what else can my binny eat?

We give her green pellet type food (as recommended by the breeder) and also dried alfalfa. She hasn't tried any of the fruit or vegetables we've offered. What else can we try to supplement her diet? I've got a variety of herbs in the garden. Someone mentioned herbs - which are safe?

Maybe the problem is in how the treats are offered? We generally add them to her food dish.

There are some threads on here with lists of good foods - I did a search on google and came back with a great list. My Harry loves dandylions and we always pick a load for him on the way home from school. If he's feeling generous he'll take them from the girls hands. I've seen pictures in a toy thread with toilet rolls stuffed with hay and treats hidden in the middle(Harry was not impressed). Harry has decimated my basil and sorrel plants in the garden. I'm New to bunny owning and I'm sure someone more knowledgable will be along soon

How old is your bun? If its under 12-14 weeks they shouldn't really be having any fresh fruit, veges or herbs yet anyway! And any sudden diet changes are not recommended. You can introduce other hay like meadow or timothy though, alfafa is fine for growing babies but bunnies over 6 months shouldn't have alfafa.

correction - the bag says 'Timothy Hay'

so I guess we are feeding her lots of hay not alfalfa

Timothy hay is great for rabbits. Hay should be the majority of their diet. Very young rabbits should have hay and pellets. As they get older the pellets should be reduced to just a small amount and they should still have unlimited fresh hay. Then slowly you can introduce green veg, fresh herbs like parsley and basil and you can even forage for food like plantain and brambles if you know what you're looking for.

And adult rabbit's diet should be 80% hay, 10% food and 10% veg.

She's 6 months old now

So when should we start to reduce the pellets? We fill her dish daily and she eats it all. then tosses the bowl around to indicate her displeasure at the empty bowl.

:wave: hiya!

The advised amount of pellets or feed is an egg cupful a day! This doesn't seem a lot, but pellets aren't essential in a bun's diet if they are getting plenty hay and some veg/herbs. I fed too many pellets at first as well (as per instructions on the bag!) so I had to reduce the amount I fed gradually.

Re. Veg and herbs: I don't feed my rabs much veg, but they do love curly kale! For herbs I have given them mint (an acquired taste apparently!), basil, coriander and flat leaf parsley. I haven't tried anything else with them but there are loads of others! I steer clear of carrots and fruit as they are a bit sugary for bunnies.

Most important thing is a constant supply of hay. It grinds their teeth down as well as providing fibre in the diet.

S

tvawter said:

So when should we start to reduce the pellets? We fill her dish daily and she eats it all. then tosses the bowl around to indicate her displeasure at the empty bowl.

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When she's fully gown. I'm not sure if that would be about now for her.
You should do it very gradually though, slightly less each day. You should see her start to eat more hay.

When you're reducing the pellets, you could try feeding them as treats from your hand, rather than just putting them in a bowl. I do that every day for "playtime" with my bun, and even managed to teach him some tricks that way. It's lots of fun, and it seems that he doesn't notice that it's only a small amount of pellets