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it's me again...food questions (strawberries/quantities)

houndour

Warren Scout
I'm sorry to be a pain. I just don't know if I'm doing things right!! Can you tell me if this is ok to feed a rabbit on a daily basis:

I have a dwarf lop and a normal rabbit...I'm not sure of their weights, but twiglet is quite a bit bigger than eeyore (the lop).

I've only had them since Sunday and this is what I've been giving them since Monday (when I last asked food questions!):

Morning:
Fresh water
And a bowl each of:
2 heaped table spoons of Excel
About an inch of carrot that's been chopped in 4, I give a quarter of this
A tiny sprig of brocolli (someone said it gives wind)
And about a bit of white cabbage thats 5cm by 5cm.
Plus a hand full of the Excel forage (the hay stuff)

Then I put lots of hay in their hutch/boxes/toys.

Then in the evening I do the same again.

The amount of pellets in total doesn't weigh the 50-60g recommended.

They had eaten all their pellets and veg last night.

Do you think this is enough? Should I give more veg? I have bought some spinach today, but again I read that this can give wind, so can I only give a leaf of this??

Is there any veg they can potentially have lots of?

They love grass. Could I pull some grass from the lawn for their breakfast (cos they are in the playhouse while I am at work).

The other thing...Strawberries :) I read that some of you give strawberries. I have bought some today. How much can I give per day? I'm guessing strawberries are a treat as it prob contains sugar?

I'll take a piccy of the food I give them tonight. Might give a better idea of what I'm giving. Might be useful for other people to know too. Especially if I'm doing it all wrong! :s

Thanks for being patient with me.

Sam
 
Ok slightly O/T but don't you think that strawberries don't taste like strawberries anymore. I use to love them as a kid, now they are bland and horrible.
 
hi

I never give mine fruit - I'm a mean mamma :(
But I rarely buy cake, chocs or biscuits for my son for the same reason - too sugary/carb rich for hoomans...

I would have thought that your 2 bunnies, coming from such a good rescue, would be well used to a big plate of veg by now - or did the rescue not do that? Amount of pellets sounds fine to me.

If they've eaten it all that's fine - they don't need veg and pellets as much as they need hay - that's assuming they like eating hay?

My 2 are smallish bunnies and have a big handfull of long grass, or a bowl of dried grass, in the morning when I give them fresh hay after cleaning...
At tea time they have a side plate (they fought over a small bowl, so I use human plates now) heaped with ripped/chopped veg - 3 big leaves of dark green cabbage or spring greens to share - I take out the midrib incase that gives them wind....an inch of carrot each....a small sprig of brocolli split into 4 slivers...some sprigs of parsley and some plantain leaves and couple of dandelion leaves max from the garden - If I run out of brocolli I give them a bit more long grass - Have to make sure the moggy from down the road hasn't scented it with his fragrant pee first though :x

But I ain't no expert either :lol:


Edana and the boys
 
What we do is slice off the tops so they get a little bit of strawberry to nibble. Then we eat all the good stuff and give them the green bits. Minimises their sugar intake, and maximises ours.
 
Well i normally feed just their dry food in the morning and then veg and fruit of a night time, they normally have a quater of and apple each, half a carrot each or maybe some broccolli, you can never give them enough hay
 
The way I introduced mine to veg was very much like weaning a baby -a little bit for afew days, then if no probs start to increase the amount. then the same with each new food - really gradually but increasing the quantity a bit each day.

I feed, 2 sticks celery (cut into 1" lengths) Spring green 2-3 leaves depending on their size, large chunk of swede each. these are their main veg I buy every week -but also I add carrot (occassionally), carrot tops, peppers, tomatoes, parsnip, basil, chives, mint, dandelion leaves and flowers depending on what I have bought that week.
Fresh fruit I use as a treat.
 
It sounds about right to me. Carrot and broccoli can cause sticky bottom so you are right to be careful with those ones. Not sure about cabbage? Mine have spring greens which they love - they munch up 3-4 large leaves most days.

As long as you are giving them plenty of hay too, they will be fine as they will fill up on that - fresh grass is also very good to give them. b-m
 
oh, my. i wonder if i'm doin the right thing!!!

i give my 3 a lot of veg, 3carrots, 1/2 head brocolli, 2 cabbage leaves, 3 sticks of celery plus sometimes 1/2 apple and as much fresh grass hay/ super rabbit exel light mixed with super rabbit exel and alfalfa hay as they can eat.

they all runaround all day in their 3 1/2 metre x 1 1/2 metre multi storied enclosure.

and they're all fit and agile, not fat at all.
 
smallbrown frog thats ok for your bunnies :D i'm increasing our bunnies veggie intake, aparently they're supposed to have about a plate full a day but stomachs are weak so like people said gradually increasing is best!
 
hi

Smallbrownfrog (that's your real name I guess :D ) - your bunnies are GORGEOUS!!! Yes that is a diet that isn't 'textbook' correct, but it seems to suit them for sure!! Must go back and drool over those pics in a mo...

