unlimited grass OK?

hi

This may seem a litle silly to ask, but all the posts I see on here are about ensuring that the majority of feed is hay. My 2 buns free range in the house and the garden so can eat as much grass as they like. Is this OK?

they only get about half an egg cup of pellets a day each, but always have fresh veggies every day - greens, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and carrot skin peelings if we have them for dinner! they also get apple peelings and a grape every now and then!

they do have unlimited hay in their indoor cage and also in a hay rack in the kitchen - and have meadow grass blocks available all the time.

so a diet of grass is as good as hay?

they love help to mow the grass for me in the summer evenings!

thanks

swalk said:

hi

This may seem a litle silly to ask, but all the posts I see on here are about ensuring that the majority of feed is hay. My 2 buns free range in the house and the garden so can eat as much grass as they like. Is this OK?

they only get about half an egg cup of pellets a day each, but always have fresh veggies every day - greens, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and carrot skin peelings if we have them for dinner! they also get apple peelings and a grape every now and then!

they do have unlimited hay in their indoor cage and also in a hay rack in the kitchen - and have meadow grass blocks available all the time.

so a diet of grass is as good as hay?

they love help to mow the grass for me in the summer evenings!

thanks

Click to expand...

In one word....yes :thumb: Hay is dried grass! and therefore still contains abrasive silicates and will encourage a side-to-side chewing motion for adequate dental wear. Soft lawn grass may not be as high in fibre or as abrasive in the guts as timothy hay perhaps....but it is still raw, low energy fibre which is what buns are designed to eat!
We've only had to cut the lawn once so far this year!! :lol:

Mine eat grass all day long, and never have dental problems :wave: (touch wood) I think the danger with grass - and it would be a big danger - would be giving lots of fresh new grass suddenly to rabbits that weren't used to it. I suspect this would cause bloat. But if they're used to it it's fine. The act of grazing it helps wear their teeth down - as my vet said, rabbits were designed to have to work for their food...

Yep grass is great, but can cause upset tummies if they're not used to it.

timb0h said:

Yep grass is great, but can cause upset tummies if they're not used to it.

Click to expand...

Yes introduce slowly if never had it before. Meaning start with just 5 mins a day on the grass, or introduce before going out on the grass by feeding a small handful for a few days. Sudden introduction can cause bloat or an acute dysbiosis. As can 'new' growth in Spring and hot weather after rain...when the grass grows quickly in a surge and is full of sugar.

thanks for all your replies....glad to know that grass is OK!

they've been on grass for ages so no probs with 'introducing' - so I'll just continue to let them eat as much as they like when they venture out when it's not too hot!

The grass cycle

Wild rabbits are known to graze on land which has previously been grazed by larger animals. Typically cows and horses can eat longer grass, with goats and sheep better designed to nibble the grass even closer to the ground, and then come the rabbits.

Therefore the grass that wild rabbits eat will be a combination of mature grasses and wild plants which have been grazed by larger animals, and that could be of any age, together with new shoots.

Unlike larger animals, fields are not a barrier to rabbit traffic and they are free to graze roadside verges and hedgerows. Plus of course the farmer's grain fields! But their natural diet is grass and some wild herbage.

Young grasses are high in protein, lower in calcium and lower in fibre than mature grasses. As the grass grows, the fibre and calcium levels increase. When seed heads form the phosphorous level increases in relationship to calcium and the seed heads provide carbohydrate which is used as an energy source.

Rabbits in the wild breed on a cycle of 'rising nutrition'. In other words the does become fertile when they sense the nutritional value of the grass starting to increase. That way, when they are suckling their young, they will themselves be feeding on grass which is high in protein and lower in fibre than their winter maintenance diet.

The seeding grasses provide energy for the winter when food is scarce and allow the rabbit to put down fat to sustain itself through the winter months.

Wild rabbits eat frequently at dawn and dusk. After eating they retire to their burrows and ingest the caecal pellets which are high in protein and B complex vitamins, safe from predators.

Rabbits obtain most if not all of the moisture they need from grass and other herbage. When grass is scarce they will strip bark from trees for nourishment and moisture.

In the course of excavating their burrows they will chew through roots and these will provide important nutrients, though they would not actively seek roots out otherwise if fresh grass was available.

