How old before we can give our bunny some treats?

[bamabunny]

Our bunny is 11 weeks old, and he seems to be growing by the day! Currently his diet consists of timothy hay and pellets. We would love to be able to diversify his palette with tasty bunny-safe treats.

What age does he need to be before we introduce new veggies into his diet?

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Moving this to Nutrition and Behavior.

I didn't give mine any sort of treat until they were 6 mos old.

 

[Maureen Las]

I am wary of giving a bun that young veggies butI believe that it can be done particularly if the mom was fed veggies. if the mom was fed veggiesI believe the babies will have the gut bacteria to digest them .

Angela (naturestee) has raised a litter in her home and if she doesn't respond to this post todayI would pm her with the question. ; she would know for sure
Don't give any veggies until you get a definite answer.

 

[bamabunny]

Great, thank you for any assistance you can provide. I was not planning on giving him anything out of the ordinary until he is older, but I wanted to get a rough age on when it might be safe.

 

[Numbat]

:expressionless My bunnies are about 14 weeks and I've started to give them very small amounts of veggies.

 

[Maureen Las]

there is nothing wrong with veggies if they can handle them and do not develop enteritis which is a risk with very young buns.
I'll try to find a definite answer to this

 

[Maureen Las]

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

Dana krempels is a very reliable source

she says small amounts, very very gradually beginningat the age of 2 months

but please read the whole article

 

[tonyshuman]

I would say a few pieces of veggie (not carrots or other sugary treats) at 3 mo and fine to eat like an adult at 6mo.

 

[MyLOVEABLES!!]

i fed mine when they were 12 weeks i think. they were fine

 

[paul2641]

Every were I have looked they say to slowly start interducing treats at 4 months slowly and surely.

 

[Hazel-Mom]

Hazel was on veggies when she was 3 weeks old. But af course, she was born in the wild and they'd been exposed to greens since before birth, through the mom.
White Chocolate started on veggies when we adopted her at 2 months old. She'd been in shelter and foster homes for much of her life, so I don't think she had much exposure to greens. Either way, she was just fine. Our vet also agreed to getting her used to greens rightaway. Gradually, of course.
I've always wondered where the "wait untill they're 6 months" advice came from... IMO that's just way too long a wait to start.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Might be why Bo doesn't tolerate them well?

Clover inhales them tho....

 

[tonyshuman]

I dunno, because all of my shelter guys didn't really know what veggies were until they got to my house. I think it really depends on the bunny as an adult, but a mom eating greens will make it easier for the babies to eat greens earlier. We don't seem to have problems around here with any green veggies (knock on wood) and I feed pretty much anything I can find. They don't all like all the different veggies I feed, but they eat them w/o problems. For instance, I know Muffin was a breeder bunny in a garage and I doubt she had anything other than pellets until she got to the shelter. Same for Benjamin. With all of them, it's so fun to introduce them to new stuff that they've never seen before. I actually got flipped off yesterday for offering Frida a bit of banana! She always thinks we're trying to poison her and she had obviously never seen banana before. :rollseyes