When do you start to restrict food?

My babies (so i call them) are about 16 weeks old. They eat CONSTANTLY...........and i mean constantly. As soon as the bowl is filled- its empty again.......... And i do fill it often as they are still growing- and surely they need the food.....

They eat probably 7 times more than Theo and Cleo....

im wondering- when do i stop re-filling? and feed them as adults? One - Two bowls a day... when will they loose their appetite or when do they stop relying on the food to grow?

Thanks

Jemma

How much hay do they eat? With unlimited food I'd worry that they risk getting into bad habits of eating the pellets but not the hay :? I would start cutting it down and encouraging much more grazing, although you will obviously need to monitor their eating habits and weight.

From the very beginning with Princess I gave her what I give now as I was told no more, so even though she'd chuck the food bowl round the cage she got no more :lol:

Santa said:

How much hay do they eat? With unlimited food I'd worry that they risk getting into bad habits of eating the pellets but not the hay :? I would start cutting it down and encouraging much more grazing, although you will obviously need to monitor their eating habits and weight.

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They eat ALL their hay too. I have never known anything like it. They eat their toys, the hutch, about 6 bowls of food a day, 6 or 7 large handfulls of hay and a whole bottle of water.

They are like monsters. And they go WILD for food. Even when Theo woulnd have his science recovery the other day- they polished it off straight from the syringe.......

They are still small. Twiglet is quite boney even- but she had perculiar teeth so takes her longer to eat any way....

If I cut their food down and increase hay- it wont stunt their growth will it?

Think I may have been underfeeding Pip having read your post, he is 10 weeks old and he has two bowls of SS a day. I cut it down because he was having lots of excess cecals so I cut out the 3rd bowl and it seemed to do the trick but now wondering whether he does a bit as is still growing! :?:?

they don't need to be on unlimited pellets now. also get her teeth checked out if it is causing problems. she may have bad malocusion which is affecting her ability to eat properly. We had one bun about their age who was actually missing a molar so the opposing tooth was starting to grow up and cause real problems.

Jemma&Theo said:

If I cut their food down and increase hay- it wont stunt their growth will it?

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Wild rabbits don't have any concentrated food - they just come out of their burrows and start munching away. I would be inclined to start reducing the pellets and start introducing a few bits of leafy veg and some grass cut with scissors as well as lots of hay. While they are still growing you can include alfalfa and oat hay which are both a little more fattening and protein rich, although alfalfa should not be fed to fully grown healthy buns. This should help to ensure their diet is sufficient for the needs of growing buns while encouraging good hay habits.

Obviously you'll need to monitor them, especially if one of them is a tad on the boney side and take veterinary advice as necessary, but my feeling is that you could be storing up longer term problems by feeding pellets ad lib while they're young - in much the same way as feeding an 18 month old baby several bags of crisps isn't going to encourage them to eat their broccoli!

i think i overfed mine as babies and that's why they're so huge. more hay, less pellets would be my advice.