Changing out of the blue

[Bunrab]

My bunny Xuanxuan made a few changes himself....


1) used to be very quiet when everyone is asleep however, recently, hedecided tobe loud.He decides to wake everyone up inthe middle of the night by pulling and tagging hard on his hanging belltoy.The first nite he did this, i woke up to find that he hadchewed n eaten almost half of a toilet roll :shock: tat i hang on thehanging toy bell for him to play, he was so happy that he woke everyoneup tat he did binkies!

2) when i was taking food for him for dinner, he decided to show me tathe wanted to eat toilet roll as an appetizer before his dinner. He chewthe toilet roll into small pieces n started eating until i arrive withthe food.

3) Also, he decided to stop eating his favourite vege - parsely. I hadto force him to eat it by giving him parsely only until he finish theparsely then i gave him the other veges.

Anyone had any idea why does a rabbit changes his habit all of asudden? I dont remember doing anything tat will disturb him to changehis habit. Does eating so much toilet roll harms? I had stopped givinghim toilet rolls for a few days now.

 

[Thermactor]

maybe its his way of telling you that he needs more fiber in his diet?

 

[Bunrab]

With his hay and a bowl of veges daily, i'm sure he have enough fibre.

 

[bunsterlove1969]

He sounds a happy bun anyway...i agree though, maybe he needs more fibre in his diet?

Just on another note - you shouldnt really have to 'force' a rabbit toeat parsley. Its not imperitive in their diet that they eat it. Maybeyou could try him with some different veg and see which one he likes?

 

[naturestee]

Maybe he's bored? Give him a good, long playtimebefore you go to bed. Make sure he has lots of hay to eat andstuff it into toys. My buns get tired of getting the sameveggies constantly and will sometimes stop eating their favorites ifthey get them too much. So I just feed something else for afew weeks and then they like their favorites again.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I agree he might need some more playtime before bed.

If I haven't given Bo attention at night and go to bed, hestarts throwing toys around his cage and stuff. Hubby nowwill say "You didn't spend time with your rabbit did you?"

Anytime bunnies have toilet rolls they eat them - from myexperience. That's one of Bo's favorites so I only give himone now and then.

 

[TinysMom]

I don't want to be mean here - but why did youfeel he HAD to have that vegetable? Have you ever gotten bored with oneof your favorite foods?

I had rabbits as a kid and my mom would pick rhubarb to make pies. Shetried and tried and tried to feed them the rhubarb leaves...theyweren't interested...

We found out years later....the leaves were poisonous.

My point? Many times rabbits will "know" what they need to eat fromwhat is put before them. Maybe they need a break from something...andthey're sick and tired of it.

When Tiny used to get daily salads...he'd pick and choose what he feltlike eating that day. Some days he wanted cilantro - other days - hedidn't. Some days he wanted carrots- other days - not so much...

My point?

I think while rabbits may have preferences for favorites..they alsosometimes just want a change or to take some time off from that...and Isee no problem with that.

Just my .02

Peg

Bunrab wrote:

3) Also, he decided to stopeating his favourite vege - parsely. I had to force him to eat it bygiving him parsely only until he finish the parsely then i gave him theother veges.

 

[bunsterlove1969]

I agree TinysMom, Bunnies themselves will choose what they do and dont like to eat.

I have tried mine on practically every veg under the sun, and the onlyones they like are Kale, cucumber and carrot. They wont touch fruit! :?

I would never force them to eat something though, as long as they are eating hay and a few pellets then i'm happy

 

[Bo B Bunny]

bunsterlove1969 wrote:

I agree TinysMom, Bunnies themselves will choose what theydo and dont like to eat.

I have tried mine on practically every veg under the sun, and the onlyones they like are Kale, cucumber and carrot. They wont touch fruit! :?

I would never force them to eat something though, as long as they are eating hay and a few pellets then i'm happy

NO FRUIT?! :shock: Bo and Clover think Bananas are sent from heaven!

