Babbit food question...

Hiya,

Bramble's always been fed on a standard pet shop rabbit mix, you know the biscuit, pellet, seed mix stuff.
I've just never known any better really and thought that was okay for him.

Obviously now I know otherwise and I'm aiming to buy him a pellet only food over the weekend.

Thing is, he's a really fussy s0d and he always leaves his pellets in the bottom of his bowl! Even if I purposely leave it a bit longer thinking he'll eat them when he's hungry enough.. he just starves himself and eats the newspaper or cardboard boxes! :shock:

Anyway, just checking really.. but I'm guessing that adding the pellets bit by bit to his food at the moment to get him used to it is better than just swapping him over?
But won't that mean he'll only eat the bits he likes still?

I'm just wondering what's the best way to do it?

He's not a keen lover of hay either tbh. Doesn't go through more than a handful a day so I'm going to try a few different types of that too as I've been using Meadow hay which is all they seem to stock around my area!

Fruit and veg he loves.. but only the stuff he shouldn't have a lot of! (Typical) carrot, lettuce and apple being his fav!

Up until the beginning of the week, he was eating brussels, brocoli and basil but he's now decided he doesn't like those anymore!

His fav is parsley which is fine to feed him a fair amount of isn't it?

I was like you, feeding my bunnies on the standard mix, and they left all the pellets too. Then some time back I changed to them to Supa Excel pellets. I did this by adding in a little each day to their normal food. The thing is, they picked these out first and tucked into them! They obviously taste different to cheapo pellets. I then gave them a little more each day till they had no standard mix, and never had a problem.

And then I was confident I was feeding them the best way. Till I joined here and discovered they're supposed to live on mainly hay, some veggies and only a tiny bit of pellet. So, I was still doing it all wrong.

Mine dont like the veggies you have said but do like dark green cabbage leaves, cauliflower leaves, celery, carrot tops, a little carrot, swiss chard, spinach and parsley. Maybe try a few of these.

Hay is like the devil as far as they are concerned, for pooping on only! :lol: That one I am still experimenting with!

Good luck
Sue

Thanks Sue!

Well hopefully you're right about the pellets being different to the cheapo one's in a mix and he'll like them!

Hmm.. I know he doesn't like cauliflower leaves or celery as I tried that last night and you saying spinach has reminded me he's gone off that too! :roll: maybe he's getting bored of eating the same stuff for a few days in a row... but tough I'm afraid, because if he doesn't eat it, it goes off and it's a waste my mum buying a bag of it in the first place!! I've printed the list off from another topic on here and I'm just working my way down it to see what he does and doesn't like!

Bramble loves carrot tops but the local Tescos AND Sainsburys don't always stock them so he doesn't get them often at all! (

As for hay.. I'll let you know how I get on with hay and perhaps one day our bunnies will like it! :lol:

The pellets in the 'pelleted' rabbit food are far superior to those which are in the mixes. All the animals who go into rescues who have previoulsy been eating mixes are usually changed over to a pelleted form. The way I have found it best to do this is to change over over a period which is a minimum of 10 days. To start with weigh out the amount of mix they should be on according to the instructions, if there are no weight suggestions go by that on your new mix and use no more than that. Give them 90% of their old mix for day one, uptil day 5 reducing the old mix by 10% each day. If the rabbit is eating a lot of the new mix continue going down by 10% until they are totally on the new mix. If they are struggling at day 5 stay on the 50% old / new mix for a few days and then continue going down by 10% each day until they get totally on to the new mix.

The really important part is not to give them more mix than is recommended, if you do they will take longer to change over. If you are concerned that your rabbit is not eating the new mix, you can weigh your bun and check that they are not loosing weight. Many who take a long while to start eating the new mix will increase their hay intake instead of eating their new pellets ... which is not a bad thing either. If you persist you should get there.

Janice

Thanks for the advice Janet!

He's off to the vet on Saturday to have his claws done, and a check up on two fatty lumps he has. They've started to get bigger and I'm a bit worried about them not being what we were told they originally. :?

I'll have him weighed there and then go on the hunt for pellet food!

Have you tried your local Lidl for carrot tops, they normally stock them and they are only 49p, they are a lot fresher than the Tesco ones as well.