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Am I doing the right thing?

LauryStevens

Mama Doe
I've been struggling on and off to get my rabbits to like hay as I can never get it to stay smelling nice for long enough (I think). They absolutely love eating grass and go mad for it, and I haven't ruled out teeth issues yet as I know it is a possablity despite them always having great healthy teeth (they weren't great hay lovers then either but ate enough). We're booking an oppointment in the next couple of weeks to have a full health check, concerntrating mostly on teeth and they're also due their vaccinations then also. I would get it done sooner but I'm a bit too low on pennies right now

I decided for the time being it might be a good idea to make my rabbits "bored". So as of last night I have started locking them away in their hutch at night. I put loads of hay in there for them to eat as a way of getting rid of the boredom. Well, it seemed to have worked, they've eaten more hay then usual due to being confined to a smaller area instead of having use of their run all night. Am I doing the right thing until I can get a vet oppointment by locking them away at night to try make them "bored"?
 
I've just made Bramble go 'cold turkey' - nothing but hay - and it's worked! Do you feed your bunnies anything else at the moment as well as hay?
 
I've just made Bramble go 'cold turkey' - nothing but hay - and it's worked! Do you feed your bunnies anything else at the moment as well as hay?

Well they get a tiny amount of nuggets in the morning, an egg cup full each, and then just hay for the rest of the day. I tried not giving nuggets for one day and they just sulked and looked asif they were suffering (or sleeping) so I let them have a run on the grass to get them to eat some "hay substitute" again. After that day I went back to feeding nuggets in the morning.

how did you do it?
 
They also get a red grape or two each day and I sometimes put some herbs in their hay to excite them more. Usually dusty herbs so they get the smell but naturally think it's the hay and they can't find dust compared to leaves lol
 
I was really mean and I cut out everything else. No pellets, no veg, no treats.....well maybe a few :oops: Just hay, with a few dried dandelions in.

Bramble has never really been a hay eater, now he doesn't stop! Only took a couple of weeks, and I started giving a few pellets again yesterday and will slowly introduce veg again this week.

It seemed so mean, but was defiantely worth it. I've never seen Bramble poop so much! :lol:
 
I was really mean and I cut out everything else. No pellets, no veg, no treats.....well maybe a few :oops: Just hay, with a few dried dandelions in.

Bramble has never really been a hay eater, now he doesn't stop! Only took a couple of weeks, and I started giving a few pellets again yesterday and will slowly introduce veg again this week.

It seemed so mean, but was defiantely worth it. I've never seen Bramble poop so much! :lol:

Did he ever look upset or suffering because you didn't give food? Thumper and Blossom do, hence why I feel I am doing wrong!
 
I think you have to be careful and watch them closely if you do reduce pellets, or cut out pellets altogether. I slowly cut pellets down by 1g a day, but didn't realise Pebbles wasn't eating anything - removing pellets completely didn't make him want to eat hay - he just didn't eat anything - then his back teeth spurs started growing quicker, and he lost nearly half a kilo in weight in a matter of 2-3 days, because he wasn't eating at all. Since that happened, I have had him on antibiotics and increased his pellets so he is now on 100g pellets a day. He has put his weight back on and his teeth are much better. Some rabbits just won't eat hay or grass and just can not be persuaded to!
 
Well I think i'll defo be putting them in their hutch at night for a few nights anyway. Today we're rescuing/adopting two more baby rabbits for bonding so all of the rabbits will be in my room for a few days atleast including over night so there will be limited running area and more hay then anything for boredom. They'll porbably get a few pellets but mostly hay, I think for now putting them away in a smaller area with lots of hay is the way to go for me. They're still in there eating hay now even though I've opened up the ramp to their run. I've put more fresh hay in there too so they're quite happy right now. I hope they continue to eat it!
 
I finally just had to go cold turkey with Timmy too. Well, he does get a handful of pellets when my other boys do every morning, but nothing else but hay. He's definitely eating more but I'm going to see if he'll eat some other kinds of hay. Maybe he just doesn't like Timothy hay much :lol: figures, considering thats why I named him Timothy! He loved it when he was a baby.
 
I finally just had to go cold turkey with Timmy too. Well, he does get a handful of pellets when my other boys do every morning, but nothing else but hay. He's definitely eating more but I'm going to see if he'll eat some other kinds of hay. Maybe he just doesn't like Timothy hay much :lol: figures, considering thats why I named him Timothy! He loved it when he was a baby.

I'm waiting on some Timothy/Rye hay, Soft meadow hay and INGs hay from the hay for pets website. Currently they're eating Orchard Grass and Tesco Value hay (which they actually really enjoy for the first hour when I first get it out). I got the value hay to replace the Orchard grass for thei littler boxes....then I saw them eating more, which was when I realised the box of Orchard grass didn't smell like it used too. I'm donating the "smelly-less" box of Orchard grass to the RSPCA today. And luckily my other box still smelly lovely and fresh so I put some of that in their hutch and they're eating it really well! So I'm keeping that box....I think my rabbits just l.ove really strong smelling hay....hence why they loved the brown tesco value stuff, because it did smell nice, just looked cr@p :lol::lol::lol:
 
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