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Feeding 2 rabbits at different ages

Rackeluk

Warren Scout
So, my rabbits eat together, Lily is 13 weeks and Max is 21 weeks.

I’ve been told that at four months you should begin reducing pellets, and if you are feeding a higher protein pellets changing over to adult pellets. If you've fed alfalfa, it's also time to start decreasing this in favour of grass hay. Your rabbit should be on an adult ration by 6-7 months old.

Is that the right advice? And how if they are both different ages...
 
So, my rabbits eat together, Lily is 13 weeks and Max is 21 weeks.

I’ve been told that at four months you should begin reducing pellets, and if you are feeding a higher protein pellets changing over to adult pellets. If you've fed alfalfa, it's also time to start decreasing this in favour of grass hay. Your rabbit should be on an adult ration by 6-7 months old.

Is that the right advice? And how if they are both different ages...

Lily is the same age as Tui was when I bonded her with my then 7 year old male rabbit. I fed her with normal adult pellets from the outset and fed them together. I increased the number of pellets slightly so that it was a little more than double what I had previously been feeding to one adult rabbit. She is a larger rabbit and much quicker in eating and so just naturally ate the larger share. I've never fed Alfalfa and they were both given the usual Timothy Hay. In your case there is a small difference in their ages and I really wouldn't be too concerned.

Yes, once rabbits become adults you should be decreasing the amount of pellets to encourage hay eating.
 
I fill 2 bowls of pellets each day and they empty them each day, I give them Timothy hay and dandelion mixed hay.
 
You could also start giving them both small amounts of herbs and/or forage. Just give one type for a couple of days to monitor any issues, before adding another.
 
I feed them both these;
RokroBO.jpg
 
This is a helpful chart, which compares the nutritional values of different foods. http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-food-comparison.asp

I don't know how much pellet food you are feeding (depends on the size of your bowls), but if it were me I would get some adult pellet food and start by mixing a very small amount each day to the junior pellets and then increasing the percentage of adult food to the mix over several weeks. I wouldn't throw away the junior food, but wouldn't buy any more. Also aim to reduce the quantity of pellets overall during that time.

The hay looks very tasty :) Really any grass hay that your rabbits will eat would be fine. A large bale sourced locally as long as it looks fresh and not dusty would also be fine if you have room to store it. Plus there are several online companies, which people on the forum use, which are also excellent. I presume also that your rabbits are eating fresh grass in the run.
 
Sent the other half out to get some more food as we was running low and he got this... I’ve not opened it yet.
M8f1Pd8.jpg
 
These are the bowls, I’ve just made their dinner, I put a round Timothy hay treat in as well;
LFH9uhY.jpg
 
It's not advisable to change pellet food without mixing it with the existing food for a while. That's especially so for quite young rabbits with more sensitive tummies.

If you haven't opened it yet and it's possible to exchange it I would do so. As your aim now should be to slowly change to an adult pellet, I would select an adult food from the Rabbit House list and start introducing that very slowly (as I described in my previous post). Also you will be starting to reduce the quantity of pellets and so opening a new bag will take longer to use up.
 
These are the bowls, I’ve just made their dinner, I put a round Timothy hay treat in as well;
LFH9uhY.jpg

When you previously said two bowls, I was thinking you meant one bowl at different times of the day :) Do you give them one each and do they keep to their own bowls?

Whilst it's not possible to judge accurately how much this is, I would definitely start to very slowly reduce the amount over a few weeks. The advice is to feed an adult rabbit no more than an eggcup full, and whilst I do feed slightly more than this, it's not very much more.
 
Oh they have a bowl each and don’t touch the other ones bowl, we have a camera and I’ve seen them they don’t go near the other ones bowl
 
When you previously said two bowls, I was thinking you meant one bowl at different times of the day :) Do you give them one each and do they keep to their own bowls?

Whilst it's not possible to judge accurately how much this is, I would definitely start to very slowly reduce the amount over a few weeks. The advice is to feed an adult rabbit no more than an eggcup full, and whilst I do feed slightly more than this, it's not very much more.

I’ve just had a proper look and the junior food says 0-8 months and the other pellets say from 16 weeks so it looks like I’ve been giving them older ones without realising, the bag that the other got me is hay not pellets, it’s a good job he doesn’t listen he ends up getting the right thing hahaha
 
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