How can I encourage my bun (9weeks) not to be a fussy eater?

[Morrigan1981]

Hi all,

I've just tried a few searches, but I can't find a topic that deals completely with my question :s

Baby Jacob is currently 9weeks old and eats almost everything you set in front of him - he's a pellet, hay and water munching machine :lol: I haven't tried him with veggies yet, I'm waiting until he's a little older (incidentally, what age is best to start introducing small amounts of fresh food?)

My question is about getting him to eat complete pellet, rather than mix, food. When he first arrived he had been fed on a 'Rabbit Muesli' mix from Pets at Home. I kept him purely on this at first and then slowly started to introduce Excel pellets into the mix. Now he's starting to just pick out the rabbit muesli and leaves me a nice clean bowl of Excel Pellets :? I don't want to keep him on the muesli food and I had hoped that by introducing the complete food nice and early I wouldn't have problems with him being fussy! :lol:

As he's so young I've been simply changing the food in his bowl rather than leaving him with the pellets. Would it worth starting to leave the pellets in there a bit longer each day, until he gives in and starts to nibble them? He's eating plenty of both meadow and timothy hay and drinking lots of fresh water. he's also generating lots of big round poos and no sticky bum!

I'm just nervous about getting into a situation where he stops eating altogether. Is it too early to be worrying about getting him onto the pellets?

Thanks!

 

[Beebop]

As he is so young, leave the veggies until he is 12 weeks at least as if he isn't used to them they may upset his tummy which baby buns are particulary prone too. Celery leaves are always a nice veggie to start them unto as it isn't too watery.

As for the pellets, you could just gradually increase the ratio of pellets to museli and see if he eats them. All bunnies seem to leave them at the start, mine certainly did, but now, as soon as they here or see the pellet box they start scrabbling onto my legs and can't get their heads into their bowl quick enough, I have to be careful they don't knock the dish out of my hand! :lol:

Good Luck

 

[Azraelm]

You can give Jacob veg now.

When I asked this I was told in the wild they obviously start eating grass etc very young so small amounts is fine and pet rabbits start pinching veg from their Mum too.

I fed my fosters veg from about 5-6 weeks old. Just make sure its 'bland' veg like spring greens as things like tomato may be too acidic.

 

[cherylwares]

I would increase the pellets and phase out the mix. At the moment he is being like all buns (and humans) and choosing what he wants, knowing that you will fill up with the things he likes.

If he is hungry he will eat the pellets. I think a lot of us have gone through this sort of thing when we change pellets from one variety to another. At first the little blighters turn their noses up, but they soon get used to it.

 

[Morrigan1981]

Thanks for the replies Actually I'm off work with a cold today so I was a little later than usual going out with fresh hay and pellets for Jacob. Whilst watching him from the window I noticed that he had his face in the food bowl and was nibbling at the Excel pellets (the muesli vanishes almost instantly). Of course as soon as he spotted me, he moved away from them and put his 'starving rabbit' face on :lol:

I'll continue to try him with the mixture of muesli and pellets then, but will start to up the pellet ratio slowly. I'm at about 80-90% pellets already.

I think I'll try him with some veg once he's eating just the Excel pellets and his tummy is settled from that change. I'd like to try him with some fresh food, partly to get him used to a varied diet but also because he loves playing with his treat ball and I'd like to put a little something in it other than more pellets! :lol:

 

[Morrigan1981]

OK.. I'm a little worried this morning. Jacob is eating the Excel pellets, but he is eating less than he did of the muesli mix - I'd guess that he's eaten about a tablespoon of the Excel pellets during the night. I'm not really controlling quantities at the moment as he is still so young, but I'm surprised he hasn't eaten more - he's previously chomped his way through a couple of tablespoons of the mix (pellets and muesli food) in a day.

He's still eating plenty of hay (at least a pile the same size of him!) each day and during the night too. He has a mixture of timothy and meadow hay and will eat either.

What has worried me most is that he is not eating his caecotrophs at the moment - I didn't notice any in his hutch yesterday but there were quite a few this morning. This is his second day of being completely on Excel (no muesli). Is it just the change in diet that is causing the problem?

I noticed in the other thread that some users have commented that Excel is too rich for some buns. Do I have the wrong pellet for Jacob? :?

 

[touie]

I'm feeding my baby excel junior at the moment. One day after I first got her she had loads of caecotrophs all stuck in her fur as well but she's been fine since. As long as your baby has lots of hay he should be fine. I personally wouldn't have done a direct switch on the food I would have gradually increased the pellets and decreased the musli.

I have been feeding Sugarplum (10 weeks) veg but not in large quantities, more little tasters, so far she's tried, parsley, dandelion, plantain, spring greens, savoy cabbage, romaine lettuce, carrot and raisins. No tummy problems

I've been giving her the occasional SS pellet as a treat too which she loves so hopefully won't have any problems switching when the time comes

 

[Morrigan1981]

Hi Touie,

Thanks for your reply - I did gradually fade out the muesli over a period of about a week - when I first started this thread I had already reached about 80% pellets to mix, but was worried that Jacob was picking out the bits he liked and leaving the pellets! Sorry my message wasn't very clear about that I've gone back and tried to make my posts a bit clearer! (a tough job for a Friday morning :lol: )

Jacob has only had straight Excel for the last two days, previously he had a mix of both foods. I guess that's why I worried - the problem with him not eating his caecotrophs is only since he had just the Excel. He has no sticky bottom though and is eating plently of hay. I guess he just needs a few days to get used to the change now