Good food?

[Cove]

The new bun came with a bag of pellets (they weren't feeding hay so I had to buy it). it's some no name brand so when I went and bought some hay I also picked up a bag of Martins Adult Rabbit Food. All the other brands there are this mixture of what looked like seeds, "doughnut holes", bites of dried up fruit and pellets. The hay is Sunseed Timothy Hay.

Are Martins and Sunseed a good brand of food for rabbits?

Also the only bedding they had there (she was using ripped up newspaper) were aspen shavings and I read that aspen was fine for rabbits and a small bag of Yesterdays News for her litter tray. Is there another type of bedding thats better for them? or should i just put down some towels instead of shavings?

 

[Maureen Las]

I think that both the pellets are alfalfa pellets. I think marten's is a good pellet but alfalfa pellets are best only for growing bunnies.

The Sunseed is also alfalfa and I thought it had pieces of fruit (apple)and dried carrot in it (not sure) so it would not be the best if it isn't just a plain pellet with no treats in it.
if your bun has been on one of them you should continue to feed the same pellet even if you decide on another pellet and begin to transition from one to another . neither pellets are "bad" in the sense that they will immediately harm your rabbit.
If your bun is 8 months or around that age you can transition over to a timothy pellet as the alfalfa is usually too rich for an adult bun with higher fat, calcium and protein in it. Some adult buns do eat alfalfa pellets but in small amounts without any harm.
I don't know anything about Sunseed hay but if it is green and smells good then it is probably ok...should be longer stemmed also.

The aspen is great, so is yesterdays news

Towels (paper?) are not good as if the bun eats the paper towel it could cause a blockage.

If you mean towel (like bath ) ..that is pretty messy ..the litter and bedding you selected are fine
I'll give you the food links so that you can read more on your own

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12046&forum_id=17

 

[Hazel-Mom]

I think Martins also has a Timothy based pellet, so you'd have to look at the ingredients to make sure. Make sure it doesn't have the fruity or colored bits and seeds mixed in, though.
Somewhere on the board there is a thread about dieting rabbits, and a few about changing feeds. You can try a search. I think in both cases the main thing is to go gradually, especially with the dieting. If I remember correctly, rabbits can suffer from something called "fatty liver disease" if they loose weight too fast.You can try gradually decreasing his pellets, and introducing him to hay.
The timothy hay is good, whatever brand it is, but obviously the fresher the better. Maybe you can look for a feed store or something near where you live, they might have good hay by the bale.
By bedding do you mean,in the bottom of the cage? You don't really need "bedding" like you do for hamsters, as long as you provide a litterbox and your bun is litter trained.
For Hazel we just use a piece of old carpet in her cage , but it's open at all times anyway. In her litter box we use wood pellets, currently feline pine I think, since the store didn't have wood stove pellets.

 

[Cove]

Well I read the back of both bags (the one Floof came with and the one I bought) and both have alfalfa in them. I dropped by the pet store today and was looking at the other brands, there is another martins brand there Martins Less Active Adult that is made from Timothy but thats the only one or and the Zupreem adult rabbit, which is $13 for a small bag where as the Martins for a bag around the same size is $2- 3$ cheaper.

Floof is 3 years and rather chunky so I'm think the alfalfa isn't going to help her loose the extra pounds she has. She only gets a 1/4 cup. The hay smells wonderful and is the only hay they have other then orchard grass I believe it was. I've noticed she's not at all interested in her hay though, her previous owners weren't feeding it to her and I'm not sure what the other two past owners fed her. Will she eventually eat it? or do some rabbits just not like hay?

Bath towels, not paper towels , sorry should have been more on the ball about that. She doesn't always go in her tray and often goes in the bedding though for the most part she goes in her tray. So the worst part about towels is I'd have to wash them every day or so possibly.

Thanks for the link.

While at the pet store I also came aross two other items from Sunseed. Sunaturals Vegetable Garden Salad and Sunaturals Flower Garden Salad. Have you heard anything about them? Here's a link to what they are. I think it's more of a treat sort of deal as it says to place 1 - 2 ounces ontop of their regular food.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6067+10376+10461+19382&pcatid=19382

 

[Spring]

I use Martin's Less Active for my guys, and I just love it! I've been using it for a couple years now and am satisfied with the quality. My guys have such nice, shiny fur on it . They are extremely active buns, but the only difference between the LA and the normal one is that the LA is a timothy based, so less fat, protein and calcium. Would definitely recommend it!