We won't discuss those evil strawberries tho.....

 

[Bunrab]

Hm, I dont mean to force him to eat the parsely...just that parsely are not easily available in my country here and other than my rabbit, nobody else eats parsely.... He dosen get parsely everyday. He only gets it once in a blue moon when i goes shopping in tat area tat sells parsely.

As soon as i realised that he dont want to eat the parsely, i never went to get it anymore.....but recently, my cousin's hubby specially purchased the parsely for my rabbit and i don want the parsly to go to waste as its not cheap also and smmore, it is bought with smone else's money.....so he had to eat it.

Just as much as i don like to force my rabbit to do/eat things tat he dosen want to, I also don want to waste pple's effort and thoughts.

 

[bunsterlove1969]

Can you just not ask people not to buy your bunny parsley?! I appreciate what you are saying about not wanting to waste peoples money - but surely your bunny is more important?

How would you like to be forced to eat something you dont want? Rabbits cannot speak and therefore we have to be more mindful of what we give them and look out for whether they like it or dont.

I have wasted so much money myself on buying veg and fruit for mine - but i dont regret a single penny of it! As long as they are happy and love the food their eating then i dont mind

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I'd just say not to get it. Maybe tell your cousin that your bun doesn't like it. I would never feed mine something they don't like. I don't care if someone went out of their way, spent a ton of money - if my bunnies don't like it or want it - they aren't going to get it. Veggies can spoil in a few hours. Parsley isn't the best thing for them anyhow, as it has some things that you want to limit your bunny on. It's ok in smaller amounts.

I'd much prefer to give them fresh cilantro (corriander) and they prefer that or romaine lettuce.

 

[Bunrab]

I didn't mean to force him to eat the parsely, n y is it that parsely is nota good vege for the bunnies? I'm actually told by my rabbit organisation here that parsely is one of the veges that can be given daily as it contains vit. A. Anyway, its hard to get parsely in my country here n i had told everyone not to get things for my bunny anymore.
If things tat i bought for my bunny but he dosen't like it, i will gladly waste it no matter how expensive it is, but for things that are bought for him by other pple, i try if can dont waste, i'll not want to waste it.

 

[bunsterlove1969]

But you did say in your original post that you forced him to eat the parsley by taking away his other veg! This seems a little unfair on your bun

Rabbits do not need to eat parsley, their diet should be mainly hay, hay and more hay! they can live purely off this. They should only eat a limited amount of pellets and veg per day.

 

[naturestee]

Actually, they can not live off of purely hay. That would result in vitamin/mineral deficiencies. A small amount of pellets or a large, varied amount of veggies is required.

Although there is no reason to force parsley in particular. It doesn't provide anything you can't find in other common veggies.

 

[bunsterlove1969]

naturestee wrote:

Actually, they can not live off of purely hay. That would result in vitamin/mineral deficiencies. A small amount of pellets or a large, varied amount of veggies is required.

Although there is no reason to force parsley in particular. It doesn't provide anything you can't find in other common veggies.

I did say they need veggies as well!

 

[Katrina]

Well about the first part I would say bring him out for a bit longer and see what that does. Katrina hates her cage and will do that when I put her back in (well she has a playpen soshe will pull on it and push it to try and find a way out). I just ignore it and she gives up. I try to give her as much time as I can but I'm not going to be taken over by my bunny. Every now and than I'll let her out for some more time if I'm not dead tired but if I am she'll stay in. She learns to stop after 15 minutes of no one coming to get her. So maybe try bringing him out a little longer and giving him lots of kisses and pets when he comes out so he really gets to see you. If his cage isn't big enough to run in really let him get his exercise. Try that and see if it works.

 

[PepsiCola]

Do yo feed your bunny pellets? Very important since they ahve a lot of fiber too. The vet said they need pellets for other minerals as well, if you only feed them veggies and hay they can become malnutriciant.