When to start veggies?

[BunnySilver]

Silver, my Netherland dwarf bunny, is 5 months old and gets fed pellets, hay, water, and a dried piece of fruit as a treat every once in a while. Should I be introducing veggies to him? At the store I got him from, they told me that he should not be getting veggies until 1 year old. Sorry if this is a really obvious question, I am a first time bunny owner.

 

[Imbrium]

I've never heard one year old

Most people follow the HRS guidelines and introduce veggies at 12 weeks. Some people prefer to wait until six months (or need to, if their bunny didn't tolerate veggies well at a younger age) and some actually feed them from the start if the bunny grew up eating mom's veggies prior to weaning age.

Here's some info on introducing veggies (which should be done gradually and one veggie at a time):
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html#babies
http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Both of our vets say you can start them at 4 months.

 

[lovelops]

Silver, my Netherland dwarf bunny, is 5 months old and gets fed pellets, hay, water, and a dried piece of fruit as a treat every once in a while. Should I be introducing veggies to him? At the store I got him from, they told me that he should not be getting veggies until 1 year old. Sorry if this is a really obvious question, I am a first time bunny owner.

No problem. We are all here to help each other out... I started mine around 3 months old because they started getting antsy and wanted more solid food and I didn't see them drinking that much water and wanted to give them something with water in it lettuce, celery, etc but not too much..

They are healthy and a year and 7 months old now..

Hope this helps
Vanessa

 

[Imbrium]

I think what it comes down to is that pretty much everyone agrees that rabbits should be a *minimum* of 12 weeks old if you got them from someone else as babies (as opposed to being a breeder and having raised them yourself) - in large part, I think, because they typically go to a new home at 8-10 weeks old, depending on how quickly homes are found, and that time without veggies allows them to settle in/get comfortable, possibly be transitioned to a different brand of pellets and/or different type of hay (like introducing alfalfa if you choose to, since that's safe to feed until 7 mos for most rabbits/12 mos for very large breeds) and gives their new owner(s) a chance to get used to what their poops look like normally [the reason someone who raised the litter might be comfortable starting earlier is that there's no transition to a new home involved]. In other words, the wait is as much about the learning curve for a new owner as it is about the bunnies' needs.

After the 12 week mark, whether you start veggies right away or wait until older (4 mos, 6 mos, whatever) is honestly personal opinion more than fact - whenever you're comfortable with adding veggies, feel free to do so as long as they're well tolerated. It won't hurt a rabbit to wait a few months if you prefer to, nor will it hurt to start earlier as long as you introduce veggies slowly and monitor their poop closely to make sure the veggies don't upset their system.

 

[BunnySilver]

Ok. Thank you everyone for this very helpful information. I got him from a pet store ( I know, I know, not he best place but I couldn't help feeling like I had to rescue him.) and they told me he was 8-12 weeks at the time and not to start veggies until 1 year.

Since he is now 5 months, I think that I will start to introduce him to veggies. Thank you all again. This is very helpful and I appreciate it greatly!

 

[Imbrium]

Objectively, buying animals from pet stores is a bad idea because they see it as a sale rather than a rescue and they'll just turn around and get a new animal to replace the one that was sold... but realistically, it's awfully hard to say no to that innocent little face looking up at you from a crappy pet store display. How can you explain to a rabbit (or other exotic) that they have to be miserable and live in sub-par conditions because it's the only way you can make a point to the pet store? It's not their fault they ended up there, after all - they deserve love, happiness and quality care just as much as any other animal. Not buying animals from pet stores can help future animals from ending up there, but it sure doesn't do anything for the ones who are already for sale.

In the end, it's not where you got your rabbit from that matters - it's how much you love them and how well you care for them. If that one rabbit stood out as seeming like he *needed* to go home with you, then it was probably meant to be... and I know for a fact that he's glad you bought him!

 

[RabbitGirl101]

I usually recommend starting to introduce veggies at 6 months of age. There digestive system is usually fully established at that time so they usually take to the veggies better.