Please help with new bunny!

[Prapti]

Hi! I'm new to this forum, and joined from India. I just got a bunny a week ago. I actually went to the pet store for a can of fish food. There, the keeper was shipping rabbits off on in a crate. I asked and he told me no one wants them so they're going to be raised as meat rabbits. I almost cried so my dad got one of them for me
Anyway, I have questions about his diet. We don't have the options you guys have... We don't even have hay pellets here! Only the bad stuff with corn. I feed my bunny two main meals - 50% fresh scutch(Bermuda) grass, 50% fresh coriander +moringa+fenugreek+a little bit cabbage two times a day. And she gets carrot or tomato in between as treats. Is this diet okay? I really don't have any other choices! The other people feed them boiled rice and cow milk!
Recently, I had a problem when he didn't poop for an entire day, but he did as I'm writing this! I'm worried that he will develop stasis. He's not shedding, but grooms himself and chews a lot afterwards. Any help is appreciated I already love this forum!

 

[ams1786]

Congrats on the bunny! The good news is rabbits don't actually need pellets. How old is your bunny? That would affect feeding a bit. But for an adult rabbit, this would be the ideal diet:

-Unlimited hay (this should be available 24/7, especially if they don't have pellets)! Super important that it's unlimited. They need to eat a pile of hay about the size of their body per day, though sometimes they can be choosy so they might need more so they can go through and pick the best pieces. You can get this from a feed store or even a nearby farm — babies (under 1 yr or so) can get alfalfa, but adult rabbits should avoid alfalfa. Other good types include timothy, orchard, meadow, etc. I've heard Bermuda grass is good as well, but maybe someone with more experience can weigh in.

-Unlimited water

-1 cup or so vegetables. These should be mostly leafy green vegetables, but you can find a good list here:

http://rabbit.org/what-to-feed-your-rabbit/

NOTE: If your rabbit is young (under 6 months or so) they may not tolerate vegetables well. With any rabbit of any age, introduce veggies one at a time and wait a few days before introducing a new one. If their dropping seem off (too wet), stop and try another one. Many rabbits have certain vegetables or herbs they can't tolerate (just like many people get sick from certain foods)!

-Treats — these should be a very small portion of their diet, and they're not necessary and they can help with bonding to you. A tiny piece of fruit once per day is ok (see the list above for safe ones).

Just make sure to check any fruits or vegetables against a rabbit-safe plant list before giving it to them. And if you know how old your bun is we can give more detailed advice!

 

[ams1786]

Also I'm not sure where in India you're located, but is the bunny indoors or outdoors? They can get overheated very easily (anything above 80 degrees F can be dangerous), so if you're in a hot climate it's best to keep them inside if possible or, if it's not doable, take other precautions to make sure they're always cool (such as freezing large jugs of water and keeping it in her cage as a little air conditioner).

 

[JBun]

That diet sounds really good for your bunny. Rabbits can live on good quality grass hay or fresh grass, and vegetables and herbs just fine. Just make sure your bunny is getting plenty of the grass each day. Rabbits can actually eat quite a lot for their tiny size. As long as your bunny is getting enough fresh grass, along with the herbs and vegetables you are feeding, she should do just fine and be a healthy bunny.

One thing you may also need to offer your bunny, is a salt lick or block(plain salt, not iodized salt). Rabbits need a small amount of sodium in their diet. They usually get this from the rabbit food pellets where the sodium is part of the pellet mix. But since you aren't feeding pellets, your bunny will need to get it's sodium/salt from somewhere else. So if you provide a small salt block, when your bunny needs sodium, she will just lick the block of salt on her own to get the salt that she needs.

You are doing a great job at trying to feed your bunny a healthy diet. Well done!

 

[Prapti]

Thank you for the suggestions, everyone! The guy at the pet store marked him as 1&1/2 months old... I know alfalfa is recommended for them but I can't find any here and I'm severely allergic to Timothy. So I'm only left with Bermuda.
Also he lives indoors as it can get really warm outside - he's living in a custom built enclosure until he's litter trained. Then, he'll be a free roam rabbit.
I'll post a photo later, maybe you guys can help me with his exact breed/age?
Thank again!

 

[Prapti]

Congrats on the bunny! The good news is rabbits don't actually need pellets. How old is your bunny? That would affect feeding a bit. But for an adult rabbit, this would be the ideal diet:

-Unlimited hay (this should be available 24/7, especially if they don't have pellets)! Super important that it's unlimited. They need to eat a pile of hay about the size of their body per day, though sometimes they can be choosy so they might need more so they can go through and pick the best pieces. You can get this from a feed store or even a nearby farm — babies (under 1 yr or so) can get alfalfa, but adult rabbits should avoid alfalfa. Other good types include timothy, orchard, meadow, etc. I've heard Bermuda grass is good as well, but maybe someone with more experience can weigh in.

-Unlimited water

-1 cup or so vegetables. These should be mostly leafy green vegetables, but you can find a good list here:

http://rabbit.org/what-to-feed-your-rabbit/

NOTE: If your rabbit is young (under 6 months or so) they may not tolerate vegetables well. With any rabbit of any age, introduce veggies one at a time and wait a few days before introducing a new one. If their dropping seem off (too wet), stop and try another one. Many rabbits have certain vegetables or herbs they can't tolerate (just like many people get sick from certain foods)!

-Treats — these should be a very small portion of their diet, and they're not necessary and they can help with bonding to you. A tiny piece of fruit once per day is ok (see the list above for safe ones).

Just make sure to check any fruits or vegetables against a rabbit-safe plant list before giving it to them. And if you know how old your bun is we can give more detailed advice!

I think only 3-4 vegetables in that list actually grow here... The pet store employees were feeding the rabbits only cabbage, so that's why I thought that I could take a risk with other varieties of vegetables, even though I know he's pretty young, about 1.5 months.

 

[Aki]

One month and a half is not an ideal age to be weaned, but it doesn't mean he can't make it - I have no idea how old Aki was when I got her but she could fit into the palm of my hand so I suspect she was closer to 4 weeks than to 8 (she was in a pretty crappy place and I didn't have the heart to leave her here even if the weaning wasn't great). She's 8.5 years old now and doing fine! ^^
Be carefully with the tomatoe, the leaves, seeds and stalks are poisonous.
A rabbit can totally live without pellets and I never gave alfalfa to any of my rabbits. I think we had a few members from India in here, so maybe you could make a search (they probably mentionned they were from India somewhere in their posts) and ask them by PM what they feed.