Food

Hey all I am at Walmart buying some bunny supplies I was wondering what should I get for my 12 week old female rabbit here are some things meadow hay bales. A chew log ,yo chips,bake shop pretzals,apple sticks gourmet pet rabbit food with bananas pineapple and carrots and other stuff wood chews and mixed berry and nut mix I need to know asap before I leave Walmart thanks below is some photos

I would stick with only the hay -- any treats with dairy (yogurt-drop-like items), nuts/seeds, etc. are technically safe for rabbits, but it's essentially like feeding a baby junk-food. They can cause upset stomach, bad eating habits, etc.... There are much better things for your rabbit that will make her happier, because it's good for her. If you find Oxbow (brand name) in the Walmart, they sell Simple Rewards treats that are much more natural and healthy. Any food that looks like a trail mix isn't recommended by a lot of rabbit owners because it teaches the rabbit to be very picky, and leads the rabbit to only eat the "junk food" bits of the food, rather than the nutritious stuff.

At this time, I would focus on spending money on good quality hay. Look for hay bags -- I prefer the Oxbow brand, but Kaytee is do-able. Timothy hay is fine, as well as orchard.

At 12 weeks, it is also generally recommended to get pellets. These pellets should be uniform -- so no trailmix with fruit bits or anything. You really want to instill healthy eating habits early. Look for timothy hay to be the #1 ingredient. Again, Oxbow has this, but if you cannot find it, look at the ingredients for other brands.

Some people may bring up getting alfalfa pellets instead because your rabbit is younger (so instead of timothy being the first ingredient, it's alfalfa). If you can only find that, that is fine too -- just don't splurge on a large bag because eventually the rabbit will transition to timothy-pellets when she's older (at the most, 6 months old, if not sooner.)

My post lacks a lot of educational information, but I wanted to make sure to post before you left Walmart! See this link for some information to read: https://rabbit.org/faq-diet/ .... especially about good quality food.

What about the hay bales

Those look fine! I'm not experienced with them myself, but seeing that it's all only grass with no bits and bobs in it is a good sign.

The hay bales are one of my two's favorite! The apple sticks are great too, but my bunnies only chew them occasionally.

If you're feeding timothy hay, it's perfectly fine to feed alfalfa pellets. Alfalfa hay is very hard to get a rabbit switched off of.

Nothing pictured should be bought with 2 exceptions. The apple sticks are simply a chew toy - from an apple tree. Those are fine for them to play with.

The compressed hay cubes are also just for fun - a diversion. It should not replace actual loose hay which they should always have available.

One word of caution is that just because a package has a photo of a bunny on it does NOT mean it is ok, or safe for rabbits. It is a marketing ploy. In fact, much of what you showed has seeds and corn in it. The hulls of those corn kernels cannot be digested by rabbits. Many-a-rabbit have died from gut impaction after those corn hulls got stuck in their gut.

Seeds are another thing that rabbits should not eat (except black oil sunflower seeds - those are fine). All those treats and foods with seeds mixed in are actually harmful to rabbits.

It is just sad that these companies market products for rabbits that aren't just unhealthy, but even harmful to them.

Years ago my little girl got up in the morning before I did, and she put a bowl of yogurt drops in the cage of one of my rabbits. My rabbit showed no signs of being ill when I went to bed that night. When I got up in the morning, my rabbit was dead. There was feces everywhere. It looked like her gut exploded. I don't think yogurt drops are safe, especially if someone gets access to your rabbits that doesn't know what they are doing.

Niomi said:

Years ago my little girl got up in the morning before I did, and she put a bowl of yogurt drops in the cage of one of my rabbits. My rabbit showed no signs of being ill when I went to bed that night. When I got up in the morning, my rabbit was dead. There was feces everywhere. It looked like her gut exploded. I don't think yogurt drops are safe, especially if someone gets access to your rabbits that doesn't know what they are doing.

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing, Niomi. How sad. That is a good example of how stores sell things that are supposed to be "made for rabbits" that are actually harmful.

I don't know how much actual yogurt is in those drops, but I do know that once rabbits are weaned and grown, they can no longer digest dairy.