How to give greens/veggies to bunny?

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lily2521

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This might be a dumb question, but what exactly do you buy when you grocery shop for bunny? I'm realizing that when we get bunny in a few weeks, I'll need to start adding more greens/veggies to my shopping list


Can I just buy romaine lettuce as the main staple, and rotate small amounts of things like peppers, broccoli, celery for example? I'd like to try to still buy the types of veggies I do now, just in bigger quantity. I do have a list of safe bunny foods, and I'll be honest, some of the things on that list I'm not very familiar with or I don't buy myself (clover, dandelion greens, mustard greens for example).


I'm just trying to get an idea of what I need to have on hand, and really how much variety they do or don't need here, as long as I'm offering the greens daily?


Also, can I buy the pre-bagged and washed lettuce, or should I avoid that? I do buy organic, if that makes a difference, even when the ready to eat from a bag kind, but I didn't know if this was okay for bunny?


What's on your rabbits daily menu for veggies and greens? What do your rotate, and how?


Thanks :)
 
Pippi gets a rotation of green leaf lettuce, cilantro, parsley, mint (gotta have fresh bunny breath!), green peppers, and Brussels sprouts (her absolutely fave. She goes nuts for those!) I think I found my list of veggies on the House Rabbit Society web page, and just took that shopping with me til I found things Pippi liked. :)
 
At first I would recommend not really buying anything extra, mainly because any new foods should be introduced one by one and in very small amounts. Starting from a piece of small piece of lettuce, maybe up to an inch in size, up to a whole lettuce leaf.

The pre-bagged and washed lettuce is fine, especially since you're buying organic. The only lettuce you don't want to feed is iceberg lettuce. I don't really buy that much for Bandit because he mostly gets fresh herbs that I grow in the garden (herbs are quite expensive to buy). But I do buy lettuce to supplement as a main part of a meal, or if my herbs aren't doing to well (like now in winter) I'll sometimes head to the local farmer's market and buy fresh herbs there (bigger bunch for cheaper than in a supermarket).
 
Do you have anything growing in the garden? Im not sure what plants you have there but if you have a friend or family member with a garden you could ask them what they have??? I feed Bambi various types of grass, thistle, parsely, dandelion, rocket, mustard greens, kale, mint, clover and the occasional cos lettuce leaf. Bambi also sometimes gets a bit of broccoli. Bunnies do well mainly with a diet of leafy greens rather then vegetables like carrots, cucumber and bell peppers. I am lucky in that our property is covered in various plants of some sort or another. It is a bit wild!!! So no green shopping for me. Here is a link to a list of good bunny greens:

http://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/02/26/safe-food-list-for-rabbits/

Hope I helped and have lots of fun with your new bun. :D
 
At first I would recommend not really buying anything extra, mainly because any new foods should be introduced one by one and in very small amounts. Starting from a piece of small piece of lettuce, maybe up to an inch in size, up to a whole lettuce leaf.

The pre-bagged and washed lettuce is fine, especially since you're buying organic. The only lettuce you don't want to feed is iceberg lettuce. I don't really buy that much for Bandit because he mostly gets fresh herbs that I grow in the garden (herbs are quite expensive to buy). But I do buy lettuce to supplement as a main part of a meal, or if my herbs aren't doing to well (like now in winter) I'll sometimes head to the local farmer's market and buy fresh herbs there (bigger bunch for cheaper than in a supermarket).

Thanks, we're adopting an adult bunny, so I'll be sure to ask too what greens he's already had and tolerated, so that should help give me an idea too.
 
Do you have anything growing in the garden? Im not sure what plants you have there but if you have a friend or family member with a garden you could ask them what they have??? I feed Bambi various types of grass, thistle, parsely, dandelion, rocket, mustard greens, kale, mint, clover and the occasional cos lettuce leaf. Bambi also sometimes gets a bit of broccoli. Bunnies do well mainly with a diet of leafy greens rather then vegetables like carrots, cucumber and bell peppers. I am lucky in that our property is covered in various plants of some sort or another. It is a bit wild!!! So no green shopping for me. Here is a link to a list of good bunny greens:

http://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/02/26/safe-food-list-for-rabbits/

Hope I helped and have lots of fun with your new bun. :D

Thank you, unfortunately we are in an apartment type home, so we don't have space to grow herbs or anything like that
 
I'm a new rabbit owner, so my input is only regurgitated from what I've been told but I've been told repeatedly that clover shouldn't be fed because it creates gas that rabbits have no way to expel.

If I'm wrong I'm sure someone will point it out in which case I thank them for the correction and you (op) can disregard this completely.
 
for sure ask what your bunnies has been fed and if you add something he hasn't had something before then start with a very small amount. when we gave our baby buns some lettuce I thought a tiny finger bowl full would be ok but they had a lot of cecal poops after that so i cut back and am slowly increasing the amount.
 
for sure ask what your bunnies has been fed and if you add something he hasn't had something before then start with a very small amount. when we gave our baby buns some lettuce I thought a tiny finger bowl full would be ok but they had a lot of cecal poops after that so i cut back and am slowly increasing the amount.

Good to know, I'll definitely find out what he/she has already had and tolerated
 
So here's another question, if it says based on weight I should feed 1 cup of vegetables a day, how do I know what is = to 1 cup of vegetables?
 
My vet told me you give them greens to equal about the size of their head. :) I found that to be a much easier way to judge than measuring. With pellets, you do need to measure. My vet told me: 1/4 cup for a 3-5 pound rabbit, 1/2 cup for a 6-8 pound rabbit, and 3/4 cup for a rabbit larger than that, unless it's a huge rabbit. That's one serving a day. The main diet should be an unlimited supply of hay. Pippi wasn't happy with that at first, but once she figured out that those were all the pellets she got, she adjusted. :) as for treats, I give her a hay cube, a couple raisins, or a carrot every few days. The pre-packaged treats were a definite "no" as they messed with her digestion.
 
Generally that refers to 1 packed cup of leafy greens. So if you were feeding lettuce, cilantro, and kale for example, rather than just dropping them into a 1 cup measure to fill it up (which it would fill very quickly), you press them in a little so that it's more compact. Don't crush them, but just apply some pressure so that they're not all loose in the cup. I hope that makes sense.

The time I've linked to in this youtube video shows pressing down lettuce to make it packed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFkwm0dnYQI#t=10m03s
 
Romaine is my staple. I always give that, and each day add two other things. Mostly green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, parsley, cilantro, etc sometimes things like green pepper, dill, etc.
 

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