growth. But of course, other feeds are ok too

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Totally agree with not feeding unlimited pellets. I ony feed a maximum of 50g of pellets to each rabbit a day, that way when they leave me they are good hay eaters. Bad habits regarding hay eating can be taught to rabbits at an early stage and can be difficult to reverse. I always consider that in the wild pellets are an alien type of food and hay, grass, roots, plants and vegetables are all part of their normal food types in the wild. To me feeding not enough pellets is a far better thing than feeding too much.

Now I know why I stick to adult rabbits, at least I'm confident that I know what I'm doing with them

They were weighed at the vets on Thursday, Smudge was 1kg and Jasper was 900g.
Jasper came to me with bronchitis which is being treated, but he's rather thin and boney to the touch. Would that affect what I should be feeding them?

They are very good hay eaters, they actually choose hay over pellets at times and get very excited whenever I put a fresh pile of hay in for them.

I'd say they're probably getting through roughly 50g of pellets each per day of their own accord.