Forgot to say - I think it might be the whiter cabbage that is supposed to give bunnies wind?? - Spring greens work out much more economical anyway, as they are nearly all dark green outer leaves - I wonder if Sainsburys stocks them exculsively for bunnies??? (Although I had half a leaf with my dinner tonight!) I don't think spinach gives them wind especially - but any new veg will possibly disagree with them and cause wind if they don't have the bacteria in their stomachs to digest it - which is why you only give a small piece of new foods, so the bacteria have a chance to adjust in their gut.

Strawberry tops sounds like a good idea - everyone's happy then!

PPS - I give a quarter of their pellets at bedtime because I couldn't bear putting them to bed with just hay :roll:


Edana and the boys :love:
 
food.jpg


Thats what they got tonight. I sat and watched them for a bit, it was a race to see who could eat the veg first!!!

I've just read all the posts. White cabbage is bad? Hmmm, will have to buy the green stuff then.

I tried them on strawberry. I chopped the top off so they got a small bit of strawberry and the leaf and they had half each. They ate it so they must have liked it :) I know I'm naughty. I will only treat them a few times a week.

Thanks for all your replies.

Katie when you say a plateful...is that a little plate? or dinner plate?

Sam
 
My buns especailly Panzy love Strawberry leaves, thats the only reason we grow them as the birds eat the strawberries before we do

My Hubby laughs at me and my daughter as it takes us an age to chop or rip up all the veggies, Bernards takes ages as we have to cut/rip up his veg really small since loosing his front teeth! we go out of the house with 5 plate fulls :shock:

Ours have about two large spring green leaves, celery, basil, mint, corriander, strawberry leaves, broccoli, carrot, two handfulls of fresh grass and a couple of dandelion leaves and flowers they have a tiny ammount of pear, banana, melon or apple as treats not every day. We never have problems with sticky bottoms probably because they eat vast ammounts of hat too.

Last summer mine three boys took a real liking to nastiums if thats how you spell it :oops: leaves and flowers so I shall be planting some up in their runs for them to munch on :D
 
smallbrownfrog - as long as they are fit and health and don't have poop problems that diet is fine. Mine get roughly that amount of veg. I would limit the amount of pellets though as they are the bit that can make them podgy. About 50g per bun per day should do them, presuming they are roughly medium sized. They might prefer the other stuff anyway and not bother eating to many pellets, just keep an eye on their intake :)

Sam - it sounds like you too are doing well on the diet front. Starting off small and monitoring how they are doing is a good idea. You can build up the amounts gradually.

For our rabbits we have a 'rabbit bowl' thats in the kitchen and they get any suitable 'scraps' from the greens we are eating. So carrot top/tail & peel, cauliflower leaves, stawberry tops, sweet peeper, apple etc. this means they get a varied amount and also help us recycle. Its all perfectly good food, they don't know its left overs ;)

Tam
 
hi i gave pepper strawberries the other day for the first time just the leaves and a small but of strawberry the kids al ready ate the rest and gave him what they didnt want :lol: he ate it all and left his small piece of apple i gave him he also eats lots of grass as he runs round the garden most of the day. we are in the process at the moment of changing are garden as the people b4 put 3/4 of to concrete. pepper is realy enjoying helping his bunny dad with the digging :lol:


p.s he does have other veg too his fav at the mo is watercress which is good not very expensive to buy about 25p slowly trying him on new things all the time :)
 
hi

I'm either very boring or too cautious but I don't try my bunnies on any new veg at all - they just get the same every day, which they love - I'm so scared of tummy upsets I operate on the principle of 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'...plus we always eat greens, brocolli and carrots every day, so it's always there (have noticed that grass smells yummy too :lol: )


Edana and the boys :love:
 
Mine have different veg all the time
But usually in the morning they get a bowl full of dryed grass to share,a peice of carrot,brocialli a cabbage leaf and a spring green leaf they get a peice of apple as a treat once a week!
They only get a tiny amount of ss pellets twice a day just a few bits each they get a huge pile of hay
they have the same again in the evening,none of mine ever have dirty bums or soft poo!
 
Joob-joobs said:
bunny-mad said:
Mine have spring greens which they love - they munch up 3-4 large leaves most days.

What are spring greens and what would they be used for if bunnies didn't eat them?

You can get them in sainsburys, big leafy things. You get about 3 in a pack (plastic bag thingy).

I have often wondered who eats these, aside from rabbits. The only ever people I have seen buying these was an older lady and gentleman in Sainsbury who kindly let me have the last specially 'reduced' pack (it did look a bit manky). I didn't say, 'It's only for my rabbits'! hehe :lol:
 
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