Food, Drink, and Treats
Your rabbit will also need a food dish and water bottle (or water dish) in his or her house. If you have more than one rabbit, it is not necessary to provide separate food and drink facilities for them. They will share everything.
This page also contains important information on rabbit droppings. Be sure to read up as monitoring a rabbit's droppings helps you to be sure that your rabbit's digestive system is functioning properly.
In addition to regular nourishment, your rabbit will also need a chew bone, available at pet stores and some supermarkets. A rabbit will gnaw on the chew bone and prevent itself from getting malocclusion, or overly long teeth. Rabbits also need a salt lick, available at pet stores and supermarkets. Buy one salt lick to start. If your rabbit shows no interest, sprinkle some salt into his/her pellets once or twice a week.
Some indoor rabbit cages come with automatic feeders, seen in the photo on the
hutch picture page. Most outdoor hutches do not come with these special feeders, so you will need to buy a food bowl. Your rabbit will flip plastic bowls, so purchase a ceramic bowl from your local pet store. These bowls are durable, easy to clean, and they come in many different sizes. Choose a bowl that will hold the appropriate amount of food for your rabbit(s). (Feeding instructions are found on the back of rabbit food bags.)Place the bowl in your rabbit's house and fill it at the same time every day. Unless you have a lot of rabbits, it should not be necessary to fill the bowl more than once a day. However, make sure your rabbit does have at least some food at all times. After a little while, you will learn exactly how much food your rabbit will consume in 24 hours and you will not have to worry about him/her running out of food. If your rabbit has leftover food in his/her bowl at feeding time, it is not necessary to dispose of the leftovers. Rabbit food does not contain perishable products (like certain cat/dog foods) so it can be left in the bowl. It is only necessary to dispose of food if it becomes wet in the rain. NOTE: rabbits will occasionally get a dropping or two in their food. Unless they use their food bowl as a bathroom frequently, the occasional dropping is not a problem. Rabbits will also on occasion overturn their food bowl; this is normal bunny behavior.
Clean the food bowl with warm water and mild dishwashing soap once a week. Be sure to rinse it thoroughly, then dry it with paper towels and replace it in your rabbit's house with a fresh supply of food.
Rabbit food is called pellets. Pellets can be purchased at pet stores and sometimes even supermarkets. They come in bags of all different sizes and there are many brands to choose from. (I recommend Kaytee brand.) Rabbits need lots of fiber, and sometimes "gourmet" pellets do not give them enough. Gourmet pellets are a mix of regular pellets as well as extra goodies like dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and crunchies. Another problem with gourmet food is that though it provides some extra nutrients, it also provides extra sugar. However, I started my rabbits on gourmet Kaytee pellets and they loved them very much. Since it seemed cruel to suddenly switch them over to plain Kaytee pellets, I started mixing equal amounts of gourmet and plain pellets. This way, they get the fiber they need along with their beloved dried fruits and crunchies. I recommend this tactic, especially if you can't often supply your rabbit with fruit or vegetable treats.
Rabbits need timothy hay to eat in addition to their pellets. More info on timothy hay can be found on the
housing page. In short, make sure your rabbit has timothy hay at ALL times. Rabbits will also eat some of their own droppings. Some of their droppings are soft and moist, and they contain certain nutrients that your rabbit needs to "re-eat." Rabbits will not eat the firmer, drier, spherical droppings. (NOTE: your rabbit should leave a lot of these dry, firm, spherical droppings. The softer droppings should NOT be plentiful. If you notice a decrease in droppings, or that the droppings are not formed properly/shapeless, it may be an indication that your rabbit is sick. Be sure to see your vet right away. All see the medical page or www.rabbitmedicinechest.com for information on illnesses that cause changes in droppings.)Rabbits should be given fresh, cool water every day. Tap water is fine; it is not necessary to buy them bottled spring water. If you live in an area with poor water (too many dissolved minerals, etc) you may want to consider buying a simple water filter.
Water can be served in a ceramic dish (which can be purchased at any pet store) or in a water bottle. I recommend water bottles since my rabbits found great fun in flipping any water dishes I provided. Water bottles can be purchased at grocery stores or pet stores and most of them come with wire holders that can be hooked on the wire screen part of any hutch (see the water bottle in this
hutch photo.) Rinse the water bottle with warm water and mild soap once weekly; rinse thoroughly before giving it back to your rabbit. IMPORTANT: make sure your rabbit has some water in his/her bottle at ALL TIMES!If you live in an area where temperatures reach below freezing (<32ºF) in the winter months and your rabbit lives outdoors, you may want to purchase two water bottles. This way, when one water bottle freezes, the other can be filled and put in the first bottle's place. Keep thawing and switching water bottles as often as possible during this type of weather. Also, keep a dish of ice cubes in your rabbit's hutch; they can lick the ice cubes and get some water that way. (Of course, my rabbits decided to mix the ice cubes in with their hay...)
Rabbits love to eat treats. In fact, vegetable treats are a vital part of their daily diet. Make sure that your rabbit has some form of vegetation in his/her diet EVERY DAY.
PROPER RABBIT TREATS NEVER FEED YOUR RABBIT...
|
apples |
alfalfa |
|
asparagus |
beef/beef products |
|
bananas |
bread/bread products |
|
beans (green/wax beans, not pinto/chick pea/etc) |
cabbage |
|
cakes |
|
|
berries |
candy |
|
broccoli |
cereal |
|
cantaloupe |
cheese |
|
carrots |
chicken |
|
cauliflower |
chocolate (WORST thing you can feed rabbits!) |
|
celery |
coffee |
|
citrus fruits (grapefruit, orange, tangerine, etc) |
cookies |
|
cherries |
corn |
|
clover |
crackers |
|
dandelions |
dairy products |
|
grass (not fertilized/chemical treated) |
desserts |
|
honeydew |
eggs |
|
leak |
fatty foods (oils, butter, spreads, etc) |
|
lettuce (dark, bitter varieties only like romaine; no pale green or iceberg varieties) |
fish |
|
ice cream |
|
|
kale |
lamb |
|
mango |
lettuce: iceberg or other pale green varieties (dark green or bitter varieties are okay) |
|
nectarine |
|
|
peaches |
meat |
|
pear |
milk |
|
peas |
mutton |
|
peppers (not the seeds, just the flesh) |
pork |
|
radish |
poultry |
|
tomatoes |
rolls |
|
watermelon |
turkey |
|
GOOD PLANTS: birch leaves, leafy greens, most tree leaves (consult other sites for a thorough list of outdoor plants) |
BAD PLANTS: dead leaves, forsythia, poinsettia, all flowers except for dandelions |
For more info on foods that your rabbit can and can not eat, check out
commercial rabbit sites.Return to the Bunny Hutch Homepage
