The right diet?

[babbs]

What is the right diet for my 8 wk old bunbun? Iknow you don't give them fresh veggies until 5 or 6 months. Is alfalfaor timothy hay better for young buns? The pet store feeds thier bunsGuinea pig food so I kept them on that for the time being. Is there abetter pellet that I should switch them to in a few weeks, once theyare settled and used to thier new home and surroundings?

 

[Fergi]

First, I would start to switch the food to arabbit food pronto.Your bunwill not geteverythingit needs from a guinea food and sinceitis so young and is doing most of itsgrowing rightnothat is extremly important.

Most rabbit foods are alfalfa based which is good and should have aminimun of 16% protein. A few good brands are purina complete andOxbow.

Alfalfa should be fed to your bun until six months of age at which timeyou should switch to a timothy type of hay which has a lot less calciumin it. You should also switch to a timothy based pellet at that time ifyou can find one. I know Oxbow makes a timothy based pellet.

Veggies can be gradually introduced at 12 weeks, some people even startfeeding greens when they are weaned. The key is moderation and not tointroduce more than one veggie at a time to make sure it is welltolerated.

Good luck with your new bunnie and welcome to the fourm!

Fergi's mom

 

[cirrustwi]

You should start your bun on hay. Givealfalfa for now and then mix in timothy gradually at 12weeks. Keep your baby on alfalfa pellets until 6 mon. thoughthen switch to the timothy pellets or you can stay with alfalfa andjust use timothy hay. I use Kaytee Timothy Complete and MannaPro (which is alfalfa) mixed becausethey are good foods andeasy to find in my area. My babies eat Mazuri, but I removethe seeds and dried carrots and stuff.

As for the veggies, when I got Orion I posted about that here and Pamsaid that not giving veggies until 12 weeks is a myth. Istarted Orion on veggies at about 7 weeks and he's done fine.Saphy was started on veggies this week at 6 weeks and he is just finetoo. The key is to start with something like romaine and thengo from there. Just give little bits to start and you shouldbe fine. If you notice any soft poops, take away the veggiesand just give hay and oats (raw oatmeal) until the poops are goodagain. Then wait a bit and try the veggies again.

Hope this helps.

Jen

 

[samandshawn]

I feed my 8 week old lionhead bun on unlimitedsuper rabbit excel and timothy hay the same as I feed the older bun,the only difference is the young one has unlimited. Becareful if feeding alfalfa and alfalfa pellets because to much alfalfacan cause problems.