The Bunny Chat Thread - For Bunny Owners

[ChocolateMouse]

@A Peacock called Penelope
Apparently Pakistan has a LOT of chickpeas (garbonzo beans)! That would be a potential food source for your rabbit!
https://ejnf.journals.ekb.eg/article_74876_cf6bf0614ecd23393ad8ccffdf64ff60.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ck-peas_utilisation_in_growing_rabbit_feeding

These two studies show using chickpeas in rabbit feed showed no negative effects, or even positive growth rate increases when replacing barley. If you can find chickpea screenings they may be quite inexpensive as well. (These are damaged, split or off size chickpeas).

I don't know if you can find spent chickpea plants dried for hay but that would be a good food source as well.
Wheat can also be an easy source of calories, and Pakistan grows a lot of wheat. Whole wheat berries could probably be mixed 1 to 1 with the chickpeas as a calorie supplement.

I would offer a tablespoon, increasing by 1/2 tbsp a day until you're offering 1/4C a day and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Compost King]

@A Peacock called Penelope
Apparently Pakistan has a LOT of chickpeas (garbonzo beans)! That would be a potential food source for your rabbit!
https://ejnf.journals.ekb.eg/article_74876_cf6bf0614ecd23393ad8ccffdf64ff60.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ck-peas_utilisation_in_growing_rabbit_feeding

These two studies show using chickpeas in rabbit feed showed no negative effects, or even positive growth rate increases when replacing barley. If you can find chickpea screenings they may be quite inexpensive as well. (These are damaged, split or off size chickpeas).

I don't know if you can find spent chickpea plants dried for hay but that would be a good food source as well.
Wheat can also be an easy source of calories, and Pakistan grows a lot of wheat. Whole wheat berries could probably be mixed 1 to 1 with the chickpeas as a calorie supplement.

I would offer a tablespoon, increasing by 1/2 tbsp a day until you're offering 1/4C a day and see if that makes a difference.

If there was a researcher of the week award you should get it, combining both knowledge of what is healthy for rabbits and what is available in a different region/country/culture.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Thanks! All I did was run a google search on what agriculture Pakistan has. Most of that information is super public because certain countries are the worlds 1st, 4th, 8th biggest exporter/producer of X crop. I found it on a wiki page about it. I think it said they're the worlds 3rd biggest produce of chickpeas and that most of their farmland is in wheat production.

Then I just searched for feeding chickpeas to rabbits and looked for academic sources.

Just have to know what to look for. Agriculture is surprisingly public info.

 

[Compost King]

Thanks! All I did was run a google search on what agriculture Pakistan has. Most of that information is super public because certain countries are the worlds 1st, 4th, 8th biggest exporter/producer of X crop. I found it on a wiki page about it. I think it said they're the worlds 3rd biggest produce of chickpeas and that most of their farmland is in wheat production.

Then I just searched for feeding chickpeas to rabbits and looked for academic sources.

Just have to know what to look for. Agriculture is surprisingly public info.

You did a good job because everyone was trying to help Peacock/Penelope with western civ solutions. I do not trust the information i get online about rabbits and won't until I have had and kept rabbits for a year. So much conflicting info. I wanted to chime in on how to help but I have no idea what Pakistan is like although I have been overseas and lived overseas many times. I know how much different the other side of the planet can be. What ever solution I would bring up might not be an option there. Your knowledge with rabbits combined with research about pakistan may have found a solution. We will see when Penelope is online if its a solution that can be implemented. Stuff like this makes BYC worth posting on.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Well, all solutions apply to only certain specific scenarios, right? Like it's not WRONG that the things most western civs feed rabbits gets them fat and unhealthy. Pet and some breeder rabbits have a serious obesity problem in the US/UK because people like buying those feeds that look like colored kids cereal and have seeds in them and are really high calorie. They're labeled and marketed as "premium feed" so people think they're the healthy thing to buy. Rabbits struggle to lose fat and consume muscle an near equal rates when under-fed. Combine that with a small cage and an indoor environment and you have a recipe for disaster. That's why I think a lot of our conventional wisdom is about keeping calories low in rabbits. And it's not wrong that a high fiber diet is ideal for gut health in rabbits.

But I could never feed my breeding does a diet like that, they'd starve. Not only are they, well, breeding but they're in a larger cage with regular stimulation so they're moving more than a rabbit in a smaller cage and they're outdoors which means they're burning more calories to maintain their body temperature. That's also why I don't free feed pellets - measuring it out lets me monitor each rabbits condition individually. (Sometimes I do still over feed, though. Whoops. It's always a work in progress.)

So when someone says "this is the best X for X animal" it's like "Sure, under what conditions?". Because it's probably true that for the average house rabbit hay and timothy pellets and fresh low calorie veggies is the best diet. But then you adjust from there. Try to keep all the good and adjust for what doesn't fit.

TL;DR: I guess what I'm saying is if you're getting conflicting info, it's probably because you're seeing solutions for conflicting needs. Not because the info is wrong.

 

[Compost King]

The conflicts come from people who have different purposes for keeping rabbits, the meat rabbit industry will say one thing, the pet rabbit keepers will say another, and the Breeders/Show Rabbit people will say another. Its mostly over foods that I can give at will vs foods I can give as a treat, thats where the conflicts come in. Even conflicts between different types of meat rabbit keepers, Homesteaders say limited pellets unlimited hay, commercial meat rabbitry's will say unlimited high protein pellets.

 

[Fishychix]

The conflicts come from people who have different purposes for keeping rabbits, the meat rabbit industry will say one thing, the pet rabbit keepers will say another, and the Breeders/Show Rabbit people will say another. Its mostly over foods that I can give at will vs foods I can give as a treat, thats where the conflicts come in. Even conflicts between different types of meat rabbit keepers, Homesteaders say limited pellets unlimited hay, commercial meat rabbitry's will say unlimited high protein pellets.

Ugh! It’s just SO irritating isn’t it? I try to stick with the basics, this time around. Keep them clean; keep them watered; give food and hay. Playtime outside the cage whenever I can.
Now, our first rabbit ....so many books, so much money on unnecessary stuff, so many headaches, so much worry!!
For general research, I try to see what makes the most sense, not just what I see most often. People love to just copy & paste to pad their blogs, etc.

 

[Compost King]

Ugh! It’s just SO irritating isn’t it? I try to stick with the basics, this time around. Keep them clean; keep them watered; give food and hay. Playtime outside the cage whenever I can.
Now, our first rabbit ....so many books, so much money on unnecessary stuff, so many headaches, so much worry!!
For general research, I try to see what makes the most sense, not just what I see most often. People love to just copy & paste to pad their blogs, etc.

I was going by Meat Rabbit recommendations at first because my first thought was to do what costs the least and the meat rabbit industry does the best on saving money. Then I realized Meat Rabbits do not need to live very long and I started reading blogs from homesteaders who keep rabbits. Although they will do what saves money and what produces meat but they tend to take care of their animals more. I didn't go along with pet rabbit people because my rabbits are not inside and handled and part of the family etc. I do pay attention to what the breeders show rabbit do however I would never show rabbits. I just know they do what it takes to make the rabbits appear healthy and the best way to make them appear healthy is to have them and keep them healthy.

 

[Fishychix]

I was going by Meat Rabbit recommendations at first because my first thought was to do what costs the least and the meat rabbit industry does the best on saving money. Then I realized Meat Rabbits do not need to live very long and I started reading blogs from homesteaders who keep rabbits. Although they will do what saves money and what produces meat but they tend to take care of their animals more. I didn't go along with pet rabbit people because my rabbits are not inside and handled and part of the family etc. I do pay attention to what the breeders show rabbit do however I would never show rabbits. I just know they do what it takes to make the rabbits appear healthy and the best way to make them appear healthy is to have them and keep them healthy.

They do seem to be more in the middle of the road.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Yep, conflicting solutions because the goals are different. If you're just trying to maximize profits it will look VASTLY different than maximizing lifespan. If your problem is that your rabbits aren't gaining weight fast enough the "best food" will look different than the "Best food" if your problem is your rabbits are dying prematurely of heart failure.

Ours are very in-between as well - free feed hay, limited pellets, maximal healthy snacks, limited unhealthy snacks.