I think you are making it far too difficult! Forage is great but can you find enough every day. I couldn't find enough for 50 rabbits so mine get about 1/2 - a full eggcup of pellets/Muesli, a small amount of veg, maybe spring greens or Savoy, yesterday someone had given me a lot of cauliflower leaves so they had a small piece of that. Hay of course. This diet keeps mine healthy. You can also give them a handful of Readigrass every other day and maybe a treat now and then. Your rabbits will be getting all the nutrition they need from this diet. My rabbits won't eat nettles, if you have a lot I think they are better dried. Long grass is their favourite but I don't see much of that any more round here.
Haha, I'm probably overreacting
I guess I just don't want this to happen again and now that it's been brought to my attention vegetables really aren't as natural for a rabbit as I suppose I always thought they were. Wild rabbits would probably get little to nothing in the way of vegetables. They mostly eat grass and other readily available plants, so that's what they're built for. I saw the difference a natural diet made to my dog, I guess I'm hoping it would be better for the rabbits too.
Oh, I forgot to meantion I feed Readigrass too! Not in large amounts as I know it can be a bit rich. I haven't fed it for a couple of months though, been saving to get the big 15kg bag as that lasted ages last time and it's a
lot cheaper. I'll see how mine go with nettles, if they don't like them then I won't bother, but can't hurt to try. Obviously one new thing at a time, starting small and slowly increasing amounts.
If I were you I would not change their diet drastically at the moment. If you do this, you will not be able to determine just what has made the difference. I would just cut out the treats and cut out all vegetables (not herbs), not just reduce them. I would see how they all get on with this for several weeks. I would try to increase hay intake. As far as forage is concerned, yes I feed a lot of forage, more in the summer than the winter because of availability. Dried is almost as good as fresh, but it doesn't have the moisture content. I would not cut out the Fibafirst yet.
Oh, I didn't mean make drastic changes. I know any diet change needs to be gradual. I'll cut out the treats for now, maybe if they all seem stable I'll use up what I have
very gradually later on. I know dried won't have the moisture content but I'd have thought it would lose some nutritional value too? Still probably better than commercial pellets though.
I've still got a 2kg box of Fibafirst and a 1kg box of the weight management one bought exclusively for Lunar
roll
so I'd want to use them up first anyway. They've been on them for years so I doubt they're causing trouble.
For a start, you must bother us
And keep bothering us
You can always bother me privately! :lol:
The book by Twigs doesn't give advice on nutrition, but helps identify plants. I also gave you a couple of links which might help with 'free food' and you can google the safe stuff.
If can find a member of RU near you, perhaps you can go out foraging together? I have managed to find Cow Parsley all winter - never had a shortage. The rabbits love it and it's a staple. BUT you have to be careful that you've found cow parsley and not hemlock. Not to scare you but do your research if it's anything more complicated than dandelions, nettles and brambles. (My bunnies love the one day old dried nettles, by the way!)
Dried forage is good, but as I mentioned earlier, it's without the moisture - as is hay. It's good to have some fresh foods to balance hay eating and keep everything moving nicely through the system.
When you've time to spare - get a cuppa and have a read of these threads:
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?455755-my-foraging-diary&highlight=foraging+rabbits
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...ried-given-your-stasis-prone-buns-tree-leaves
(this last thread is from thumps, an amazing lady who has put a lot of thought and effort into stasis and it's causes. And more importantly - how to help our rabbits
)
It's coming up to Spring, and we will all be able to help you identify trees/leaves etc. Hawthorn will be coming out soon, and that's a good one and often around in wasteland areas.
On the foraging thread, you can post photos of anything and everything you find (you see, you will have to keep bothering us after all!) and we will identify them for you.
Regarding Zooplus - it's a wonderful resource, but with a few mouths to feed it's definitely on the expensive side! Hay from Timothyhay.co.uk is excellent and they have oat hay as well.
I would go carefully with cutting everything out straight away, simply because some rabbits get stressed and decide they won't eat when things change suddenly, but this is something to discuss here and with your regular vet.
Well I have made a lot of posts the past few days and asked a lot of questions!
:lol: I'm normally on here a lot but rarely post. I don't have enough knowledge to offer advice and I feel bad about asking a load of questions!
The hemlock thing's scary :shock: I know that people get used to what to look for but.. I'm really bad with plants and I know things can get confused easily. My Mum used to keep birds before I was born and someone gave her something (don't know what it was) and said it was safe for the birds.. It wasn't.. Can't remember what plant she said it was now but I've always remembered it and it's always made me nervous about picking anything for the bunnies. In fact I think the only things I've ever picked are grass, dandelions and blackberries
Thank you for the links! I'll take a look at them tomorrow afternoon as I'm planning to do some research on forage tomorrow.
After my experience yesterday preparing the buns veg and finding slug pellets all over it I must admit the thought of growing stuff myself has become even more appealing, even though I'm not a huge fan of gardening!
Oh, I went to order from Timothyhay.co.uk once before but at the time I think they were out of stock.
I found a beautiful timothy hay in Pampurred Pets, a pet shop I have near me. It was £4.99 for 1kg so not the cheapest but the bunnies
loved it. Think it was called Special Gold or something. It was a lovely green colour and had a very sweet herbal smell. But last few times I've been in there I haven't been able to find it
And I've not been able to find it online, except one place that charged at least twice the price for it. So I must get some more timothy hay as I suspect Pampurred Pets have stopped selling it.
I've never actually been able to get oat hay, every one I've found has always been expensive but I saw one earlier that looked good and was a good price. Now if only I could remember where it was! Might have been TheHayExperts, but I can't remember right now lol.
Any diet change I make is always slow, I know they can be upset by anything changing. I increased herbs a bit last night but still fed some spring greens and rocket, just a smaller amount than usual. Buying enough herbs for 8 bunnies gets expensive so I'd better get growing fast if I'm going to increase them! :lol: I know Snowflake certainly didn't complain - her eyes lit up when she saw all the coriander, basil and mint :lol:
I can send you my foraging for rabbits book (its a bit dog earred) - I can't use it anymore. P.M me your address if you'd like it. I also printed out this poster as it has nice clear images & used to take it out with me
http://www.actionforrabbits.co.uk/Toxic%20&%20Safe%20Plants%20v2.pdf
Foraging becomes really addictive, I love it. It also gets so much easier over time. The my foraging diary thread has nice clear photos & a lot of good information in one place (1st link on MM's post above). Excellent time of year to get thinking about all this.
Oh that's really kind of you! Thank you so much! But I'm happy to buy it, I just don't have anything left in my account this week after Snowflake's vet fees. I'm planning to get it in a week or two
I must admit I still find the idea scary. I don't have a problem with anything that's unmistakable (e.g nettles, brambles, dandelions etc) but the other stuff.. If it's something that can be confused with something else I must admit my instinct is to leave it alone.. Unless I've grown it myself and I'm 100% certain. My Mum's excited about the idea too. Although she can't do the gardening anymore I think she'd like to see the bunnies eating something that we've grown ourselves, we were talking about what different flowers and plants we could put in earlier and we're staring to make a list
I've been wanting to grow echinacea for them for a while now as it seems like a good plant to have, especially if they get ill.