Switching hays

[SarahsBunny]

My bunny Mocha is nearing six months old and hes very big chonky and hefty. I have been only feeding him alfalfa hay since he was born and bits of timothy and timothy treats but mostly alfalfa hay and alfalfa pellets from oxbow and kaytee. Issue is that alfalfa hay is becoming increasingly harder to purchase since its much more expensive to buy than timothy. I accidentally also bought ten pounds of timothy hay recently and I’m thinking of just switching him to timothy hay. Is there a way I can encourage him to eat more of the timothy? I mixed it with the leftover alfalfa I had so its like 20 percent alfalfa 80 percent timothy. Is this okay for him? I have had friends that raised their bunny by feeding them timothy hay and alfalfa pellets. I won’t switch out of the young rabbit pellets yet, ill wait till hes a year old but I definitely have to switch the hay soon. Any thoughts?

 

[Catlyn]

He doesn't look overly obviously hefty in the picture.
6 months is actually a really good time to get off alfalfa-based food and hay all together- he's pretty much an adult after that and will do very little additional growing. You can get a bag of adult rabbit pellets and start mixing them in gradually when there's a little bit left of the young ones. The same thing goes for hay, though 80-20 ratio of tim to alf should be good until the alf hay runs out, and after that it can be all 100% timothy (or meadow or orchard or whatever other grass hay you may have) until he's too old for timothy (that is years and years away). The gradual transition will be easier on his system and will also be accepted more easily.

 

[Blue eyes]

Agreed. Don't need alfalfa pellets or hay after 6 months of age.

 

[JBun]

Just make sure as you're making the transition off of alflafa and alfalfa based pellets, to closely monitor your buns eating, poop, and body condition. Make sure your bun is eating the timothy(or other grass hay) well. You just don't want him to not be eating the grass hay as you're gradually stopping the alfalfa. Otherwise, you may need to try a different grass hay, or to make the transition more gradually, so he has a chance to adapt to the change in diet.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/feeding.html
Also keep an eye on his fecal balls, making sure they stay normal and don't start getting smaller. And with any diet changes, it's always a good idea to keep an eye on body condition, to make sure no unhealthy weight loss occurs.

https://bunssb.org/bunnies/guide-bunny-poops
Monitoring your rabbits weight