Rabbit housing and feed

[Chicky327]

What foods can they eat?

What's the minimum housing for Nethie's?

What do you house your pet rabbits in?

They will be pets, I disagree with breeding


Ta, Saskia

x

 

[ScissorChick]

A rabbit's diet cannot be an 'all pellet diet'

It's very unhealthy. Feed your pet rabbit an unlimited ammount of timothy hay daily, which will

grind down their back teeth, and keep their very sensitive digestive system clean and free of

blockages. They also need about a cup of fresh leavy greens daily. Herbs, collard greens etc.

I will put a list of safe veggies and fruits below Then their pellets. As long as you are feeding

what I listed above, and as long as your rabbit is good and healthy, you should feed about 1/2

of pellets per day - per 6 pounds of body weight. As far as housing goes, my rabbit is both

indoor and outdoor. We try and keep him indoors during the summer, as rabbits cannot

take the heat very well. Outside he has a 4x2 hutch (Not the biggest I'd like) and inside

he has a big C&C cage. (Cubes and choroplast).

Heres a list of safe veggies, every thing with a ! beside it means Use sparingly.

Raddichio
Broccoli (leaves/stems)
Brussels sprouts
Carrot & carrot tops
Celery
Mustard greens
Parsley
Pea pods (snow pea/sugar snap pea)
Peppermint leaves
Chinese celery
Alfalfa, radish & clover sprouts
Baby bok choy
Basil
Beet greens (tops)
Bok choy
Cilantro
Clover
Collard greens
Dandelion greens and flowers (no pesticides)
Dwarf choy sum
Endive
Escarole
Gai long
Green peppers
Kale (!)
Mint
Watercress
Wheat grass
Yu choy
Radish tops
Raspberry leaves
Romaine lettuce (no iceberg)
Spinach (!)

It's recommended to pick atleast 3 types of veggies daily. I normally give my rabbit

herbs. - Parsley, Cilantro, Basil, Mint, that kind of stuff. Each veggie really needs to be

introduced one at a time. If your rabbit starts having loose droppings, the last introduced

veggie should be immediatly removed.

 

[Chicky327]

Thank you, that was extremely helpful

:

:

I live in England, should I bring it in in summer? It hardly ever gets over 25 here.

Ta, x

 

[ScissorChick]

Sorry for the late reply, our power just came back on today

Anyways, as long as they are kept cool, they do not have to

be brought inside. Freeze water bottles, line them up in a row, and put a

blanket over them. They'll lay on them. I've heard to mist the back of their

ears everynow-and-then helps. Put the cage in the shade, and if possible,

setting up a fan that blows a gentle breeze near the cage will help.

-ScissorChick

 

[RabbitMage]

Interestingly my rabbits have had an all pellet diet (plus occasional grass hay) for the last ten years and have done just fine...

 

[SurprisingWoman]

Rabbits don't HAVE to be in the house but there are predators out there. Imagine how well you would sleep with raccoons and other things trying to get your cage open so they could eat you.

The people also pay a lot more attention when you are living in their house and they can see them.

http://www.rabbit.org/

best site for pet rabbit owners EVER

 

[ScissorChick]

Didn't say it'll always cause problems.

The long fibers in the hay push things through the gut and keep the

intestinal muscles in good tone. It will also help prevent blockages caused by ingested

hair, and grinds down back teeth to help prevent a trip to the vet due to overgrown teeth.

fresh greens help keep intestinal contents hydrated, which makes it easier for bunny to pass.

Trace nutrients is another benefit of fresh greens. After all, what do rabbits eat in the wild?

-ScissorChick

 

[Akane]

Hay really does help prevent problems. It can save a rabbit from what would have been a bad case of bloat and nearly eliminates teeth problems which are very common in older rabbits. It also will cause no health problems provided you are feeding good quality grass hay and it's cheaper than feeding pellets. The only reason feeding hay isn't more common is convenience and misinformation. If feeding any fresh vegetation I would definitely not skip on hay because like I said it can prevent a potentially bad case of bloat if they get something their digestive tract is not used to. It will keep everything moving and prevent the gas from building up and killing them.

I have no problem with outdoor rabbits but personally I prefer to have my rabbits at least in a building or some have suggested you build a fence around their cages so the cage wire is not the only thing separating your rabbits from critters. Toes have been eaten off through the bars by raccoons and many rabbits in outdoor hutches get lost to stray dog and coyote attacks or possibly even more common people releasing them either for fun or because they think caging animals is wrong. It's a risk with anything caged outdoors. When I made my outdoor guinea pig pen I used 4x4 posts and put chain link on the outside and hardware cloth on the inside so anything big would have trouble with the chainlink, anything small would not fit through the hardware cloth, and there was a buffer space of 4" to prevent raccoons reaching through.

A breeder would typically keep dwarf rabbits in something around a 24x24" cage, possibly 18x24", or if they had plenty of space and cash they might make 30" cages. Most pet rabbit owners aim for much larger cages of 4+ sq ft often using pens for puppies, panels sold for shelving units called NIC or C&C cages, or similar setups. Many without other pets just rabbit proof a room or the whole house and litter box train them. This is much easier if the rabbit is neutered so they don't feel the urge to mark their territory. A lot like cats. Indoors we have a 3x6' cage and a 30x30" cage for mini rex. Sometimes we divide the 3x6 to have a doe on either side and sometimes we have a doe and her daughter or several siblings in it not divided. Out in the horse stable we have two 12x12' horse stalls set aside for colonies and stacks of cages. Our outdoor cages are 2x4' with an optional divider to make them into 2x2' when we have a bunch of young rabbits to separate. For summer I hope to get all the rabbits down in the colonies and give them containers of water to lay in. We used to do it with guinea pigs every summer so they could run around in the horse stalls instead of being stuck in cages while still staying cool since guinea pigs can suffer heat stroke in temps as low as 80F. We used the round rubber livestock feeders for them. I have a 60gallon stock tank that's only about 8-10" deep I'd like to use for the rabbits. Right now it's full of sand they enjoy digging in.

 

[Nikkumz]

I have two full grown checkered giants in an 8 foot by 4 foot by 4 foot tall 'cage'. My rabbit always have hay available as i use it for thier bedding so they always have it. I get the loose hay from del's feed store, they give it away for free as it helps them get rid of it. They have a feeder full of dels store brand pellet food. I do not give my rabbits veggies and fruits every day as it can cause diarrhea and diarrhea in a rabbit CAN and WILL kill them. They get green leaf lettuce. carrots, apples, celery, asparagus and other random veggies usually only on the weekend when they roam our property for a few hours. BUT when they are nursing they will get veggies and fruit every other day as it helps fill thier milk and poop with more nutrients and vitamins for the babys.

But then again..my rabbits are horribly horribly spoiled

I also have a purebred dwark lionhead buck who is in a 4 foot by 2 foot hutch, he gets the same diet

 

[ScissorChick]

Quote:
Your rabbits seem to be very well cared for

But...Veggies should not cause diarrhea. Yes, there are some veggies that some rabbits

get loose droppings with, and that's why I recommend you introduce each veggie one at

a time, being sure your rabbit has firm droppings after eating each type of veggie. It's

recommended to feed one cup of fresh leafy greens to each rabbit, DAILY. Most herbs

are great, lettuce is somthing I wouldn't feed - even the romaine/red and green leaf.

Fruits on the other hand are high in sugar which leads to stomach upset if overfed.