What to try next? *PIC ADDED!!*

I feel like I'm doing my best to feed the rabbits the right diet and they all seem to be eating hay but I'm still seeing small poops. Summer and Skye's have always been smaller, not usually worryingly so but just from not eating enough hay. Heidi and Dash have always had big healthy golden poops but I seem to be seeing more and more smaller ones in the shed and tonight there were a lot of very dark, almost black ones

Here's a quick rundown of their current diet (between 4):

Morning: Tub of greens (this week been a mixture of Savoy cabbage, curly kale, mint, parsley and a bit of carrot) and fresh hay.
Evening: One cup (ikea kids small plastic cup) of Science Selective pellets and fresh hay.

The hay they've got at the moment is the farm bale and green meadow hay I got from an eBay seller, got a free sample first and seemed to go down well so got 12kg. I've tried hay4pets t&r and ings, various meadow hays from different shops, in the past I've tried the expensive tiny bags of Timothy hay and green oat hay. While they'll eat most of them, at least at first, none of them seem to really excite them! I don't know what else I can do? Any suggestions?!


Took this pic this morning, it's a bit messy but best shows the various sizes of poop I'm seeing!


Should have taken one of the darker poops as these aren't as black as some of them! It's full clean out day today by the way :lol:

some herbs into the hay? putting hay out at different times of day? I'd say more hay less pellets and veg but your four have the same as mine...:lol:
try different nuggets, or use a mix of different kinds?

happybun said:

some herbs into the hay? putting hay out at different times of day? I'd say more hay less pellets and veg but your four have the same as mine...:lol:
try different nuggets, or use a mix of different kinds?

Click to expand...

They really don't have that much now and quite often they will go and eat the fresh hay instead of the pellets! I can't really give them hay at other times as I feed them before and after work so on work days there is no other time! I just don't get it via they do all seem to be eating and enjoying the hay but I'm still seeing unhealthy poops!!

puzzling indeed. we need a poop expert...

Pictures of the poo might help (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say!)

Do they ever have grass? My two's poos are always darker if they've had grass especially this time of year. Other than that alli could suggest is cutting down even more on pellets and veg.

katie88 said:

Pictures of the poo might help (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say!)

Do they ever have grass? My two's poos are always darker if they've had grass especially this time of year. Other than that alli could suggest is cutting down even more on pellets and veg.

Click to expand...

Funnily enough I've given them some grass this evening in a hay ball, thinking it might help :lol: I'm watching them tackle it right now If that's the case maybe it's the new hay I've got then as it's very soft and green, not redigrass but not far off so maybe it's too rich. Will give them more bale stuff for now, can't afford to order any more expensive hay at the mo!! Might try timothyhay.co.uk next as seems to be a few on here that r happy with that! Not that that means anything to my bunnies :roll:

How small is small? Poop varies in size with the bunny as well as what they are eating so if you've got different sized bunnies I'd expect some variation.

Greener hay and fresh grass tends to make darker coloured poops, again that's not necessarily a bad thing. Although there is a lot of chat about golden coloured poops, dark coloured can be just as healthy.

I take it the hay lasts until the next top up? If not just increase slightly so there is a bit left over (doesn't need to be too much as they do seem to like tucking into a fresh pile ).

Fresh grass is great, introduce it slowly and it can be used the same as hay and some bunnies like grass better so eat more

I know my girls sometimes have smaller (not tiny) and darker poos but other times they'll have big golden ones despite basically no change in diet from day to day (they aren't fussy!). One day there will be hundreds and other days less too. They are hay eating machines and even they don't always have lovely golden poos. I just think it depends. Could be something to do with moulting maybe?

Thank you tamsin and kirotea, maybe I shouldn't worry so much then! They're all eating fine. The hay is lasting til next top up, I'm topping up two large litter trays, a hay rack and putting a handful in the smaller trays I've had to put in. They haven't been on grass for a while, they last free ranged a month or so ago. I was thinking of putting the puppy pen up today in front of the shed to let them have a bit of outdoor time as I still haven't got the run set up yet. That's if I can find something to block off the underneath of the shed :lol:

Eta: forgot to say all are similar sized but Summer and Skye are slightly smaller than Heidi and Dash. The poops aren't tiny. I'll maybe take some pictures today...