Mini Lop feeder/ bowl type

[Chrissyb]

Hi Everyone. We brought home a sweet mini lop a couple of days ago. When we picked her up from the breeder she said to be sure to get a wide mouth feeder so the bun doesn't develope dental issues. I had already bought a galvanized j feeder, and I am not sure if it is wide mouth or not. However, with just the one bun the small amount of food she eats means it all sits on the very bottom, which I guess theoretically makes it harder for her to get. I am considering switching to a heavy ceramic crock, or one of the crocks that clips to the cage. But again, worried about size, if the circumfrence is too small is Fluff not going to be able to get her flat face all the way in?

And water. Our water bottle seems to be leaky. It is a lixit bottle, which I got because it is what the breeder uses. I put a small tupperware bowl under the floor wire to catch the drips for now. Once bun moves to her outdoor hutch from the garage I am not sure how this will work out.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[ZRabbits]

I got a ceramic bowls that are really wide but not deep for my two babies. It's a lot easier for them to get to the food.

Regarding the bottle, I use heavy crocks for their water so I can't comment on how to stop the dripping. Hopefully someone will chime in to help regarding dripping water bottles.

K

 

[Samara]

I use the lixit bottles too; ours drip, but only when the rabbits are drinking. They push the end of the drinker to the side and that releases water - more water than the bun actually takes into their mouths, so some hits the floor. I like having the flip tops, so I haven't switched to crocks for Molly or Gubble, but Matthias has a heavy ceramic crock to drink from.

Is your bottle actively leaking even when your bun isn't near it? If that's the case it sounds like the rubber o-ring is missing or misaligned. Just unscrew the purple bottom piece like you were going to rinse the bottle out in the sink and check inside. There should be a black rubber circle (that's the o-ring) and a metal screen that looks like a thimble. The metal piece should be positioned with the dome facing up as you screw the piece back on. It should not look like a bowl against the o-ring.

Hope that helps. Let me know if it's confusing and I can take pictures of mine

Congrats on your new bun! I have a mini lop too (that's Gubble). I use the pellet hoppers too; mine are plastic not galvanized, but they're essentially the same design. My breeder never mentioned anything about what kind of feeder to use...it's probably just a matter of opinion?

When the hopper gets low I just add more food and the days where I don't need to add food I push the pellets that are already in there down towards where my buns eat from. Maybe give that a shot? When you do your daily rabbit stuff just reach some fingers in the back of the hopper and stuff the pellets down towards the opening.

I have a lionlop (that's Molly, but her ears stand up) who has the same shaped face and she doesn't have any issues either...

My third rabbit, Matthias, is Molly's son, but his father is an English Lop and they have very prognathic faces, so he doesn't have the smooshed looking nose really. Their skulls are shaped differently I guess.

 

[bunnychild]

I switch between crocks that clip to the side of cage and feeders. If it is a large rabbit (six class rabbits) I usually give it a crock easier for thier head to fit into. feeders work for the smaller breeds. For a mini lop it just depends on the size of that rabbit.

 

[Chrissyb]

Thanks for the bottle advice. It is dripping even when she doesn't drink, but I think most of the drippage might be from her being messy? She is only 8 weeks old, just a baby! I will check on the valves tomorrow and see, thanks for the tip.


Thanks to everyone else as well. Fluff doesn't seem to have any trouble getting at her food, it was empty this morning. So guess we will go with it.