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slugs/insects in organic veg - does it matter if they eat them?!

trixibelle

Young Bun
I gave a whole organic spring green to my rabbit- they have made their way through it the last couple of days - the last time I got one (from a very good organic supermarket in my city) there were slugs in the inner leaves and I was too squeamish to wash off so I tore off the top bit and binned the rest.

Because they have been out a lot I just left it for them to help themselves and they have gone through it in two days- now I’m worried I’ve inadvertently fed my rabbits slugs!

I don’t wash the organic veg because I was told the dirt is fine and would help grind their teeth- there’s never an issue with bugs when from a big supermarket (assume the pesticides) but they are never as instantly excited/interested about that veg (this concerns me for myself!) as the lovely and expensive organic stuff

Would they just not eat a slug? Would it matter if they did?? I can’t find info online as google comes up with tips for stopping slugs and rabbits eating your veg/garden

Am I worrying over nothing? Would this just happen in the wild? Or is it something potentially very dangerous?

😫😫😫

Thanks for your help!!!!
 
I'm sure that rabbits come across slugs and insects in the wild and also rabbits who are free range in a garden will encounter them. I don't know, but I strongly suspect that rabbits would avoid slugs and insects if they were aware of them. Regarding whether it would hurt them, I don't know, but I suspect not.

Regarding the organic vegetables, I would definitely still wash them, whether it was for my own or my rabbits' consumption. When I pick forage or veg from my own garden for the rabbits, I do not wash the odd speck of dirt off. BUT I do examine it, especially for bird droppings, which can contain some nasty germs and if necessary remove those leaves.

If you cannot wash the veg, I would get a bucket of water, take the leaves apart and soak them in the water for a while.
 
I'm with Omi. My rabbits get most of their greens from the allotment. I certainly don't check every leaf. Anything very obvious (slugs, caterpillars) gets washed or shaken off and anything else is pot luck. They definitely get some invertebrates with lunch, but that's what they would have to deal with naturally. I know there are no pesticides, etc on it, so I leave them to sort it out.
 
No problem there, rabbits can also can digest insects and meat, they are opportunistic carnivores. Even heard of one munching earthworms. Mine consider twigs of some weeds that are full of aphids as yummy...

We have a slug invasion here, can't check all the forage, but since rabbits are quite picky eaters they'll avoid them if they don't like them, it's just icky when one gets stuck in their fur.
 
Thanks so much for all your replies! I just suddenly got worried about lung worm in dogs etc so it’s good to know this can/has happened before! I don’t want to be overly paranoid about thoroughly cleaning every leaf if I can help it.

It is interesting what you said Preitler as I have always suspected this - I think mine would eat anything! I’ve considered rabbits to be scavengers because I read that many die in winter in the wild when food can be scarse (so will eat bark) so I assumed the would eat meat if I gave it them. When my mum looked after one of mine she thought I didn’t feed her enough because she wanted food every time she went near her cage! I think rabbits would try and eat nearly anything! At least being so food motivated makes them easy to train - mine have excellent re-call 😂😂

I just don’t get why they would rather chew my skirting boards and sofa rather than all the natural grass and twig tunnels etc that I’ve bought them 🤔
 
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