How Much Pellets Per Day

[Mindy10]

So I have a 8 week old lionhead and I was curious how much pellets do you feed per day. I read 1/4 to 1/8 per day but the poor thing keeps running to her bowl and its empty.I try togive her half in the morning and then half atnight. She gets unlimited hay. Thanks

 

[LaylaLop]

As I said in my other post, younger bunnies need more nutrients. The recommendations are given for adult rabbits, or past 6 months. Babies usually get free fed of alfalfa pellets (at least 16% protein) to not limit growth and much needed calcium. Once they get older they don't need as much calcium and you can slowly switch over to a timothy based pellet in a more limited amount.

 

[missyscove]

Young rabbits should be offered pellets free choice, so basically as much as she can eat in a day. It's a good idea to actually scoop out pellets for her everyday though, so you can see that she really is eating whereas if you were to just offer a big bowl of pellets you might not notice what her daily intake is.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

An 8 week old should be free fed until she's about 6 months old.

I feed my Mini Rex 1/3 cup of feed a day, give or take. They get half in the morning, half at night. It probably adds up to a little more than that.

Standard Rex get two 1/3 cups 2x daily...I don't know my fraction math, so no clue what that really adds up too! lol. I suppose I could dump that amount into my larger measuring cup and see, eh?

And then everyone under 6 months gets free-fed pellets.

Hay and alalfa (alalfa to the Rex only, though I know it is good for all babies...) is given in the evenings because otherwise they'd waste it, and even at that, I'm still going through nearly 2 flakes of hay a day.

Emily

 

[LaylaLop]

Two 1/3 cups 2x a day would be 1 1/3 cups a day. Seems like a lot of pellets. But the amount really depends on what the rabbits do (breeding, lactation, growing babies vs pet or a sedentary adult).

I am feeding Layla about 1/4 cup daily since with the free-fed hay that's about all she eats. I feed her in the evening and usually by the next evening she's still got a couple pellets left so I know she's not starving. She does eat a lot of hay though. She's only 7 weeks old.

Isn't the guideline something like 1/8 or 1/4 cup per 5 pounds of body weight when over 6 months? Not sure if I'm correct on that or not...

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

LaylaLop wrote:

Two 1/3 cups 2x a day would be 1 1/3 cups a day. Seems like a lot of pellets. But the amount really depends on what the rabbits do (breeding, lactation, growing babies vs pet or a sedentary adult).

I only measured how much one feeding would be and it came close to a cup....but these are Rex I'm feeding that much too - they are BIG rabbits.

Emily

 

[OneTwoThree]

LaylaLop wrote:

Two 1/3 cups 2x a day would be 1 1/3 cups a day. Seems like a lot of pellets. But the amount really depends on what the rabbits do (breeding, lactation, growing babies vs pet or a sedentary adult).

I am feeding Layla about 1/4 cup daily since with the free-fed hay that's about all she eats. I feed her in the evening and usually by the next evening she's still got a couple pellets left so I know she's not starving. She does eat a lot of hay though. She's only 7 weeks old.

Isn't the guideline something like 1/8 or 1/4 cup per 5 pounds of body weight when over 6 months? Not sure if I'm correct on that or not...

Bunnies up to 6 months should be free-fed pellets and hay. After 7 months it's 1/2 cup per 6lbs
http://rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html#babies

I keep Lady's bowl full, I don't want her to feel like she has to ration her food. Samson gets about 1/2 cup a day.

 

[LaylaLop]

Ok.. well I just remembered 1/4 cup since I fed my 3 pound hollands that much a day as adult.

Right now my Layla is just shy of 2 months old and gets slightly over 1/4 cup a day as free-fed. I can tell she's going to be a food pig though since she already paces for food.

 

[OneTwoThree]

Free-fed means they have unlimited access to food, if you're limiting her to 1/4 cup she's not free fed