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how much greens to give a baby

wattsy

Young Bun
Hi , i am a newby and i just got a rabbit three weeks ago, she is called billy, and is now 11 weeks, she eats green pea rabbit mix twice a day but no greens at all. i have been told to wait 12 weeks, so am wondering how and what to give when i eventually do start giving greens. I am terrified she will get diarrhoea or get too fond of the greens and not eat the hay and hard food. ive got her a pen and so far she just goes on the concrete and not the grass for about an hour a day.
 
I've had success intro-ing veg to a bun's diet under 12 weeks but it can vary. Usually those that have had veg from a young age are fine, e.g. if they've had nibbles of mum's veg. The trick is to introduce only one type, and do it slowly - very small piece to start with and slowly increase the amount. You will have to limit the amount of total veg you feed to encourage her to eat her hay, I think a cupful a day is recommended.
However, in Billy's case I would probably address the dry food first. Mixes and mueslis are usually too low in fibre for buns, and don't cover their nutritional needs. I've also seen higher numbers of tummy problems in buns fed on the pea-heavy mixes in particular.
A high fibre pellet mix would be better, but should be weaned onto slowly. http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/rabbitfood.asp has more info.
 
hard food

Hi , thankyou Bens mum, if i change the hard food over, how long do i take to do it. I am finding that she is chucking a lot of it out of the bowl and being selective with her eating,
 
First of all you'll probably find it easier to change her over if you decrease the food slightly, that way she won't be quite so full up on the 'yummy' bits of the mix, and more likely to eat pellets. How much are you feeding her at the moment? She can't be getting too hungry if she's not eating all of it.
The bags recommend about 7 days I think, I usually do 7-14. Have a set amount that you feed, e.g. one handful, and at the start you'll have only a few pellets in that handful, but gradually increase the amount of pellets and decrease the amount of mix - so you're not feeding her any more, you're just slowly changing it to be (eventually) completely pellets. Some rabbits are fussy and need some persistance, but some will love the new pellets and even pick them out first and ignore the mix!
 
She's probably getting way too much then - it's sometimes advised to give baby bun an unlimited amount of food, but getting them into good habits of eating hay is better. Also with a mix she'll just be eating what she wants and leaving the bits she needs, especially if you're filling it twice a day. Buns literally only need a handful or two of dry food a day, and lots of fresh hay :)
 
dry food

do you think i should just feed hard food once a day, i read somewhere greens should be fed in the morning, so maybe i could wean her off the pea food with the pellets and when that is done move her to veg in the morning and hard food in the evening
 
I've always fed twice a day, just remember to give half the amount you would if you fed once a day. Some people find their buns' tums get a bit sluggish if they eat lots of pellets in one go, so will feed their daily amount in little parts throughout the day. Rabbits are grazing animals so eat throughout the day, and splitting both the pellets and veg into smaller meals may give a bit more mental stimulation too
 
I just wrote this on another thread so I'll copy/paste it here :)
......no he doesn't need greens to be healthy - some bunnies just can't tolerate them so I would cut them out, and maybe in a few months try just giving him a postage stamp sized piece, leave it a couple of days to see if there's a tummy upset, if not then reapeat - you can slowly increase the portion size over 2 or 3 weeks - Often if you give too much too soon, they never get levels of bacteria in their tummy sufficient to digest it, so you need to start slowly to give the bacteria a chance to multiply. If he had antibiotics at all that could have knocked out the 'good' bacteria as well as the bad
 
I treat grass like a new veggie - just a mouthful at first and slowly increase it over a couple of weeks - Before I let my girls on the garden I started by feeding them a couple of long strands of fresh picked grass, then built up the amount. Grass is very rich this time of year though as it's growing like mad - a couple of my bunnies have been unable to eat more than a tiny bit of it without tummy upset. I always keep them on the patio now and pick them some grass to eat there - it keeps their nails down if they run on concrete, and it doesn't matter what the weather's like or if it's winter - and more to the point with my lot - they don't try and dig to Australia :roll: :lol:
 
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