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Hay advice for new bunny owner

Osborne148

New Kit
Hi, we have 2 girl lionhead bunnies who are 3 months old & they are hardly eating any hay. They love fresh long grass with roots, pellets & greens (broccoli, rocket etc) but not hay! Also, how much should they be eating? Thanks in advance for any advice (we are new to the world of bunnies but so loving them!) :D
 
:wave:

I didn't think bunnies could eat the grass roots.. but I could be wrong!

They're rather young for veg I think, I would just stick with hay and food for now and at around 5 months introduce veg/herbs slowly and one at a time as rabbits have very sensitive tums.

How many pellets do they get? They only really need an eggcup full each a day although more as younger buns :) but unlimited hay:thumb: Broccoli is a gassy veg so don't feed too much, I wouldn't feed too much veg in general anyway as the most important thing for buns is hay :) They need it to keep their teeth down and healthy and keep their gut moving properly. Carrot is full of sugar so will fill rabbits up, stick to leafy green things, not iceburg lettuce as that is bad for buns.

Personally I don't feed veg, only carrot tops. I stick to the more natural side of it, like forage and herbs :)

Forage thread - http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...ardening-Foraging-2013-Diary&highlight=forage

A good hay website is hay for pets, (http://www.hayforpets.co.uk/products.html) mine are chomping down the ing hay currently :) If you get the £16 bag (inc p&p) it lasts ages :) Line a litter tray or 32L storage box with newspaper and fill it with hay, rabbits like to toilet while they eat so as well as litter training them (easier and more controlled when spayed/neutered) they'll be more inclined to eat it if they have a load on offer to get through :)

Are you going to spay them? :) Not only will this help with litter training, girls can become rather hormonal and you want to spay them before they start fighting :) if you spay them at the same time and keep them together you don't need to rebond, so hopefully they don't need separating before then :) Vets usually do them at 5 or 6 months :) It also eradicates the risk of uterine cancer which affects 80%+ of 5+ year old females.
 
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They might be eating hay during the nighttime, so as you still have to give them a reasonable amount of pellets at the moment as they are still growing perhaps what you could do is take the food away for the night so they have to eat the hay when they get hungry. As they get older you will need to reduce the pellets to about an eggcup full per bunny per day and they will start to eat more hay.
 
:wave:

I didn't think bunnies could eat the grass roots.. but I could be wrong!

They're rather young for veg I think, I would just stick with hay and food for now and at around 5 months introduce veg/herbs slowly and one at a time as rabbits have very sensitive tums.

How many pellets do they get? They only really need an eggcup full each a day although more as younger buns :) but unlimited hay:thumb: Broccoli is a gassy veg so don't feed too much, I wouldn't feed too much veg in general anyway as the most important thing for buns is hay :) They need it to keep their teeth down and healthy and keep their gut moving properly. Carrot is full of sugar so will fill rabbits up, stick to leafy green things, not iceburg lettuce as that is bad for buns.

Personally I don't feed veg, only carrot tops. I stick to the more natural side of it, like forage and herbs :)

Forage thread - http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...ardening-Foraging-2013-Diary&highlight=forage

A good hay website is hay for pets, (http://www.hayforpets.co.uk/products.html) mine are chomping down the ing hay currently :) If you get the £16 bag (inc p&p) it lasts ages :) Line a litter tray or 32L storage box with newspaper and fill it with hay, rabbits like to toilet while they eat so as well as litter training them (easier and more controlled when spayed/neutered) they'll be more inclined to eat it if they have a load on offer to get through :)

Are you going to spay them? :) Not only will this help with litter training, girls can become rather hormonal and you want to spay them before they start fighting :) if you spay them at the same time and keep them together you don't need to rebond, so hopefully they don't need separating before then :) Vets usually do them at 5 or 6 months :) It also eradicates the risk of uterine cancer which affects 80%+ of 5+ year old females.

this! also, i think the general rule is that bunnies should eat a pile of hay about the same size as their body every day, although obviously more is better! would love to see some pics of your buns too :thumb:
 
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