I use wood pelleted bedding for horses in my litterboxes, and just love it. For the rest of the cage, I have fleece blankets. Works well in my set up! It's cheap (Only buy it once then just wash it when it becomes soiled.. which isn't often if she's litter trained! Or just the normal 'freshen up' wash) and easy to maintain. I really don't like shavings since they tend to stick to everything and get everywhere.. huge mess!

I've used the garden bowl things for my guys, they weren't a huge hit but some of my guys liked it . They much rather have fresh vegetables though.

 

[Baby Juliet]

You can try having hay available 24/7 and just let her eat pellets for 5 minutes. She'llprobably start eating hay.

I now use a spinning ball hay dispenser because they used to pull all the hay from the hay rack and not eat it after playing with it. Now they eat most of it because they can only get a stran at a time. The ball only works with long hay as short hay would just fall out of it.



If you use romane or red lettuce and parsley in your cooking, you can just give her a little of them instead of buying special rabbit treats. Start with a leaf or two as they might get watery poop if they are not used to them.

 

[tonyshuman]

A lot of good comments here. I wanted to mention that an adult rabbit doesn't really need much pellets. I feed my guys 1/8c timmy pellets each each day (well except benjamin, but he's the bf's bunny) and 2c veggies. They are each 4-5lbs. Some people eliminate pellets completely, and I think you might want to switch her to the timmy pellet over a week or two, gradually introduce veggies over a couple of weeks, and once she's stable in your home, happy, comfortable, etc, start switching to a more veggie-based diet. That can keep her weight down. I think of pellets as like a vitamin pill for the bunnies--they need some of the nutrients that are in pellets and can't really get them as well elsewhere, but don't give too much.

also definitely have hay available 24/7. it's needed for proper GI function as well as tooth wearing down and to relieve boredom. a timothy hay is good but other varieties are also good, like orchard, brome, bermuda, oat.

 

[Cove]

Think I might try that this morning BJ. I just emptied out hay that I had given her on her first day here as I had hoped she'd at least pick at it but nothing. So I put some fresh in to see if that would grab her attention. Still nothing, she'll only nibble at it if I sit there and feed her a piece at a time. I've got some in a hay rack and some on the ground as I at first thought she couldn't figure out the hay rack.

The previous home had alot of veggies in her cage but no hay anywhere so I think she had just pellets and veggies there. Maybe she just doesn't like timothy hay?

What are timmy pellets?

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I used to have my buns on the Martin Less active pellets, the only reason I switched was becasue I could get Oxbow at a decent price. All the buns loved it (like went crazy for them), and I would go back if Oxbow were not longer avaliable. It is a good pellet and I liked it.

Your bun may need time to get used to hay. If she has never had it, she probably doesn't really know what it is. Give her some time. You can try putting it in a paper towel roll or even a small amount in the food dish. Different kinds could help too, but remember to stick with grass hay like brome and orchard grass.

Timmy pellets are Timothy pellets.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

FYI, you might not want to use a wire hay rack inside the cage... I've heard that a lot of people have had nasty accidents using it with little ones, getting feet caught...
Plus, my guys just knock it over and drag all the hay out anyway...
Paper towel rolls will keep her a lot busier...

I've found that bath towels covered in aspen shaving are a devil to clean. So I use yesterday's news for the litter pans.
I think tho, that a beach towel (with the really fine fibres) wouldn't hold onto the aspen as bad if you ever wound up with a towel plus shavings setup.

 

[Cove]

I've never seen or heard of Oxbow before...

NA I'm using a cheap plastic one right now as for the wire one at the pet store they wanted $13 for one which seems insanely overpriced for such a thing. The plastic one was only $5 or somewhere around there. Are the plastic ones OK?

She actually nibbled on some hay she had eaten all her pellets overnight and when I went in to feed her this morning she was nibbling away at the hay. inkbouce:Though she still loves her veggies and pellets far more then the hay.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

If you mean the one that mounts onto the outside of the cage and sits just inside the cage lip, then yes !
Just as long as it doesn't have bars that limbs can get caught in