does a rabbit need to eat constantly 24/7?

Pebbles is not touching hay at all - he had painkiller yesterday, and I'm giving him antibiotics daily. He ate 5g of pellets yesterday but was much improved today - I have been hand-feeding him pellets hourly and so far today he has eaten about 20-25g of pellets.

I have just put him back in his walk in run with his mate Poppy. Now that I know he won't touch hay, do I need to put a bowl of pellets in his run for him to eat during the night - and hope Poppy doesn't eat them all? Or will he be fine with not eating till I get up in the morning?

Other option is to bring him indoors at night without Poppy.

Yes rabbits need to eat all the time, otherwise their guts will stop working.
Sorry not sure on Poppy's history, why isn't he eating hay?

Obviously they take a break to binky, drink and sleep (I'd see wee and poo, but mine keep eating when they do that!) but they should be eating very regullary.

I can't think of what you'd do! Must be hard... Have you tried loads of types of hay? Or is it possible to offer him grass as well, as that works the same as hay for their little bodies

my pair seem to sleep at night and wake about 5am they then graze and groom till about 10am then sleep all day, the earliest they eat after sleepy time is about 3pm. then they will graze and groom and relax until 11pm when i put them to bed with pellets.

so i know it seems like they eat 24/7 i don't think they actually do :?

I think ideally they should be eating all the time but I know for a fact my Poppy eats v. Little hay!! I feed her once in morn at 8 ( they eat everything at once) and then have dinner at about 10 at night. Both time she gets pellets and veg, she will also get a snack (bit of veg or a treat) at bout 6.

This doesn't seem to create a problem for her, if she does eat hay it's very minimal!!

His history is that I got him 10 months ago - his age, diet etc all unknown. took him to vets to be neutered but they found abdominal tumour which was removed. He was bonded with Poppy after he was neutered and they shared a run, so was difficult to monitor their food consumption, but they had unlimited hay and 20g pellets in morning and 20g pellets in afternoon.

the just over 2 weeks ago, Pebbles was dribbling, and vets said it was molars, so he had them done under GA. vet said to reduce down his pellets so he was on just hay - but I didn't realise he wasn't eating hay. therefore with no pellets and just weeds/fruit/veg he lost 200g and feels very bony. Took him back to vets, and his molars have grown back already. So I have tried almost every possible type of hay ( selection pack from hay experts) natural and woodland selections, fresh grass, redi grass, and he won't eat anything apart from pellets, fenugreek crunchies, banana, apple, milk thistle, dandelion, ox-tongue and hawthorne (wouldn't touch cleavers).

I kept him in last night, and he wouldn't eat anything apart from apple & banana, but today he is back to his normal bouncy self and I have been offering him pellets every hour, without poppy being around to nick them from him and he has been eating 3-5g every 1-2 hours, with a little nibble from a banana. His poos are finally getting firmer and slightly bigger.

I'm going to go out to him in a minute and offer him some pellets as he didn't want any at 9pm so last time he ate pellets was at 8pm. I could try putting a large bowl of pellets down - but then Poppy might eat them too - and I want to limit her pellet intake ( I know she eats loads of hay!) he just seemed so lonely when I kept him indoors after putting Poppy to bed

Chucking it down with rain - and he was laying down the side of the run getting wet lol! offered him pellets but he refused. So I decided to bring him into my bedroom tonight and then I can see whether he eats any pellets during the night. If he doesn't, then I'll just feed him his pellets during the day and he can go back to Poppy in the run at night time without pellets. Looks like I won't get much sleep - last time I had him & Poppy in my room, they were running around under my bed making loads of noise!!

oh dear I hope he starts eating properly soon - maybe a trip to the vets?

Feel better soon Pebbles!! xx