New owner. Need help

[Clover21]

So I got our bunny 4 days ago. I offer pellets a ton of hay along with basil snap peas celery/celery leaves dandelions
Parsley and green beans and spinach and clover sparingly
So hopefully that is ok from what I had read on other sites.
But worried bc she barely touches her pellets i haven’t had to refill her dish yet although I have for freshness. She maybe eats a few pellets a day But she loves hay and eats a ton


Her background story: she was an outside bunny only fed the pellets or whatever they gave her. Nothing fresh or anything of that nature. She’s now an indoor super loved and played with by my kids and I a ton.

Question: is it ok for her to not eat pellets if I offer all this other stuff??

 

[Clover21]

Forgot to mention she is 6 weeks and 2 days old

 

[Lukaku&Onana]

Welcome to a new sort of paradise ...

I am a new rabbit owner myself, as our beautiful new friends Lukaku and Onana conquered our lives only three months ago, so I'm still learning and hope you will get much more reliable advice from all the lovely experienced people here.
From what little I know, however, your rabbit is extremely young for the selection of vegetables you offer. Ours are eight months by now and also leave most of their pellets as they eat so much hay, fresh herbs, fresh grass and leafy vegetables. I was told, though, that up to adulthood (around six months), they should been fed greens and vegetables only in small quantities (if at all) and have alfalfa hay and good quality pellets as their main food. As I said, I am a beginner as well, but mine seem to have done fine on that diet. By now, however, I give them very little pellets, which they are not much interested in, timothy hay, orchard grass (no more alfalfa) and as big a variety of herbs and leafy vegetables as possible.
Celery green and dandelion are favourites with ours as well!
All the best for you and your new companion. Rabbits are magic!

 

[Blue eyes]

How is she doing with those fresh greens and veggies? Typically it isn't suggested to begin on any greens until 12 weeks of age. Are her poos solid and there is no sign of mushy poos?

 

[Clover21]

How is she doing with those fresh greens and veggies? Typically it isn't suggested to begin on any greens until 12 weeks of age. Are her poos solid and there is no sign of mushy poos?

I havent touched one to see if they are mushy. But they look solid and are tiny round balls of poop Probably about the diameter of her food pellets. She loves her fresh food. I’d feel terrible if I had to take it away lol

 

[zuppa]

It is usually not recommended to feed young rabbits vegetables until they are 3 months old and then introduce them to any new kind of vegs slowly one kind a day and small amount and watch if there's no diarrhea or bloating. And it is not very usual that you got her at 6 weeks as kits suppose to stay with their mother at least until 8 weeks, in some countries it is illegal selling rabbits younger than 8 weeks.

Babies are getting mother's milk until 6-8 weeks and they start eating hay at a very young age and stealing some mother's food as well but that's not dangerous as her milk is helping them with digesting any food so they can eat her pellets and her vegetables without any problem. At about 5-6 weeks of age they can be weaned and usually keep eating dry food and hay, vegetables should be limited as they can upset their stomach. But if they were introduced to some vegetables while were still on mother's milk it might be easier for them one of my rabbits had vegetables with his mother and when I've got him at 8 weeks I kept giving him green leaves one handful a day even a small piece of carrot and it never caused any problem to his stomach.

Now, she's 6 weeks old so she's just weaned maybe just a few days or a week ago and she's got milk before that so you can't say that she only had pellets, because her main food was her mother's milk. Now it is all food is completely different for her I would give her a plenty of hay (80% of her diet), parsley and other green leaves, cilantro, lettuce (except of Iceberg) and other fresh food one handful a day (about 10% of her daily menu) and a small bowl of pellets about 5%. I wouldn't offer her beans or peas honestly. For pellets, some people say that until 6 months of age young rabbits should have unlimited pellets so say about 100 gram daily and then reduce this portion to 60 gram, this also depends on her breed and size, smaller rabbit should get less.

That's main rules that easy to follow but of course there are some exceptions too.

 

[zuppa]

And unlimited fresh water I forgot to say that.

 

[Clover21]

And unlimited fresh water I forgot to say that.

Thanks for all your help
Isn’t parsley only something that can be given in small amounts bc it will gas/bloat them?
And is spinach allowed to be given daily bc I also read the same thing about it gassing them up

 

[Blue eyes]

Parsley and spinach are both high in oxalates so should not be fed daily. Scroll down here for other greens to limit.

 

[JBun]

If you've already been feeding the veggies for several days and there are no signs of mushy poop or digestive upset(stops eating, lethargy, loud grinding of teeth), then I would think it is likely to be fine continuing to feed them. Though do keep an eye out for any of these signs.

Round friable fecal balls are normal, you would know if it became mushy as it sticks to their bum and gets mushed everywhere.

Are you feeding the same type and brand of pellets that she got in her previous home or did you change pellets, and if so what kind are you feeding her now? The problem with her only eating a grass hay and veggies is that they lack the level of protein she needs for growing. Alfalfa hay and alfalfa based pellets provide this.

 

[Preitler]

The problem with her only eating a grass hay and veggies is that they lack the level of protein she needs for growing. Alfalfa hay and alfalfa based pellets provide this.

Imho, that only is a problem if your goal is getting them to butchering weight asap. Fastest growth doesn't mean it's the best thing (no, better don't take a close look at chicken farming), adult size isn't much influenced by that. There are big differencies in protein in gras and hay, depending on cut, soil, composition etc. too..

Although they sure like Alfalfa, and as far as I know it doesn't hurt in any way, it sure isn't a necessity (advertisement for special pellets is just that, advertisement)

 

[Clover21]

Oh no I just went to play with her and seen she has brown urine. From what I understand this means dehydration? SHe has the hanging water bottle I’ve seen her at it Before. So I just put in a bowl of water. Could it be brown since she’s so young and not receiving her moms milk?

 

[JBun]

Not with that amount of pee staining. It's more likely to be the pigments from all the veggies she's getting. Though if she only has a sipper bottle to drink from, I would suggest also providing her with a water dish, as rabbits tend to drink better from a dish.

 

[Clover21]

Not with that amount of pee staining. It's more likely to be the pigments from all the veggies she's getting. Though if she only has a sipper bottle to drink from, I would suggest also providing her with a water dish, as rabbits tend to drink better from a dish.

I did not know that. I thought about that when I got her so I added in just a plastic bowl I had with water and she wanted to chew the bowl so I removed it Since she doesn’t eat many pellets I just gave her a smaller dish of those and a huge bowl of water

 

[Mackenzie Salm]

You don't HAVE to give pellets but you really should if you can. She probably isn't eating them because what she is use to aren't those pellets, if the person you got her from knew what they were doing they should have gave you a bag of her normal rabbit food so you mix it in with the new stuff you are giving her and slowly you should be putting more of your food in and less of the old owners. Just make sure she doesn't get diarrhea from to much watery foods like lettuce if she does you have to bring her to the vet right away.