A greedy bunny and her hungry boyfriend?

Olly has been with us for just over 2 years and has been a single house bun for about a year, with a diet of mostly hay and fresh veg, with a small bowl of nuggets early evening. 2 or 3 months ago we got Phoebe who can munch her way through food like there's no tomorrow. We think that Phoebe is far more forceful about getting more than her fair share of the food than Olly and he's starting to miss out on the fresh stuff. Before when he was a batchelor - he could take his time over his food, but now any hesitation and Phoebe has polished off her bowl of food and made a start on his. And if there's food hanging out of his mouth, waiting to be munched - then she'll have that too! :lol: Unfortunately, he doesn't always stand up to her and so she usually gets away with it. :evil:

So far we've tried feeding more often, in smaller amounts, so that he has more chance to get at the food but sometimes he seems to show no interest in eating at all, or will only take nuggets which result in him becoming constipated if he has too many. A few times now he has stopped eating altogether. He has never been one to drink very much despite it always being there on offer for him - everything comes from his fresh veg - which doesn't help. Luckily - turning his nose up to the nuggets or to his favourite treat Apricot Wheats is a sure sign that all is not well and so out comes the Critical Care or pineapple juice after which he is fine.

At the moment we are making sure he gets 'hand-fed' as much veg as possible away from Phoebe - but we don't want to start a new habit.

Has anyone had any similar experiences, or does anyone have any suggestions?

Is it possible to split them up for ten or so minutes just to make sure Olly gets his share of food :?:

I know a few people on here had to do this and I certainly do for my little weakling.

Good luck!

yes I would just split them up for half an hour at veggie time

love your sig - those are bootiful bunnies!

Our latest attempt has been to put their food bowls at opposite ends of the room, and encourage them apart for eating but too early yet to work out if this makes any improvement. We will try splitting them up completely if still no joy and let you know how it goes.

My rabbit Phoebe is just the same! She takes food from Hobbes mouth and runs off with it! Hobbes has a tendancy to put on weight though so its not a bad thing with my two. Separate bowls sounds like a good idea.

We've had separate bowls almost right from the start as Olly's flat little face and Phoebe's long pointy face don't fit together very well in a bowl (Phoebe's nose always seems to end up right under Olly's chin!).

Sadly, Phoebe is the one who is in danger of developing a weight problem and Olly has lost weight as a result. Phoebe once worked out how to climb up on a dining chair and munched all of the bottom leaves from a small weeping fig tree on the windowsill. After that she then worked out how to get up onto the dining table itself ......and ate half of one of the bananas in the fruit bowl, skin and all!

Is the piggy bun any bigger? Could you create a little hidey-hole where only the smaller bun can get, and put his food in there? Or if not put hers in there with a really small hole so it takes her longer to get out to pinch his :lol:

As they are free range indoors, you could just get a small dog crate and put Olly in there to eat? They will still be friends I'm sure

I like the idea of a hidey-hole. He is a little smaller than Phoebe so that's something we could look into. They have a cardboard box tucked away in the corner of the dining room - but Phoebe just rips the cardboard to shreds so I don't suppose that would keep her out/in. It's something we'll look at trying though with a more substantial box perhaps.
They share a big indoor bun cage for a bed (not that either sleeps in it) / toiletting / food / hay and straw and so we tried shutting Olly inside with his food to give him a chance to eat - but he makes a start on the food and then realises he's closed in and gets stressed (they are generally free range) and chews madly at the bars. Having said that he is very good when it comes to going in the large pet carrier when taking him to the vets - so that could be an option to try I spose.

Hi... my two are the same aswell.. Nala eats alot quicker to Simba who was also used to being a batchelor with all the time in the world! bless 'em!
I got a treat ball which helped to slow Nala down a bit for when they have their pellets. If i dont have the ball i let Simba have his food and either shut Nala in another room or i pick her up and give her a grooming and fuss. Other ways ive tried is to hand feed Simba so that i know he's had his share.
If Olly doesnt like being shut in you could try shutting phoebe in instead or would Olly stress he cant get to her?

To be honest I don't think Olly would be remotely stressed if Phoebe was the one locked away! He always was, and still is, Little Mr Laid Back - hence the reason he doesn't often chase her and stand his ground when she steals the food out of his mouth. A month or two back we set our video camera up in the kitchen on infrared so that it took a 2 second snip of film every so many minutes to see what the pair of them would get up to during the night. When we watched it the next day Olly pretty much stayed put all night while Phoebe kept popping up here there and everywhere around the room like something out of Chorlton and the Wheelies (apologies to anyone who never saw Chorlton!). She can be like a whirlwind sometimes - it's no wonder she's always after food!

loubylou85 said:

Phoebe kept popping up here there and everywhere around the room like something out of Chorlton and the Wheelies (apologies to anyone who never saw Chorlton!). She can be like a whirlwind sometimes - it's no wonder she's always after food!

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hahahahaha you know all i can picture now is chorlton and the wheelies with phoebe popping up instead of the strange things that were on that program! I loved that show! :lol: She sounds a real character!

I had the same problem with Bunny and Flossie, that was why I changed to pellets, she would eat all the nice bits of the mix and leave the crappy bits for poor old Bunny I always hand feed them their fresh stuff, if I give her a big bit that keeps her occupied while Bunnygets what he wants

I loved it too and quite sadly have about 3 DVD's of it (yes, yes how sad a 30 year old am I?!?!?!). If Phoebe keeps on eating I think she could start to look like Chorlton!