Peanuts?

[itoshiixhito]

I give peanuts to my hamster, Hitsugi, and since Maayatan's cage is right next door, she gives me that "you better share, or I'll eat your bed sheets later" look. She gets really excited when she sees I have a peanut in my hand (to the point where she nearly falls out of her cage XD)

She only gets one every so often as a treat, but I read somewhere yesterday that peanuts are really bad for bunnies.

The peanuts are unsalted (they're actually part of a bird food mixture), and I only give her the actual nuts, not the shells too.

I know they're fatty, which is why she rarely gets them, but should I stop letting her have them altogether?

 

[funnybunnymummy]

The shells would be better for her than the peanuts. The peanuts are high in fats and protein, which can cause GI issues. The shells are cellulose (same stuff wood is made out of) and high in fibre.Much better for her teeth and tummy.

Hope that helps!

Rue

 

[tonyshuman]

As Pipp says, most things are fine in moderation.

I think one or two a week is probably fine. Peanuts aren't like dry corn, which most bunnies can't get out of their systems at all--the kernels are too hard and they stay in the stomach pretty much for the bunny's entire life! If you fed 2 of those a week, by the end of a year it would be a lot of kernels. Peanuts are much more digestible.

 

[pinupchick]

Speaking of corn, I noticed Ula's Zupreem pellets have obvious bits of corn in them. Zupreem is recommended by my vet, since Ula recently decided she hates Oxbow.

So how bad is Zupreem for her?

There's another brand of pellets called Martins that are lower-end but contain no corn. Should I feed those instead?


Zupreem advertises "no soy!" while Oxbow advertises "no corn!"

 

[funnybunnymummy]

The local rabbit rescues out here highly recommend Martin's Timothy pellets. Dunno much about Zupreem.

Hope that helps!

Rue

 

[tonyshuman]

If it has corn kernels, that's no good. Ground-up corn is ok, but not great. I don't know if cracked corn kernels are ok or not--but I do know that whole kernel corn is not ok.

The Zupreem I've seen is just plain pellets, without different bits in there. Plain pellets are always better than a mix of things because the things they add to the mix usually aren't very good for bunnies, and bunnies will selectively eat these additives instead of the grass-based pellets that are good for them.

 

[jcottonl02]

I was under the impression that rabbits shouldn't (in general) have nuts, grains or seeds?:?:? Perhaps VERY occasionally, but they all have such a high fat content, and just aren't natural food for buns.

Rabbits are Lagomorphs, not rodents, so their diets aren't in any way similar. I mean...rodents are omnivores, Lagomorphs are not, for one.

Someone correct me on this? I could be wrong, but I did think that, in general, buns shouldn't have them. The occasional pinch of oats can be okay (even though the high fat content etc.). But they definately shouldn't be a common treat for them.

Jen

 

[pinupchick]

The corn is embedded in the pellets themselves. Supposed to be ground up but there are some bigger pieces. It is just pellets (no extras floating around), but I guess I'm a bit concerned about that.

Zupreem is supposed to be a reputable brand, but the second ingredient is corn. Ugh. She seems fine on it honestly, but I'll probably switch her to something else once this bag is finished.

 

[tonyshuman]

A pellet is made of grass hay and other stuff, like ground up corn, soybeans, etc. I'm not an expert on what should be in a pellet, but I know I use Oxbow and I'm pretty happy with them. I think the fewer carbohydrate or legume plants on the ingredient list, the better the feed.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

Zupreem is a great brand highly recommend by many people to me. Next to ox bow they say it is just as good I have never seen big chunks of corn and I have been feeding it for 15 months.

To be honest Storm wont touch ox bow.



Edit to add
I took him off of it for 6 weeks and have already gone back do to him loosing mass. Which was a known problem with the other feed.

 

[pinupchick]

The reason I started giving her Zupreem is because she stopped eating her Oxbow and still won't touch it. Other pellets are fine, but there's something up with the Oxbow.

She's eaten Zupreem before for a long time and had no issues, so I assume she can tolerate it okay. But I keep reading how corn is toxic to rabbits and it makes me nervous.

Ahh well. I'll probably switch her to Martin's Adult Timothy pellets in the future. It's extruded and likely better for her teeth anyway, no corn, and way cheaper than the premium brands.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

The 2nd and 3rd ingredient in Zupreem is corn. It would almost outweigh the hay as the 1st ingredient. Corn is basically a filler making it cheap to make, but expensive for you to buy. I don't feed my rabbits or dogs any food with corn in it.

The Martin pellets are what I would feed if I could not get Oxbow. I did use it before I could get Oxbow and the buns did fine on it. There are many worse foods out there. I would not feed it to my angoras, but only because they have different needs and have not done well on it in the past.

I don't give my rabbits nuts. They don't need them and they could cause more trouble than they are worth. There are healthier treats out there for rabbits.