Grass is the best food for rabbits. It is what they were designed by nature to eat. BUT and it is a BIG BUT, the captive diet we feed them on, especially if it is a commercial muesli, is a long way from nature.

That is why rabbits must be weaned onto a more natural diet of grass at a sensible pace. Their digestive tract, the enzymes and bacteria within it, all need to adjust to a healthier diet.

Putting rabbits fed on muesli out onto lush, rich, summer grass is asking for trouble! And if the grass is wet it can be even worse.

Grass cuttings can be lethal as they start to break down and ferment as soon as the grass is cut. This is part of the hay curing process however, and once dried, the grass is once again safe and digestible.

Cut grass fed to rabbits can also 'go off' in warm weather if you feed more than can be eaten in a small meal.

The best way to introduce muesli or pellet fed rabbits to grass is to put them put on it when it is low in nutrition but dry. Mid to late spring, or mid autumn.

Then they will adjust to the changes of the grass cycle and have fewer problems.

Once used to grass, rabbits can play in the rain and snow if they choose to and will eat only what is good for them if they have ad lib hay, some veg and a few pellets indoors.

The higher % of (short) natural growing grass a rabbit's diet contains the healthier that rabbit will be if it has been properly re-introduced to it's natural diet.

Cheap rabbit food; plus it mows and fertilises the lawn at the same time. What more could you ask?

So hay is not the *best* food for rabbits, grass is - hay is the best we can do in captivity to provide the essential fibre for dental abrasion and gut motility. It lacks moisture, it is unnaturally long, but it is the best solution in captivity because it is balanced in terms of energy, protein, fibre and minerals.

Hay echoes the mature grass stubble which remains after larger animals have grazed the land and the high protein shoots of grass which emerge inbetween the stubble, combined.

The length of the strands in hay keep the rabbit busy and replicate the constant grinding action of the teeth which grazing the stubble and young grass shoots would provide. It does not matter whether the hay is long or chopped. The important things are the grinding action of the teeth, the abrasive action of the silicates and fibre in the hay, and the through-put of essential indigestible lignified fibre in the hay to promote healthy gut motility.

Hay is a substitute for grass. Grass, if properly introduced to a captive rabbit is a much better food than hay. They need hay because we do not normally leave our rabbits out for 24 hours per day! When we lock them up at night they need something to keep them going - by the time we're ready to let them out in the morning, most wild rabbits would have a good few hours feeding under their belts and would be returing to their burrows to ingest their caecal pellets at their leisure..

Excellent and interesting post Galen! My buns go out on the grass from about 2pm until about 7. In the shed, they have hay, readigrass and an egg cup of pellets. Must admit today it was bucketing down and I went out with my brolly up and herded them back in. should I just leave them out? Kept thinking how cold they would be out in the rain! :?

excellent post. i wil slowly introduce my rabbits to more of a grass diet.

Someone told me, for guinea pigs, that too much grass will upset their tummies. But mine are so used to it that it has never upset their tummies.

Excellent post Galen, very interesting.

Grass v's Hay

So is hay a suitable substitute for grass?

I have two 4 month old rabbits which I have had for just two weeks or so. They are primarily house rabbits but do have the run of a 20 x 7 ft cornered off garden in the evenings and weekends but I have no grass to give them access to.

They have unlimited access to hey in their various litter tray's (changed daily) as well as a diet of pellet's & muesli mix. I do intend on switching to a pellet only food but decided to keep them on the food the breeder supplied to me for the time being as they are still settling in.

They also have some vegetables but I have only began introducing this over the last week, so they are still limited to a bowl between them at the moment and only 1 - 2 different varieties.

I realise that Hay is dried grass but without the grass will they be lacking the nutrients that they would normally be getting from fresh grasses? If so is there a way I could supplement this?

Hay is better as it is less likely to cause upset stomachs like large amounts of grass can.

The small amounts of pellets you provide should provide some extra vitamins incase they are missing anything.

I have 12 rabbits and they have always had access to grass for around 4 hours a day, and they spend most of their time munching.
I only need to cut the lawn to tidy the bits they don't get to!

Fascinating post - I'm so glad that I decided to put turf in my rabbit runs instead of slabs as they love munching the grass.

Thank you for an excellent post Galen.
My personal experience has been that buns can eat grass during the day & munch on hay at night interchangeably provided it's done on a daily basis.

Wow, I've just realised how old this thread is! :shock: