7mth old rabbit diets..confused about a few things

[LuvMyRabbits]

Hi everyone...just reading through the diet stuff on here and I have a few questions about a couple things that I wanted to ask just so I know I am doing things correctly... I have 2 rabbits 1 female netherland rabbit and 1 male mini-lop rabbit both approximatley 7mths old..currently I feed them pellets,hay,fruits and vegtables...but after reading some things on here some questions came up..

1. Since they are 7mths old should they no longer have unlimited pellets? I just have a cat dish thing with 2 sides out for them that I fill each day that is by their automatic waterer thingy. When I put them up for the night I also fill their bowls that they have in their cages incase they get hungry through the night..I dont measure any of this I just kinda fill them both up?

2. Each morning I cut up some romaine lettuce or some Collard greens and a few baby carrots for them ( usually 4 so they each can have 2 )and just let them go at it..making sure of course that the carrots are distributed equally between them and sometimes at night I will give them some more greens but usually at night I just give them some sort of fruit. So my question is..Should I be measuring this? If they are eating unlimited hay and pellets should they not have the veggies everyday or should they have them everyday? And should they have them more than one time a day?

3. I just bought a bag of spinach for them..I havent given it to them yet..but after looking at "The Rabbit Menu" I dont see Spinach on the safe to eat list or the not safe to eat list..is it called something else maybe that I am missing or am I just maybe visually challenged So my question here is is Spinach safe for them to eat?

4. Fruits- Are these to be considered a treat only?? Which ones are the best for the rabbits to eat? How often should they have them? How big of a portion?

5. If you could pick 5 veggies that are best for them which would they be..I guess I'm looking for kinda a best to worst type list? I would want to spend my money on the ones that would benefit them the most and not waste it on ones with nonutritional value for them.

6. I just learned today that mint is good for the rabbits respiratory system and that oregano is good for their immune systems..Should I be giving them some of this daily to help prevent sickness?? If so how much?

The website I was looking at with the rabbit menu on it was

http://www.mckellier.com/archives/images/2006/RabbitMenu.pdf

O.k I think thats everything..If I remember another question I forgot to ask I guess I'll just ask it in a different postThanks for taking the time to read this and thanks in advance for your answers :biggrin2:

 

[anneq]

I feed my buns:

Kale (they LOVE this)
Collard greens
Turnip greens
Dill, Cilantro & Parsley, Mint (they seem to love the Dill & Cilantro most atm)
Mustard Greens
Romaine

Carrots, not too often due to it being high in sugar and tending to loosen their stool.

Every once in awhile I will slice up an apple and give them some. Fruits are just for special treats, not too often.(careful of the sugar).

 

[Maureen Las]

1) I personally would still free feed pellets to a 7 month old although I might start mixing in timothy pellets with the alfalfa ones.7 month olds are still growing .
2 They still should have unlimited hays although you can start switching over to timothy and other types of hay as they probably don't need alfalfa as a primary hay source at this age

3) There are many excellent greens for buns so 5 is really limiting them I would pick greens that are lower in calcium and oxalates ( kale, collard greens turnip and mustard greens should not be fed daily as they are high in oxalatesbut can be fed occasionally

4) Fruits should be considerd a treat and only given in small amount
I can't really answer the questions re. oregano and mint

many people feed what they can afford and don't have access to a wide variety of veggies.

I feed dandelions (when available)

kale (Small amounts)

Romaine (frequently )
carrot tops (0ccasionally)

cilantro (daily)

Italian parsley ( it is high in calcium so it concerns me some)

Ihave too many buns to feed mint, dill, oregano and other herbs (too expensive)
Some members have gardens and grow a plethora of greens for rabbits (hopefully Angela (naturestee) will respond to this post as she feed an extremely wide variety .

Any time you start a veggie feed only a very small amount and see how the bun handles the green. Never give a bun a lot of any green that they never had before.

Also might want to look into feeding flowers..

Iwould if I had the time....