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How much do you feed your rabbits?

N

Natty123

Warren Scout
Hi everyone!
As it is coming into winter now, I have been starting to give the rabbits much more hay and a little bit extra pellets, but I don't know whether I have been giving them too much. They have the Allen & Page Breeder and Grower pellets (because I have 7 week old babies) and have about 130g each per day. On the packet it says 50g-150g each depending on their size. Mine are standard Rexs and Rex x Lionheads, so they are quite big, about the size of 2 hands put together.

How much food do you give your rabbits? I am quite obsessive about how much they get and I got a measuring cup from P@H :lol::lol: Not sure if anyone else does this but I couldn't live without it :D
 
Mine hardly get any pellets - an eggcup full a day which I think works out at about 20g. The danger is if you give them lots of pellets they won't eat enough hay, and hay is the most important component of their diet. If yours are good hay eaters you might not need to limit their pellets too much although what you are feeding sounds like quife a lot.

Regardless of the amount of pellets though, they should always have unlimited hay.
 
Okay, thank you. I only really started to give them extra because they always seemed so hungry and as they barely go inside (I don't know why, they just never go in the hutch :lol:) I thought I would need to give them extra so they could keep warm :?
 
Rabbits can never get too much hay!

Mine get a small cup of pellets each day. I measured it to be just enough for the two rex rabbits, its actually a bit much for Zakura though but since they live together I'd rather give them a bit too much than too little so long as nobody gets fat- XD
 
My rabbits seem to eat a hell of a lot!

They have a big mixed pile of veggies in the morning, fresh hay every day, and a good serving of pellets at night, and some of the older ones get more veggies.

If your rabbits are only 7 weeks old then generally they should have unlimited access to pellets until they are nearly 6 months. They have so much growing to do in a short space of time its important they have access to enough nutrition.
 
just wanted to re-iterate whats posted above... while an eggcup full or smaller is the ideal for adults on a maintence diet, lactacting does and growing youngsters need much more... i generally use the guide as whatever they eat in about 5 mins is right, and given twice daily with obviously unlimited hays
 
BB Mommy said:
My rabbits seem to eat a hell of a lot!

They have a big mixed pile of veggies in the morning, fresh hay every day, and a good serving of pellets at night, and some of the older ones get more veggies.

If your rabbits are only 7 weeks old then generally they should have unlimited access to pellets until they are nearly 6 months. They have so much growing to do in a short space of time its important they have access to enough nutrition.
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Agree about young bunnies.
 
Thank you for the advice everyone :D The babies DEFINITELY get enough to eat, they are such pigs! They have found a little gap under the table in the cage where the food gets to but the older ones can't get in, so they have unlimited food :lol:

Also, do you think I am feeding my rabbits too much then? :?
 
Natty123 said:
Thank you for the advice everyone :D The babies DEFINITELY get enough to eat, they are such pigs! They have found a little gap under the table in the cage where the food gets to but the older ones can't get in, so they have unlimited food :lol:

Also, do you think I am feeding my rabbits too much then? :?
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It's not really clear on what rabbits are living together, and why 2 of them are only 7 weeks old - is this a lactating mother and her kittens?

If it is, then as long as they are eating their hay well and have healthy poops and aren't leaving their caecotrophs, then you can feed more or less unlimited pellets, although be sensible, or they won't eat their hay.

As they get older, you can start to reduce the amount of pellets they get slowly, personally I would start this at about 3 months old, but do it slowly, so that by the time they hit about 5 months old they are on the correct amount.

Both of my rabbits are adult, the one that weighs 3.5kg gets 3 tablespoons of pellets a day, and other (that weighs about 2.1kg) gets none or just one as a treat, as she is healthy and maintains her weight and even manages to be rather chubby without any - after all you don't see a wild rabbit carting around a bag of pellets do you? They both get a handful of greens/herbs about every other day.
 
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Sorry everyone, I really haven't made it clear have I? :? The two babies are actually 9 weeks old, that was a typo. They are in with 8 adult girlies and 3 four month old bunnies and are loving all the company and warmth by sitting on them :lol: They get 3 scoops of food (about 260g) in the morning and three in the evening, plus an unlimited supply of hay and vegetables once or twice a week
 
Natty123 said:
Sorry everyone, I really haven't made it clear have I? :? The two babies are actually 9 weeks old, that was a typo. They are in with 8 adult girlies and 3 four month old bunnies and are loving all the company and warmth by sitting on them :lol: They get 3 scoops of food (about 260g) in the morning and three in the evening, plus an unlimited supply of hay and vegetables once or twice a week
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Ahh well in that case, you should not feed unlimited, as it would be bad for all your adult bunnies. Isn't it hard to monitor who is eating what, how much each bun is drinking and weeing and pooing in such a large group of 14? Do they all get on okay? How many are neutered?

What I would do is feed roughly a tablespoon per kg weight of rabbit per day, then take the 9 week old babies out once a day for some extra pellets.
 
nessar said:
Ahh well in that case, you should not feed unlimited, as it would be bad for all your adult bunnies. Isn't it hard to monitor who is eating what, how much each bun is drinking and weeing and pooing in such a large group of 14? Do they all get on okay? How many are neutered?

