New Bunny's

[thesmiths47]

Hello

We are new to keeping rabbits, well I used to have one about 20 yearsago when I was a kid (a very large giant breed of rabbit) and he livedfor about 9-years.

we bought 2 female dwarf lops for our daughter at the weekend, thebreader told me they where about 6-7 weeks old and that we should notfeed them any "Greens" as there systems can not handle it, he sold mesome green pellets and told me to only feed them these as they whereused to them.

We keep them in a large hutch outside with plenty of hay in ther nightbox area, the hutch is covered every night with a piece of carpet and alarge tarpolin and they both seem to be very happy

I have a few questions

The breeder toldus not to handle them for the first week asthey need time to adjust to there new surounding is thistrue, we ignored this and my daughter is sitting with them onher knee and stroking them every day.

How long beforewe can introduce cabbage, grass, carrotts etc?.

Do we have to keep them on the pellets or can we gradually introducethe mixed food the stuff with the oats and flakes in it? (bought a verylarge bag of this before we got the rabbits)

any answers would be gratefully received

With many thanks

Dave

 

[polly]

Hi i would disagree with the breeder if its agood breeder they handle babies from them being born that way they areused to humans. Obviously if they are getting stressed then give themtime to settle but it sounds like they are enjoying the attention.

If they haven't been getting veg then they are to young to have anyjust now i think the people on here say wait till your buns are 6months can't quite remember someone else will confirm i'm sure.

Pellets are better for rabbits as bunnies have a sweet tooth and withthe mixed food they will cherry pick and not get all the nutrients theyneed wheras the pellets have everything in one. It is your decisionthough, if you want to change them you have to wean them over 7-10 daysgradually increasing the food you are changing them on to anddecreasing what the breeder has given you.

Hope this helps polly

 

[thesmiths47]

Cheers Polly for the reply

 

[Michaela]

Ok, firstly, Welcome to RO!:wave:

6weeks is too young for a rabbit to leave is litter and mumin most cases. But I guess there's nothing you can do about thatnow...the breeder shouldn't be selling the at that age.

That's right, babies can't handle vegetables, the minimum age youshould begin is 3 months, but 6 months is better. When you do begin,introduce the veggies very slowly, and don't introduce more than onenew vegetable per week, Fruits and carrots should be kept to a minimum,especially when they are young, due to the high sugar content. But theymake good treats.:biggrin:

I also believe it is better to handle them when you just get them,makes them more socialised IMO, i just got a little 8 week old lionheadmyself and we are handling her.

And I agree with Polly, a plain pellet is better, they will just pickout certain parts from a mix, and often they contain artificial colourwhich are not good. Better for their health overall.:thumbup