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Confused!

Kay

Mama Doe
Hi all me again with yet more questions.

There seems to be lots of conflicting advice and I feel like I am going a little crazy! lol

Also upset that Hubby has put my bunny plans on hold for 6 weeks as he feels the garden needs re-doing! New patio, new grass - but hey at least I can really rabbit proof it whilst we go round.

Right confusion is caused mainly through these:

Can you or can't you feed lettuce to a bun?

Are dry rabbit mixes bad for bunnies? Should I buy pellets? I found the moist rabbit mix that I used to use and brought some (its stored away ready lol) it looks lovely and has cut and lightly dried carrot pieces in it.

Timothy Hay is it good or bad? Whats the difference between normal hay?

I used to use loads of hay as a really nice deep nest for my bun and he would happily eat while he chilled out. It was lovely and deep and warm. I was going to do this again but now I see hay racks to stop contamination. If I change it daily do I still need a rack?

So many questions! lol

Thanks
 
Hi Kay, rabbits can eat lettuce, as long as it's not the traditional iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce is best.

There is a lot of conflict about mixes, most people don't use them, I think thats because some buns are picky and leave some of the good bits. Pellets are great as all the vits/minerals are compressed and they taste yum! :D

Timothy hay is better than other varietys although I'm not sure why, I'm sure someone else can answer that. :D
 
hey ho - anything to avoid work :D

pellets - buy science selective online if you can't find it in vets or petshops - it is the best! We like museli, but it's not high enough in fibre for rabbits - and carrot should only be fed a couple of inches a day, as it's high in sugar.

hay - I hate hay racks - I think they deprive a bunny of the simple pleasure of rolling in hay and eating your bed! I used to pay a fortune for timmy hay online, but have now found a local supplier of good meadow hay - Hay being variable, some weeks it's better quality than others, but so far so good - half the price of timmy....although if I only had a couple of bunnies I'd probably buy timmy from oxbow, as it's much better for their teeth and digestion than soft, thin, meadow hay. I give fresh handfuls of hay 2 or 3 times a day, so there's always clean hay in the litter tray for them to eat, as well as hay to sit on.

lettuce - romaine and rocket type stuff is OK, but not any other type, and especially not iceberg.

Better go clean now :(
 
Right, I'll try and answer your questions :).

Can you or can't you feed lettuce to a bun?

You can, but not Iceberg Lettuce. And even though it won't hurt them, there are better and more nutritious veg to feed your rabbits. Mine get cabbage, carrot and carrot tops, broccoli, sprouts, that sort of thing. I'm sure there's a list of what you can and can't feed around here somewhere, I'll have a look for you.

Are dry rabbit mixes bad for bunnies? Should I buy pellets? I found the moist rabbit mix that I used to use and brought some (its stored away ready lol) it looks lovely and has cut and lightly dried carrot pieces in it.

As a rule of thumb, all mixes are bad for rabbits. Even the ones that have higher nutritional value still usually don't have enough fibre in, they have elements that are unsuitable for rabbits and encourage selective feeding, where the rabbit picks out the bits they like and leave the rest, which means they aren't getting all the nutrition they need. Also, for this reason, rabbits tend to eat a lot more mix than they would pellets which encourages weight gain (which is very bad when they can't reach round to clean their bums, they can get flystrike), and means they eat less hay (eating less hay can lead to dental problems).

Timothy Hay is it good or bad? Whats the difference between normal hay?

Timothy Hay is good. It's coarser and has more fibre than normal meadow hay, so it's better for teeth and tummies. But you can feed normal hay if you can't get hold of Timothy Hay, as long as they have an unlimited supply of decent quality hay :).

I used to use loads of hay as a really nice deep nest for my bun and he would happily eat while he chilled out. It was lovely and deep and warm. I was going to do this again but now I see hay racks to stop contamination. If I change it daily do I still need a rack?

Keep doing it! You can always have a rack aswell if you're worried about it getting soiled. As far as I can see, rabbits love a hay bed to dig in (I know mine do), and nibble on when they're laid there. As long as you keep adding fresh hay I don't see why having hay as bedding should be a problem.

Hope that helped :).
 
Hiya! Some lettuces are ok, some are not. Iceberg is a big no-no. If you want to feed lettuce, check that the particular variety you have is ok before you feed it.

Have you got a list of the nutrition information on the bag of food you have? If so, can you post the protein and fibre content here? Most mixes are too high in protein and too low in fibre overall, and this is compounded by the fact that bunnies often pick out certain parts of the food so they don't get a nutritionally balanced diet. A good food should contain around 12-14% protein and an absolute minimum of 14% fibre. In any case the fibre should be higher than the protein.

Timothy hay is good because it is very broad and coarse, whilst being high fibre, low protein and low calcium. The nutrition make-up means it is good for your bunny and also the coarseness encourages the correct chewing action to grind the teeth down properly. 'Normal' meadow hay is still good stuff to encourage chewing, but Timothy is considered to be better. I use meadow hay as bedding, and have Timothy separately in a hay rack, that way they can always munch on hay, but Timothy is expensive so I keep it in the rack or mix it with the food to ensure that they are actually eating it instead of sitting on it!

Hope that helps!!
 
Thanks everyone. I know I ask loads of questions but when I do finally get a couple of buns I want to be confident that they are getting the best care, but then I know you know that :lol:

I shall look at the feed and list the contents on here. Thinking back i only brought it cause my nethy at the time wouldn't eat the pellets. Glad I only brought a small bag now :lol:

Thanks again everyone
 
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