Uneaten cecotropes

[Zekapa]

I'm back with some update and new questions

- as for the cecotropes problem - we THOUGHT we solved them, especially after we took one breeder's advice to give him pellets in the morning and evening and let him eat hay in between. for the first 3-4 days it worked, he didn't have almost any during the day/night but yesterday and today it's happening all over again :S We didn't do anything differently so I'm baffled over this really. my only solution so far is that it's because he's still young and maybe it's normalish...

- the other thing that might be connected to his digestion and cecotropes: he's very passive and lazy during the day. he just dozes in his corner and doesn't eat hay at all actually. only in the evening he starts nibbling and during the night he eats it excessively. for the past two days I woke up to completely empty hay bowl which hadn't happened before. then in the morning he eats his portion of pellets and then the cecotropes start appearing all over and around 6-7 pm it goes back to normal. that's pretty much our vicious circle.
do you think I should keep him in cage during the day so as to force him to eat more hay? (so far I've somehow trusted his better judgment and bunny common sense that he'd come and eat it by himself when his hungry but it almost doesn't happen during the day like I said)

any other thoughts on this and possible connections between cecotropes and his eating habits would be much appreciated.

thanks :brown-bunny

PS. now i've just reread what @Hannaroo wrote about having the same problem when bunnies woofed down pellets, mine does it too :S but this breeder specifically told us NOT to refill his bowl but to give him two portions not more or less. again, I'm clueless.

PS PS sorry for the long post

 

[hannaroo]

Rabbits are naturally most active during dusk and dawn as they are prey animals in the food chain and in the wild they would be safer from foxes, owls ect. They tend to sleep in the afternoon (when they would retreat to a burrow in the wild) so this is not something to be concerned about. Keep up with the hay, what type of hay are feeding him now? You MUST make sure that they hay doesn't run out as this keeps the gut moving and encourages him to eat that instead of just pellets. Did you try the treat ball? Are his stools back to normal?
Sorry to fire questions I'm just trying to get a clear picture of what may be wrong
are the cereals normal and have they been smushed into the ground or did they start of running or misshapen?

 

[hannaroo]

The cereals will appear in the evening/morning anyway as that's when he will eat x

 

[Azerane]

Bandit is pretty much the complete opposite, he barely eats or poops overnight (I'm guessing just lots of caecotrophs overnight) but then during the day he goes through his pellets and hay like there's no tomorrow and poops like a machine! lol

 

[Zekapa]

Keep up with the hay, what type of hay are feeding him now?

Still the same, some meadow hay by Throls

You MUST make sure that they hay doesn't run out as this keeps the gut moving and encourages him to eat that instead of just pellets.

of course, but he's pretty unpredictable because sometimes I leave the hay bowl full and in the morning it seems he hasn't touched a thing and other times it's completely empty. this morning for example it was empty, yesterday half full. anyway, I always fill it up before going to sleep and I'm up at 7 am so I don't think that's a problem because there's always some of it scattered around

Did you try the treat ball?

if this is what you mean by treat ball http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Roller-Ra...Rabbits-Guineapig-Hutch-Run-Toy-/380646012793, no do you put pellets inside or hay? because if I should use the pellets then I'm not sure it would work (you'll see why when you see the photo of pellets)

are the cereals normal and have they been smushed into the ground or did they start of running or misshapen?

it starts with a regular foul smelling cecotrope and if I don't clean it immediately he steps on it (or even lies on it) then it becomes smashed to the floor. this morning I decided to give him a smaller portion of pellets to see if there will be less of them.

and this is the photo of his junior pellets

I'm thinking maybe it's got some of the grain he shouldn't be eating. this morning I gave him only the ones from the first line to see his reaction (of course he ate everything) and the reaction of his gut later :cop:
What do you think about this food, do you think I should completely remove some of these from his nutrition, maybe that way I'll avoid the excessive cecotropes during the day?

 

[hannaroo]

Meadow hay is better than most hay but ideally you need something with more fibre such as timothy hay. It's more expensive but I buy mine in bulk from a local farm (me and a few other people in my area with rabbits get a bale between us for £8 and it lasts us all a very long time!) His hay really shouldn't run out. Oversupply it and if it's still fresh and not soiled use it again the next day to avoid going through loads! They should eat at least their body size in grass or hay every day.

The food in the picture is not pellets. It is a muesli mix and they are far too high in starch and sugars which is probably why he's overproducing ceceals. Switch gradually to a pellet such as oxbow, kaytee or excel burgess. Mine are on excel and do very well on them! They changeover should be done slowly over 2-3 weeks a tiny bit at a time. He is likely to leave them at first but will gradually get used to them and begin eating them. Mine love their pellets and come bounding over whenever they know there's some about!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0009586P2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

This is what i use. Proper pellets fit in easily and it'll stop him wilting them down if you still have problems with the ceceals.

Update me when you're taken these steps. I'm very confident that this will change your rabbits ceceals for the better and reduce the amount.

Good luck