Rabbit doesn't like greens

[theevenstarlight]

I have a 4 month old bunny, and I've been giving her tiny bits of greens for about a month. I've been giving her a different one each week. She definitely will not eat the greens out of my hands; she may eat them an hour later if at all. My last bunny was so excited and ran to me when I had greens for her. Does anyone else have this problem too? Is this odd behaviorfor a baby?

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Well, you just need to introduce them slowly and only one at a time. Like, start w/ parsley. That's a great starter.One that I started w/ was alfalpha (sp?) sprouts, it's a gentle veg starter.

Here is a bit of info from HRS.

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html%23veggies[/url"]http://www.rabbit.org/faq<WBR>/sections/diet.html#veggies<WBR>]http://www.rabbit.org/faq<WBR>/sections/diet.html#veggies[<WBR>/url]

 

[maherwoman]

Maybe she&#39;d prefer to eat in private?

My Maisie won&#39;t eat her greens in front of anybody at all...she eats them overnight, so that you don&#39;t even know they were there!

Give it a shot! Leave some in her cage overnight, and they may disappear by morning.

 

[theevenstarlight]

LOL, actually, now that you mention it, some have disappeared over night! Maybe some buns are just shier than others?

 

[aurora369]

Or, she could be just like Wildfire...

Wildfire would get very offended when I tried to offer her new food. But if she sees other bunnies eating it, she&#39;ll gobble it up.

Maybe you could try eating some in front of her, so she could see it was safe?

I find that bunnies that wheren&#39;t introduced to greens by their moms, they have a hard time trying them out.

--Dawn

 

[maherwoman]

That&#39;s what I&#39;ve chocked it up to.

Flower JUMPS on her greens, while Maisie won&#39;t eat things like that in front of people. We haven&#39;t had greens on-hand since Trix came home, but I can tell you right now, due to how she reacted to banana, she won&#39;t be shy, either!

I think it&#39;s just a lady-like thing with Maisie. She&#39;s got a lot of things like that. She even finds binkies to be beneath her most-times (though, don&#39;t tell her I said so...but I&#39;ve seen her do them before!).

 

[theevenstarlight]

I love this board! You guys give me great ideas that I probably would never think of on my own. Thanks so much!

 

[maherwoman]

You&#39;re so welcome! Glad we could help!

 

[katt]

this is kinda funny, because my friend has a holland lop that won&#39;t eat greens, no greens at all. . .won&#39;t eat fruit either, will only nibble hay and hates oatmeal. . .

they tried everything, and nothing will get that rabbit to eat healthy. . .but be carefull because if you aren&#39;t holding the bag of chips tight enough, 3 pound mocha will rip them out of your hand and go dashing to his cardboard box. . .

talk about the junk food rabbit, they struggle to keep stuff like that out of his reach. . .

and he seems healthy enough without the veggies, they have him on a really good food. . .so i guess he is okay with it. . .talk about weird though!

 

[BEAUKEZRA]

I adopted an adult male about 7 months ago and he refused every vegetable except for carrots. He just recently started to eat parsley but he refused it for months. I don&#39;t think his old family gave him any vegetables. I introduced him to raisins too and now he&#39;s a junkie.

 

[aurora369]

Wildfire will fight eating veggies (well, now she likes them that she&#39;s bonded to veggy lovers), but she loves granola bars.

If I open a granola bar with her in the room, she&#39;s all over me. She went as far as to try and pull granola out of my mouth.... That girl has a major sweet tooth.

But what really made a big difference for her was seeing other bunnies eating veggies. As long as someone else tries it first, she&#39;ll eat it.

--Dawn

 

[katt]

aurora369 wrote:

Wildfire will fight eating veggies (well, now she likes them that she&#39;s bonded to veggy lovers), but she loves granola bars.

If I open a granola bar with her in the room, she&#39;s all over me. She went as far as to try and pull granola out of my mouth.... That girl has a major sweet tooth.

this makes me think of my old rabbit trixie. . .whenever we had pancakes for breakfast, she would jump on the table, steal one off a plate and dash to a wooden box in her cage to feast on her find. . .

just the sight of a 31/2 pound holland lop running off the table with a pancake is hysterical

the things bunnies love. . .

sorry for taking over the thread. . .

 

[Bo B Bunny]

theevenstarlight<WBR> wrote:

I have a 4 month old bunny, and I&#39;ve been giving her tiny bits of greens for about a month. I&#39;ve been giving her a different one each week. She definitely will not eat the greens out of my hands; she may eat them an hour later if at all. My last bunny was so excited and ran to me when I had greens for her. Does anyone else have this problem too? Is this odd behaviorfor a baby?

I was told not to introduce greens until they were mature - around 7 to 9 mos at least. Not sure what the recommendation is here but that&#39;s how I did with mine.

 

[theevenstarlight]

There are different recommendations out there, but House Rabbit Society said it&#39;s okay to introduce veggies at 3 months. I did that with myold rabbit, and she was fine.

 

[Starina]

My bunny, acts like ANY new food is disgusting. She will eat around it, and dig it out of her bowl. (So she doesn&#39;t have to touch it with her mouth) and if I try to hand feed it to her, she make this disgusted "elvis" face. But it magically disappears at night, and the next day she acts like she&#39;s eaten it forever. Rabbits. :disgust:



~Star~

 

[JadeIcing]

My vet and also a friends vet said that in situtions like that they offer collard greens and bunnies will usually eat it. Don&#39;t ask me why but it seems to work. Elvis wasn&#39;t eatting any greens gave him some and he jumped right in.

 

[bluebird]

Some bunnies are just more picky.I introduce greens at 4 months.bluebird

 

[Bo B Bunny]

theevenstarlight<WBR> wrote:

There are different recommendations out there, but House Rabbit Society said it&#39;s okay to introduce veggies at 3 months. I did that with myold rabbit, and she was fine.

I was thinking it was HRS that told me 6 mos. Our exotics vet is the one who told me that thinking back. I went with what they said first. I respect and appreciate rescues like HRS but a lot of times the people you deal with are just people who volunteer, have animals andhave no real training that decide what to tell people.

 

[theevenstarlight]

Here is a direct quote from HRS:

What quantities of food should I feed babies and "teenagers"?

• Birth to 3 weeks--mother&#39;s milk
• 3 to 4 weeks--mother&#39;s milk, nibbles of alfalfa and pellets
• 4 to 7 weeks--mother&#39;s milk, access to alfalfa and pellets
• 7 weeks to 7 months--unlimited pellets, unlimited hay (plus see 12 weeks below)
• 12 weeks--introduce vegetables[/color][/u][/url"]http://www.rabbit.org/care<WBR>/veggies.html][color=<WBR>#800080]vegetables[/color]<WBR>[/url] (one at a time, quantities under 1/2 oz.)

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html%23veggies[/url"]http://www.rabbit.org/faq<WBR>/sections/diet.html#veggies<WBR>]http://www.rabbit.org/faq<WBR>/sections/diet.html#veggies[<WBR>/url]

My vet also said it was okay to introduce veggies at 3 months.

 

[Bassetluv]

this makes me think of my old rabbit trixie. . .whenever we had pancakes for breakfast, she would jump on the table, steal one off a plate and dash to a wooden box in her cage to feast on her find.

LOL...thank you for the visual, katt...I think that just made my day! :laugh: