Messy Behavior

[nicolekline97]

My rabbit (flemish) was dumping bowls and dishes and made a mess. I bought a feeder and waterer where it comes out automatically and gave me about 3 days before needing to add fresh water and additional pellets. Lucy eats romaine, parsley, cilantro, sprayed greens and leaves, plus hay. Sunflower, oats and fruit for a treat. Anyway last week she started flipping the lid to the food and eating out of the top. Yesterday she tipped her food and water over. I do not know how to feed her so she doesn't dump her pellets and water. We had used a water bottle but she prefers dishes of water. Ideas???

 

[Blue eyes]

You can use a crock that twists onto a clamp. That's what I use for water. It could be used for pellets. Just bear in mind that once she is an adult, her pellets will need to be limited (measured out). When that happens, they often eat their pellets within 5 minutes and the bowl will sit empty the rest of the day/night.

 

[Diane R]

Get a very heavy big dog water bowl. No way they can pick that up. Water should be changed at least twice a day. There is no need for a food bowl. They shouldn't be eating more than 1 (or may be 2 for giants) tbsps. pellets a day, just scatter feed or hand feed.

 

[nicolekline97]

Is 1 year the

You can use a crock that twists onto a clamp. That's what I use for water. It could be used for pellets. Just bear in mind that once she is an adult, her pellets will need to be limited (measured out). When that happens, they often eat their pellets within 5 minutes and the bowl will sit empty the rest of the day/night.

View attachment 49736View attachment 49737

Is 1 year considered adult age for a rabbit? She is a giant Flemish and I read that she could grow until next spring.

 

[zuppa]

I have a bun, name's Smokey, who would do same things, she was very greedy on pellets and it is not good if she eats as much pellets as she can get, I wouldn't use automatic feeder for her. I have another bun who eats only when he is hungry and you can fill his bowl with 3 day portion and be sure on day 3 he still have them, but not with Smokey, she'd eat them all at once and would get a blockage. Same with water, she just messes it up and she is nt Flemish but she's big ad very strong when she had a water bowl attached to the wall she can't move it but she manages to mess it with hay so it is all dirty after a few minutes. Thankfully she drinks from a bottle very well, also if your bun has problems with drinking from bottle you can teach her, to get water they have to lick the ball, and it is important that your bottle is full and in strictly vertical position firmly fixed so she has no problem with it and ball don't get stuck. You can use giant size bottle it has much wider tube and larger ball and so much easier to use. I train my rabbits to drink from bottles, most of them would learn very quickly, but some would need more time to get it, they are trying to break the bottle or pull out tube but they only need to lick the ball and they will get it eventually.

With pellets, I had one day portion split into halves and gave half in the morning and half in the evening. As above you can also sprinkle them on hay so you won't need feeder at all. That would make her to eat slower.

Smokey is nearly 2 year old now and I can tell you she changed after she was one year old. She stopped growing by then and she's a bit calmer. She likes her food bowl which is attached to wall as a few comments above, but her bowl is metal. I don't fill it full she's not growing and she gets about 25-30 gram pellets daily which is a half of a standard daily portion for my other rabbits who are in their first year. Most of them are getting their portions cut after they are one year old since they don't need that much and they eat more hay and have enough energy for everything.
I feed her once a day now in the evening she has about 1/4 of her bowl, which is quite small size itself.

So I wouldn't use automatic feeder for her, give her pellets twice a day half and half daily portions, sprinkle on hay so she'd need time to find them, she will also eat some hay to get there.

 

[nicolekline97]

I have a bun, name's Smokey, who would do same things, she was very greedy on pellets and it is not good if she eats as much pellets as she can get, I wouldn't use automatic feeder for her. I have another bun who eats only when he is hungry and you can fill his bowl with 3 day portion and be sure on day 3 he still have them, but not with Smokey, she'd eat them all at once and would get a blockage. Same with water, she just messes it up and she is nt Flemish but she's big ad very strong when she had a water bowl attached to the wall she can't move it but she manages to mess it with hay so it is all dirty after a few minutes. Thankfully she drinks from a bottle very well, also if your bun has problems with drinking from bottle you can teach her, to get water they have to lick the ball, and it is important that your bottle is full and in strictly vertical position firmly fixed so she has no problem with it and ball don't get stuck. You can use giant size bottle it has much wider tube and larger ball and so much easier to use. I train my rabbits to drink from bottles, most of them would learn very quickly, but some would need more time to get it, they are trying to break the bottle or pull out tube but they only need to lick the ball and they will get it eventually.

With pellets, I had one day portion split into halves and gave half in the morning and half in the evening. As above you can also sprinkle them on hay so you won't need feeder at all. That would make her to eat slower.

Smokey is nearly 2 year old now and I can tell you she changed after she was one year old. She stopped growing by then and she's a bit calmer. She likes her food bowl which is attached to wall as a few comments above, but her bowl is metal. I don't fill it full she's not growing and she gets about 25-30 gram pellets daily which is a half of a standard daily portion for my other rabbits who are in their first year. Most of them are getting their portions cut after they are one year old since they don't need that much and they eat more hay and have enough energy for everything.
I feed her once a day now in the evening she has about 1/4 of her bowl, which is quite small size itself.

So I wouldn't use automatic feeder for her, give her pellets twice a day half and half daily portions, sprinkle on hay so she'd need time to find them, she will also eat some hay to get there.

My neighbor has 3 cats I will offer the automatic bowl to her. I didn't know too much could cause a blockage. I will find a larger bottle. She took to it at first and then stopped. She also knocked it off her crate. I am considering making her a new area to reside in.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We had a 20lb Checkered Giant--we used the mount to the hutch dish like the one pictured above with good results.

 

[nicolekline97]

We had a 20lb Checkered Giant--we used the mount to the hutch dish like the one pictured above with good results.

Thank you Nancy! My Flemish is staying at grandma's house this week. When I get back I will buy one.

 

[Blue eyes]

Is 1 year considered adult age for a rabbit? She is a giant Flemish and I read that she could grow until next spring.

Most rabbits are considered adults at 6-7 months of age. Flemish, however, take considerably longer to grow. I've seen estimates of around 1 to 1.5 years for being "adult." Perhaps our breeders on the forum can provide a more accurate estimate.

 

[Momma Luvbun]

My little lop flips her pellet dish EVERY SINGLE dinner time
it is Soo bloody annoying, especially when my double main lionhead is next to her, eating his like a little gentlebun, and she goes throwing pellets all up in his long do!!

He doesn't mind and she usually eats her dinner pretty quickly.
Ohh ok, every now and again my boy would throw his dish, but my girl does it EVERY SINGLE TIME hahahaaa

I think it's their way of making their food "forageable"