What I would do is feed roughly a tablespoon per kg weight of rabbit per day, then take the 9 week old babies out once a day for some extra pellets.
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I do have to admit, it is a little hard to monitor but instead of using food bowls I just sprinkle the food around the cage so it is a bit more natural and they don't have to push and shove to get to the food. It is only the babies who basically get unlimited food because they are the only ones who fit in the hole where the food gets to. I have worked it out and I think each rabbit gets 130g of food per day, sometimes less, but no more. Is this okay? I feel like such a bad bunny mummy :cry:
 
Natty123 said:
I do have to admit, it is a little hard to monitor but instead of using food bowls I just sprinkle the food around the cage so it is a bit more natural and they don't have to push and shove to get to the food. It is only the babies who basically get unlimited food because they are the only ones who fit in the hole where the food gets to. I have worked it out and I think each rabbit gets 130g of food per day, sometimes less, but no more. Is this okay? I feel like such a bad bunny mummy :cry:
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No don't feel bad, but it does seem a bit much. I've never weighed A&P but Excel was about 8g per tablespoon. You'd have to work it out according to your bunnies' weights but 2 tablespoons per bun (roughly an eggcup) should be enough unless you've got large/giant buns. So that would work out to be 12x16g= 192g a day between them, with the 2 babies not counted in that as they will be getting more in their hidey-hole. Or 14x16g=224g if you think they eat a lot of the sprinkled pellets as well. Ideally you want the 4 month olds to be moving off unlimited pellets onto adult portions at their age, so I included them in the 12. All changes in diet need to be made slowly, so I suggest you start reducing the amount of pellets slowly, it will probably take at least a month to cut down to a normal portion.
 
nessar said:
No don't feel bad, but it does seem a bit much. I've never weighed A&P but Excel was about 8g per tablespoon. You'd have to work it out according to your bunnies' weights but 2 tablespoons per bun (roughly an eggcup) should be enough unless you've got large/giant buns. So that would work out to be 12x16g= 192g a day between them, with the 2 babies not counted in that as they will be getting more in their hidey-hole. Or 14x16g=224g if you think they eat a lot of the sprinkled pellets as well. Ideally you want the 4 month olds to be moving off unlimited pellets onto adult portions at their age, so I included them in the 12. All changes in diet need to be made slowly, so I suggest you start reducing the amount of pellets slowly, it will probably take at least a month to cut down to a normal portion.
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Okay, thank you so much for your help. I was just going on what was said on the bag of the food :? They are pretty big rabbits though, but I wouldn't say they were fat I don't think. Once the playhouse is finished I think it will be a lot easier because their hay keeps getting wet lately so they aren't eating as much of it as they were in the dryer months :?
 
Natty123 said:
Okay, thank you so much for your help. I was just going on what was said on the bag of the food :? They are pretty big rabbits though, but I wouldn't say they were fat I don't think. Once the playhouse is finished I think it will be a lot easier because their hay keeps getting wet lately so they aren't eating as much of it as they were in the dryer months :?
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Pet food companies have nothing to gain by putting very low guidance amounts on their bags - the higher the guidance amounts the more you'll give and the more you'll need to buy!

You definitely shouldn't feel bad though, I used to give unlimited pellets before I learned otherwise :? And it must be hard work looking after all those bunnies!
 
katie88 said:
Pet food companies have nothing to gain by putting very low guidance amounts on their bags - the higher the guidance amounts the more you'll give and the more you'll need to buy!

You definitely shouldn't feel bad though, I used to give unlimited pellets before I learned otherwise :? And it must be hard work looking after all those bunnies!
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Okay, thank you for the advice. I think it should be banned to put the wrong guidance on there, people could kill their rabbits by giving them too much food and not enough hay!

And yes, it is quite a lot of work, but my daughter is brilliant with helping. She cleans them a couple of times a week when she comes home from school and feeds them in the evenings..I feed them in the mornings though.

But it did used to be like an extra part-time job! :? We had 24 at one point when our friends bred their rabbit with ours after saying them would have ALL the babies, then a few weeks after the boys and girls were put together, they said they didn't even want one! :evil::evil: I was furious and we had so many cages packed into our small(ish) garden. I felt quite sorry for ours rabbits too, because the boys had to be separated when they started fighting and they were quite lonely for a while :cry: Sorry to blabber on though! :lol:
 
My largest group is only 5 but i manage to know whos eating what by hand feeding them (i use fibafirst so the pellets are HUGE) and check that they all come up and beg for their portion, its a bit more time consuming but i know each is getting the right amount
 
becki_moorcroft said:
My largest group is only 5 but i manage to know whos eating what by hand feeding them (i use fibafirst so the pellets are HUGE) and check that they all come up and beg for their portion, its a bit more time consuming but i know each is getting the right amount
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Oh that is a good idea! I might have a go at that if it ever stops raining :evil:
 
Natty123 said:
Okay, thank you for the advice. I think it should be banned to put the wrong guidance on there, people could kill their rabbits by giving them too much food and not enough hay!

And yes, it is quite a lot of work, but my daughter is brilliant with helping. She cleans them a couple of times a week when she comes home from school and feeds them in the evenings..I feed them in the mornings though.

But it did used to be like an extra part-time job! :? We had 24 at one point when our friends bred their rabbit with ours after saying them would have ALL the babies, then a few weeks after the boys and girls were put together, they said they didn't even want one! :evil::evil: I was furious and we had so many cages packed into our small(ish) garden. I felt quite sorry for ours rabbits too, because the boys had to be separated when they started fighting and they were quite lonely for a while :cry: Sorry to blabber on though! :lol:
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Oh I remember that, didnt realise it was you! Did you end up keeping all the babies then? Are the babies you have now new additions that you bought then, or from accidental litters within the group?

Did you manage to get your setup sorted in the end? I assume you have them in some sort of shed or aviary now, as you have so many in one group?
 
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