bunny food

[2inlovewithraw]

hey everyone,
we got a baby bunny and i am not sure how much to feed it. i give him the little pellets but he loves raw food. so far i give him carrots, lettece, kale broccoli cauliflower, and celery. he doesn;t like bellpepper, cucumber or zuchinni.
he always has the pellets but i feed him raw throughout the day. when i first wake up i give him a little bit of each then again miday and before i go to bed. he eats it right up. is there a limit? am i feeding him enough. i love that he eats raw and just want to know if i am doing everything correctly. any help or suggestions would be wonderful. he is over 8 weeks old and is a dutch bunny.
mrs 2

[Aleesha Sattva]

feeding baby bunnies veggies is supposed to be bad for them. they can get diareah and die.

you are supposed to keep them on pellets and grasses for the first 6 months and then add veggies.

that's what we did with both of ours. they are enjoying all raw goodies now (along with their pellets and grass) - they are indoor spoiled bunnies.

[2inlovewithraw]

thankyou for responding. i had no idea. the lady at the pet store said i was supposed too. wow! no more veggies.
another question is what can i give him for chewing. i know teeth are important but what do i give him. also is their a limit to the hay or pellets? also do you take your bunny into see a vet? thankyou again

[juliebove]

They make things for chewing. You should be able to get them at the pet store. We had a rabbit when I was a kid and we didn't take care of it properly because we didn't know any better. We did give her some raw produce and a salt lick, but we didn't know about the chewing thing for the teeth and her teeth had to be filed down.

[spicyfull]

Wow......I'd like to know how they get pellets in the Wild and why they run havic on a garden?

[jacsam]

My little neighbor girl was out with her bunny and when I gave her some stuff out of my garden for her bunny she was sooo excited and made the comment that this was just like candy to her bunny. Well, you know what that did....I told her to come and get some for her bunny anytime she wanted. Kids....they can be so cute.

[2inlovewithraw]

thanks everyone. i have been doing some research and learning.
juliebove thankyou for the tip i went and got my little one some more toys and some stuff for him to chew.
spicyfull i have been wondering the same thing. i am trying to find the why but so far no luck. it makes me wonder if the baby bunnies are weaned in the wild then they would eat from a garden. hmmm so confusing. my bunny was so happy to get all the veggies and haven;t had any direaaha at all. i did take the veggies out but i am going to do some more research. some of the research i have done say pellets are bad for them. i don;t know what to do.
jacsam awww soooo cute!

[Anastasia Alston]

I used to have house bunnies years ago & they never ate a pellet - by their own choice. They didn't get diarrhea, either. They had a ton of energy (one used to like climbing) & never got sick. I tried offering them pellets a few times only to have them turn their nose up at them while continuing to look for their daily veggies/forage. I used to go out daily during spring, summer & early fall to forage wild foods for them, gave them a constant supply of grass hay (which I bought in regular-sized bales & kept in a large trash can bought for that purpose) & supplemented with store veggies & fruits of every kind imaginable. it's more expensive to feed this way in winter & late fall when there's no forage & also if you haven't got time to go out foraging. I looked at it as my "peaceful time" away from the kids every day. Sometimes the kids would be there with me & they got to learn about edible wild plants, so it was also an educational moment in their day.

Hope this helps! :)

- Stasi, Pea Pod (Morab), Rosie Cotton & Binnabik (the Pibble Posse)

[kaybee]

i was in 4-H and had a lot of bunnies when I was younger. For chewing, if you can get access, apple tree branches are supposed to be really good for chewing. i'd say it also health-wise beats any manufactured product youre going to find at the petstore. and free too.

[verseaurainbows]

Bunnies will NOT die eating veg. Just to clarify (and you dont have to wait 6 months, you can introduce veggies slowly from around 12 weeks)

A rabbits diet should be at least 90 percent HAY. Or a mixture of grass and hay, or different TYPES of hay (yes there are different types) The other 10 percent can either be good quality pellets (very small amounts-a handful a day at most) or a mixture of veggies and fruits (check theyre bunny safe first) Or you can combine these foods. But it is imperative that the main staple of the bunnies diet is HAY

We have 5 house rabbits and have kept many rabbits in the past

[diali36]

Hi in love with raw,
verseaurainbows is correct as are some of the other comments. Your bunny should be getting all the good quaility hay she wants along with small amounts of fresh greens, veggies and some fruit. Also apple tree branches are the best thing for your bunny to chew as long as you are absolutlly sure they are organic, as well as any food you give her inc. weeds from your garden, everything must be organic.
What my bunny ate for the 1st year was mostly hay, a small handful of bunny pellets, and some fresh food in small amounts, handfuls.
After she was into her adulthood I gave her all the weeds from my orgainc garden, bannanas, carrots, apples, some peanuts in the shell, corn of the cob whole, and a small handful of pellets in the winter time, along with a large mineral salt block, unlimited hay, and of course fresh water. Parsely and dandlions were favorites. she also had apple tree branches to chew on, bunnys will chew off the bark which has something just under it that is very healthful for them, after she was done chewing the bark off I'd replace it with a fresh branch, about 1 per month.
also if you are going to have your bunny in a hutch make sure the bottom is not all wire, they excret too kinds of poop, one is just poop, one is not, it is digested food that has something in it, I've forgotten now just what, that they need to eat or they will not live long.
My bunny lived for 10 years which is pretty old for a backyard bunny.
Good luck with yours.