Advice on Feeding

Hello,

I need a bit of advice on feeding our 3 Giants. All the advice online seems to be contradictory, or seems to be for smaller rabbits!

They are about 6 months old, all spayed / neutered, and house bunnies. Soze is Male, and Caern and Keyser are female. They are about 6kg each. I read somewhere that we should regulate the food more once they get past this 'baby' stage.

They have pellets, Wagg ones, just the plain pellets twice a day. How much should they have a day? The info on the box is no use as it goes by age not size and ours are already bigger than most 'normal' bunny breeds :lol: They had unlimited pellets as babies as recommended.

They have timothy hay, which we keep topping up, and bowl of a mixture of fresh vegetables daily - How much per per bunny should they have?

Also, can anyone recommend a vegetable that can be fed in large-ish quantitys? I have read as much as possible on what they can have, to make sure we dont give them too much that encourages bloat, but is there anything they can have a lot of?

Thanks!

Anyone? Any advice much appreciated!

Afraid I can't comment on how much in terms of pellets, my bun takes a week to eat a bowl.:roll: Out of interest, where do you get your pellets, I know Wagg isn't the cheapest, and you must go through plenty with three giants! :lol: Hay is what they should be eating most of, it should be the main portion of a rabbit diet.

As far as veggies go, spring greens can be fed in fairly massive amounts, and are very cheap. My bun gets spring greens most nights, she'll get one leaf and a bit of cucumber/carrot/celery/broccoli etc. She's normally just under 3kg (ill at the mo) and this does fine for her. She also tends to get bits during the day, carrot peelings and so on. Spoilt brat! :lol:

We actually get the pellets from Tesco (I was quits suprised they sold them..)... its about £3 a bag, and its just pure brown pellets, no other bits, they love the taste. They practically inhale them with greediness though which is what makes me worry!

They have a total of 4 cups a day at the moment of pellets, which is what the online guides said for that weight - terrified thats not enough!

They also get a big dog bowl of veg (they get a mixed salad of allsorts) and a heap of hay. They will eat it, but they tend to leave it till last. We have to keep topping the hay up when we get in, otherwise they use it as a loo and fling it everywhere. (tried a hayrack - they kept pulling it off the wall!)

For pellets, the RWA Rabbiting On magazine vets recommend a tablespoon a day for small/average sized rabbits and two tablespoons a day for giant rabbits. I feed my two small rabbits Science Selective and a tablespoon of that is around 15g.

If you're moving from unlimited (as babies) to limited (as adults), I guess you need to phase this in over a period of time.

I give my buns a handful of pellets per day in the mornings. As yours are only 6 months old you can definatly give them more than this, but when they reach maturity half a handful each is more than enough per day so long as they are getting unlimited hay, and fresh greens a couple of times a day.
I too struggle with the issue of what veggies to feed and in what quantities, but one thing I am sure of is that carrot tops are great for them, and cause no harm if given in large quantities. They love them aswell! I would only give brocolli in small quantities as one of my buns is prone to bloating.
Take care x

Hi

I have bought a rabbit last year but at that time my mother used to pet it so i didnt had to worry but my mother has been out of town so i have to take car of this cute little rabbit. So i needed advice on what to give it to eat, and what all the stuff it eats.

vegys

Jess1 said:

Hello,

I need a bit of advice on feeding our 3 Giants. All the advice online seems to be contradictory, or seems to be for smaller rabbits!

They are about 6 months old, all spayed / neutered, and house bunnies. Soze is Male, and Caern and Keyser are female. They are about 6kg each. I read somewhere that we should regulate the food more once they get past this 'baby' stage.

They have pellets, Wagg ones, just the plain pellets twice a day. How much should they have a day? The info on the box is no use as it goes by age not size and ours are already bigger than most 'normal' bunny breeds :lol: They had unlimited pellets as babies as recommended.

They have timothy hay, which we keep topping up, and bowl of a mixture of fresh vegetables daily - How much per per bunny should they have?

Also, can anyone recommend a vegetable that can be fed in large-ish quantitys? I have read as much as possible on what they can have, to make sure we dont give them too much that encourages bloat, but is there anything they can have a lot of?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

there are safe lists of vegys and plants,also unsafe google/ adopt a rabbit society or house of rabbit society or h.a.r.e.society...sincerely james wallera good rabbit diet must be 70% hay,,some pellets,a few vegys,plants from the safe lists,,,hay timothy/orchard grass is nondigestable this is the main staple,the rest is digestible or a treat,,rabbits are rear gut fermenters they need a steady supply 24/7 of hay and water for proper maintenance..sincerely james waller

rabbit diet

peterfedric said:

I have bought a rabbit last year but at that time my mother used to pet it so i didnt had to worry but my mother has been out of town so i have to take car of this cute little rabbit. So i needed advice on what to give it to eat, and what all the stuff it eats.

Click to expand...

diet is 70%-hay ie. timothy/orchard grasses,,quality lowfat pellets,,small amount daily for vitamins and nutrition,,vegys and plants from the safe lists house of rabbit society,,adopt a rabbit society,,h.a.r.e.society/..fruit tree branches/twigs are great for the teeth and gitract too.!--sincerely james waller

The 'official' rec is around 25g per 1kg of weight. But does not take into account the fact that neutered house rabbits need a lot less energy, that rabbits that are very large have a lower pellets to weight ratio than little ones, or that most owners also provide fresh veg. So you probably need to at least half that number, probably more like a third.

You can also do it on time spent eating. If they tuck into their pellets then their pellet bowl should be empty 95% of the time.

How much hay do they eat? Hay is soo important It will help prevent gut and teeth problems. Leaving it until last is normal but they should spend about 80% of the time with just hay available, though it needs to be there always. They should eat a massive pile, around football sized each per day.

A good way to monitor if you have it right is to look at their weight/body condition. At 6 months they should have done the majority of their growing but not all of it so a little weight grain is probably normal but not a lot. You should be able to feel their ribs as bumps as you run your hands down their side but they shouldn't be too prominent or feel like they are too well padded. You vet can check or show you if you are unsure