How much should I feed a Flemish giant

[Azerane]

He could be mixed with rex, though he's certainly not pure rex. Doesn't have the rex fur or whiskers.

 

[BonnieTheFlemishGiant]

I have two Flemmish babies that will next week be 5 months old. They are both girls. They replace our 11 1/2 year old Bunny that died. All three rabbits were/are house rabbits; i.e. no cage or pen and have free run of the house. We feed the babies like Bunny...the babies get all they want to eat..oh by the way...they are not now small babies!

To start, we feed them dark green leafy vegetables. They love carrot tops which we get from farmer's market for free! We buy green leafy veggies from the farmer's market and grocery stores. What we buy can be somewhat expensive. My wife reported that in one week we bought $20 worth of Romain Lettuce alone. As I write this, we have one refrigerator full of plastic bags filled with various dark green leaf veggies. So much for veggies. The next they like to eat is oat hay. Oat hay lines their litter boxes, and they just love to jump in their litter box and chomp oat hay at one end, while the other end poops out digested greens and oat hay! (If your rabbit is a house rabbit, this is really great!!) Oat hay is really good for them since it's abrasive and it helps wear down their teeth. Bunny teeth are continually growing and they absolutely need things to chew that wear down their teeth. We also have pellets for them to eat at any time. Warning: some pellets have a very high calorie content...they have molasses, sugar, etc..Since our bunnies have all they want to eat, I don't get these high calorie pellets for them...get just plain low calorie pellets that are just basically vitamin supplemented dry oat/alfalfa/timothy hay.

Next to discuss treats! My experience with three bunnies, is that they are for the most of the time pretty much happy being reclusive. My bunnies have ran up to me because they are happy to see me. But usually running up to me or my wife, is because they want something sweet to eat! Our now Flemmish babies just love banana slices, apple slices, and guava slices. When in season, I'm sure they'll like bing cherries.

And the last culinary delight for our two very large and very active 4 3/4 month old Flemmish baby rabbits.......
Cardboard boxes. We have many cardboard boxes underneath the dining room table. The babies like to play with the boxes, they push them around, jump in them, crawl in them, and chew on them and shred them. From what I know, bunnies can process paper through their digestive system with no problem. I don't know if they can actually digest paper. Bunny's digestive system can easily transform cellulose to glucose, so maybe they can actually eat paper.

Anyhow, Flemmish baby rabbits have BIG appetites. I think a pedigreed Flemmish has to grow to at least 15 pounds. I think prize winners are at 20 pounds.

Hey, I am working towards my Flemish Giant being a free roaming house rabbit. I was wondering how you trained your rabbits to use the litter box around the house. My Flemish Giant uses her litter box in the cage to urinate, but defecates wherever. I’m not sure how to train her to do both in the litter box. How would you train a rabbit to use the litter box for both urinating and defecating?

 

[TreasuredFriend]

@BonnieTheFlemishGiant, Is he neutered? Do you have other buns or pets in your home?

I'm so happy you're considering free roam and private bedroom space for your boy in your house.

Our 7 mo. old FG took quickly to using his litter pan in the corner with a hay bundle above his men's room "potty box." After his neuter. Prior to neuter he sprayed gonzos and did more marble dropping.

Litter Training

We have sanctuary buns so he's kept in a large quadrant area and gets more than 8-10 hours of exercise or out-of-quadrant exploration time each day.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

Excerpt from the rabbitsindoorsweebly article above:

A note on poos

If your rabbit is new to the cage itself, it is typical for him to purposely leave poos scattered about the cage floor. This is how a rabbit claims his new territory. If those poos are too quickly swept up, it will only encourage him to leave more. So don’t worry about the scattered poos.

Litter training is mostly about the urine. It's the rare rabbit that keeps 100% of his/her poos in the litter box. Nevertheless, in time, most poos should end up in the litter box. Don’t let poos outside the litter box discourage your training efforts.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

We have more than a dozen sp/eutered buns who have private bedroom spaces in our home. Most all know exactly where to urinate/defecate however there will be a couple dry marbles left or accidentally left in spots. - We care for elders and special needs' buns. They are easy to sweep up or vacuum.

Marking is going to occur as not everyone is bonded. Hope the links and notations help you and your lucky-to-be-loved and indoors-companion!

https://myhouserabbit.com/rabbit-care/litter-training-your-pet-rabbit/