A domestic rabbit’s diet should be a composition of pellets,hay and vegetables.Giving your bunny only carrots and vegetables will not provided them with all the nutrients they need,though some people may argue that rabbits in wild can survive on carrots and vegetables,but the fact is only pellets,hay and vegetables will make up the best diet,it’s all the nutrients they need,U have to be wise on choosing the brands of pellets to feed your bunnies as there is a wide variety of commercial brands of rabbit pellets available in the market.And you should take note of it’s content and nutritional facts instead of BIG commercial gimmicks printed on the packaging such as “Recommended by all vets”, “Diet Fortified” etc...U have to be sure what u are actually feeding your bunnies.Please avoid rabbit food which is a whole big packet of seeds and nuts with only a small portion of pellets.It’s sure that your bunnies will love the nuts and seeds as they are sweet and tasty but be warned that seeds and nuts do have high fat content.And a fat rabbit doesn’t mean a cute rabbit,it’s means an overweight and sick bunny,it can cause block ateries.So which do u prefer? U will have to compare and contrast the nutritional facts of the pellets and see which suits your bunny most.And you will have to control the amount of pellets u feed your bunnies,some bunnies will eat whatever amount you give them,for me I feed them 1 and a half tablespoons of IRIS pellets in the day and then another 1 and a half tablespoons again in the night.I think u will have to do a rough estimate.

 

The most important thing in their diet is hay,they should be given unlimited fresh hay everyday.Timothy hay and orchard grass hay are both ok to be given in unlimited amount.However alfafa hay should only be given in suitable amounts as alfafa hay contains a high level of protein,normally they are only given to baby and growing bunnies.The reason of giving them unlimited hay is that hay will aid in their digestion and will not make them grow fat.So if your bunny is overweight give them more hay to fill their tummies while reducing the amount of pellets you feed them.

 

Vegetables are also a crucial part of their diet,I used to think that you should only give vegetables to bunnies when they are above 6 months but I read on a website that it differs from bunnies to bunnies.For baby bunnies that stays in the petshops when they are very young and given all types of funny food should not be given veggies as they might not have the ability to digest the veggies,however for homebred bunnies they drink their mother’s milk which contains nutritional stuff that enables them to digest the greens properly.Thus for bunnies from the petshops,they should be given a few months of pellets and hay before getting them to adapt to veggies.However for bunnies who gets diarrhea, u should stop feeding them veggies.However some veggies are poisonous or harmful or has high sugar content and are not recommended to be fed to bunnies,here’s a list of some:

· Green beans

· White and red potatoes

· Beets

· Fresh Corns and peas

· Sweet Potato

· Cassava

· Bamboo shoots

· Maize

· Lima beans

· Millet

· Bracken fern

· Tea leaves

· Coffee plants

· Rhuburb leaves

· Raw lima,kidney or soy beans

· Onions

· Citrus Peels

· Whole seeds

· Nuts

· Grains

· Dry corns

· Dry peas

(list taken from HRSS website)

 

Fruits are know to have a high content of sugar,sweeter fruits such as bananas should not be given at all or only to be given in a very very small amount.

 

Treats such as dehydrated fruits are healthier than treats such as yogurt drops and fruits & nuts sticks.However treats are actually not nessary for their diet it’s because veggies,pellets and hay contains all the nutrients they need.So if you want to reward your beloved pet bunnies with treats please give it to them in really small amounts.For me I give my bunnies treats like dehydrated carrot slices,marukan carrot biscuits and marukan flower biscuits.But everytime I give them treats it would either be one or two pieces only.And not forgetting the chewing dough treat I give my bunny,it would only be once in a month or so.Helps shorten my bunny’s teeth and also satisfy his chewing habit.

 

Where to put their food?For me I put their pellets in the cermic food bowl so that they doesn’t play with it or flip it over,I read on the papers that plastic food bowls will collect bacterias over time in the uneven edges of the foodbowl when your bunnies chew and bites it,plus it is light and your bunnies can flip them over easily so it is not recommended.For the hay I will stuff some in his litter tray (bunnies poos and eat at the same time) and some in his willow basket.

 

 

Clean water should also be given to our bunnies everyday and recommended to be put in proper bunny drinking bottles so that bunnies can’t get in contact with the water.therefore they will not dirty the water.Putting water in bowls will cause them to flip the bowls over and wet their cages,at the same time dirtying the water.For me, I fill their bottles with boiled water,but cool water of course.It’s not true that the bunnies can get all the water they need from the veggies because that is not sufficient for them,so u still need to feed them with water.

Pellets (IRIS) (Momo & Orlean Loves it)

Alfafa King’s Timothy Hay (Momo’s favourites are the furry light yellow part of the hay in the picture)

Needless to say,all the dehydrated carrot slices,carrot biscuits,flower biscuits and chewing treats are both orlean orlean’s and momo’s favourites.They will run up and down their cages and stands up once I open the box containing the biscuits and the dried carrot slices.They simply just love it.

I place all the hay in the litter tray and the willow basket.And the pellets in the ceramic foodbowl in the picture.