treats!

[BlackMiniRex]

Andy's treats consist of: extra pellets and oats (almost gone)
i'm looking for a rabbit treat recipe. I made some treats before and stored them in a dry container but they just got moldy and gross within 3 days (same with fruit, banana,strawberry, etc.)
i don't really like to BUY treats, so i prefer to bake them.
i can't find a good recipe, or anything that i can give him like a human food that is safe for bunnies?

 

[katiecrna]

https://herbanlifestyle.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/how-to-make-organic-bunny-treats/

 

[katiecrna]

http://www.therabbithouse.com/blog/2012/05/15/making-grass-biscuits/

 

[Watermelons]

Lots of recipes hidden around the forum, you may have to try and search for them.
Heres a bunch all in 1 place.
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=54618

My guys have a thing for apple and carrot flavoured horse cookies. So you may find more recipes out in the internet if you google horse instead of rabbit.
Just be cautious. Even if the recipe is designed for a rabbit it doesn't necessarily mean it's suitable. Treats are a treat for a reason!

Have you tried dehydrating fruits? Banana or strawberry? Halloween is coming up, a roasted pumpkin seed or 2 each always keeps my guys happy, and the parrot.

 

[Aki]

I didn't look up the links, so maybe it's there but I think the best treats are dried fruits / vegetables. It's really easy to do, I do it with apples every year and I know people who do it with kiwi, parsnip, carrot and the like. You just wash the thing you want to dry, you cut the fruit (vegetable) in thin slices and spread them on a baking sheet. Then if it's in the winter you just put the whole thing on a tray and put it on the radiator until it's dry (about two days). Or, you just put it in the oven after baking something (oven hot but turned off). When it's completely dry, you let it cool of and put it inside a tin box (like biscuit boxes). You can keep that for months.
It's simple and fast to do, and it's not excessively fattening. Also, it's 100% natural ^^

 

[Azerane]

Lately I've been drying fruits and veg for my two. It turned out pretty good. So far I've dried kiwi fruit, apple, carrot and papaya. All have worked remarkably well, just drying them in the oven on a very low temp for a couple of hours. Keep in mind that once dehydrated the sugar content is very high for the size of the piece, so you can't give much. But it's perfectly natural and healthy

Regarding your previous treats that you baked, it's possible that they weren't completely baked/dried through or cooled properly when you put them in the container, which would have lead them to sweat and go mouldy.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

Lots of recipes hidden around the forum, you may have to try and search for them.
Heres a bunch all in 1 place.
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=54618

My guys have a thing for apple and carrot flavoured horse cookies. So you may find more recipes out in the internet if you google horse instead of rabbit.
Just be cautious. Even if the recipe is designed for a rabbit it doesn't necessarily mean it's suitable. Treats are a treat for a reason!

Have you tried dehydrating fruits? Banana or strawberry? Halloween is coming up, a roasted pumpkin seed or 2 each always keeps my guys happy, and the parrot.

i thought bunnies couldn't eat seeds?

sadly i do not have a dehydrator :/

 

[Watermelons]

i thought bunnies couldn't eat seeds?

sadly i do not have a dehydrator :/

Maybe in the same way they cant eat carrots.... ?
Seeds have fats. Oils. Too much is bad and fattening. Like 20 carrots a day is way too much sugar. Rabbits eat seed heads off plants in the wild. Grass goes to seed. Flowers go to 'seed'. Veggies go to seed.
Its advised not to give rabbits pellet mix with seeds since they will pick out the seed and forget about the pellet.
They can have good seeds. Just not a whole lot of them otherwise youll have a fat rabbit.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

ohh ok, we do make pumpkin seeds to eat (for humans) in the fall, i guess i can snatch a few for the bunny ;P

 

[dpbunnies]

I made some treats today.
They took around 3 hours to fully dry out.

Just the dust collected from the bottom of their food bag, dust from the bottom of the hay bag and natural organic baby food. All mixed together, cut to shapes, and cooked at around 130degc for 1 hour, 90degc for 2 hours and oven turned off and allowed to cool with treats still inside.

Buns were hunting me down for them.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

i love the treat shapes! (and the adorable bunnies!).
i'm gonna go see if i can make some treats
most the recipes i find have honey as an ingredient :shock:

 

[Watermelons]

They are treats A little bit of honey wouldn't honestly be that bad. Id prefer to see honey used rather then molasses.
Think of how much natural sugar is in every bit of fruit they get. And a small amount of honey divided up between all the treats when their done, and you're only giving 1 or 2... okay maybe 3 or 4.... not the entire amount in 1 sitting (lets hope). Some buns have a sweet tooth.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

oh, i always thought honey was waaay to sugary?

i made the treats, how long should i leave them out for before i put them in a container?

 

[Watermelons]

Ive never actually baked bunny treats before just dog treats but i usually ended up storing those in the fridge anyway haha, buns get dried fruit. So cant help you with that one. Just make sure there super dry. Thats why I like the dehydrator hehe.

Do you have any spare silica packs from food or vitamins? You could toss some of those in the container with the treats.

A bit of honey is totally fine keep in mind all the crap in most pellets or store treats. Honey is all natural and delicious. And wayyyy better then corn syrup or most of the other forms of sugar you see in processed foods. Youre not using a lot either. Theres no real need to sweeten recipes but your bun might enjoy the extra sweetness in the 1 or 2 treats their given.

 

[dpbunnies]

If the treats are completely dry throughout (not soft when you push the middle) just let them cool then put them in the container.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

ok thanks
does anyone else's rabbits make a weird noise when eating watermelon? he makes gurgling noise when eating it, sometimes he does it when eating treats.