Picky bunny!

[Kitt]

The lady I got my bunny from had given me a small amount of whatever kind of food she had been giving him, and he'd eat it all, down to the last morsel. After I ran out of that, I fed him Ecotrition. I started mixing it when I ran low on the old food, and that's when the problems started. He would eat everything out of the Ecotrition but the grass pellets. He'd eat all the biscuity things and the seeds and the whatnot. So then I tried Carefresh brand, and again, he wouldn't eat the pellets, just the biscuity things. At this point, it is exceedingly difficult to keep my rabbit fed, since the ratio of biscuity things to pellets is small. I feed him timothy hay, too, and he ends up eating that all up and then he roots through, gets what he wants, and then he pretty much just doesn't eat until I get off from work or wake up or get home or otherwise grab a second to give him more. I thought "Maybe I'll buy a food with more biscuity things and less pellets. Yeah!" So I got Russel whatever whatever brand and he doesn't eat that hardly at all, not even the biscuity bits.
Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[TheJadeRabbit]

What was the person giving him before that? Usually when giving foods with extra bits. Most animals do go through them and get whatever they want and leave the rest. I have seen rats, mice, lizards, and even rabbits do this.

p.s. Beautiful rabbit by the way!

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Stop buying the mixes. They are pretty much junk food anyway and lead to picky eaters (as you have found out). Get a plain pellet, I like Oxbow but there are other good ones out there. It should not have any extra bits, just the pellets.

It seems like he has had a lot of change with pellets. I would just give the new plain pellets. Only give a little bit at first so he can get used to it and avoid digestive upset. Normally, you should mix it with the old food, but since he only seems to eat the junky part, that is not really the best idea. Don't give him any other pellets, but make sure he will has hay and veggies. He will eat the pellets if he gets hungry enough.

Even if you decide to stick with the other foods, don't give more until he has eaten everything. This really just encourages him to eat the junk stuff. It is like giving a kid ice cream and broccoli. They will just eat the ice cream and leave the broccoli, giving more ice cream will just encourage them to eat that and leave the broccoli. You have to get them to eat the broccoli before giving more ice cream.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat:

 

[Kitt]

I'll give that a try, thanks!