Young rabbit diet?

[Kora]

I’m getting a young (I think 2 months old) rabbit soon, and I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to need to feed her, as everything I see or read tells me different things.

I’m going to be feeding her Oxbow Young Rabbit pellets for sure, as those seem to be the most highly recommended. But how much of that do I feed her? And for how long do I feed that to her?

I also just bought some alfalfa hay, which I know must be fed unlimitedly, but when do I switch from alfalfa to another type of hay? And also, I read that you should mix in some other type of hay so that the rabbit doesn’t get too used to alfalfa, but I’m not sure how true that is.

A couple more questions, if you could help me:

•When do I wean her on to veggies?
•Any tips on how to store hay? I bought a 50 lb. bale that came in this bag that’s ripping open, and that doesn’t seem like a very convenient way to store it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kora]

I just realized I should have posted this to the nutrition forum, sorry about that.

 

[zuppa]

I’m getting a young (I think 2 months old) rabbit soon, and I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to need to feed her, as everything I see or read tells me different things.

I’m going to be feeding her Oxbow Young Rabbit pellets for sure, as those seem to be the most highly recommended. But how much of that do I feed her? And for how long do I feed that to her?

I also just bought some alfalfa hay, which I know must be fed unlimitedly, but when do I switch from alfalfa to another type of hay? And also, I read that you should mix in some other type of hay so that the rabbit doesn’t get too used to alfalfa, but I’m not sure how true that is.

A couple more questions, if you could help me:

•When do I wean her on to veggies?
•Any tips on how to store hay? I bought a 50 lb. bale that came in this bag that’s ripping open, and that doesn’t seem like a very convenient way to store it.

Thanks in advance!

Hi, what breed is your rabbit and is she underweight?

Alfalfa is high on protein and calcium which is good for growing rabbit until 4 months of age, then it is too rich for adults and they can get fat so you will have to switch to timothy or meadow or something

Oxbow young rabbit already contains alfalfa and if you want to give her unlimited alfalfa hay I don't know maybe a bit too much. Honestly I never tried alfalfa hay myself I think they are getting enough from junior pellets.

Healthy diet is easy, you give unlimited hay (I use meadow hay, not alfalfa) she should eat as much hay as her size per day, then you give unlimited pellets until 4 months, after 4 months you limit pellets but never limit hay. If you use alfalfa hay you will have to switch to non-alfalfa after 4 months otherwise she'll get very fat it's not good at all.

Vegetables she doesn't really need at 2 months, you will introduce her slowly from 4-6 months and very carefully, one type at a time, green leafy like romaine lettuce, cilantro, basil, carrot tops (greens) etc. Once a week you can give her a little piece of carrot thumb size or a slice of apple.

Unlimited fresh water at all times.

That's it.

 

[Kora]

Hi, what breed is your rabbit and is she underweight?

Alfalfa is high on protein and calcium which is good for growing rabbit until 4 months of age, then it is too rich for adults and they can get fat so you will have to switch to timothy or meadow or something

Oxbow young rabbit already contains alfalfa and if you want to give her unlimited alfalfa hay I don't know maybe a bit too much. Honestly I never tried alfalfa hay myself I think they are getting enough from junior pellets.

Healthy diet is easy, you give unlimited hay (I use meadow hay, not alfalfa) she should eat as much hay as her size per day, then you give unlimited pellets until 4 months, after 4 months you limit pellets but never limit hay. If you use alfalfa hay you will have to switch to non-alfalfa after 4 months otherwise she'll get very fat it's not good at all.

Vegetables she doesn't really need at 2 months, you will introduce her slowly from 4-6 months and very carefully, one type at a time, green leafy like romaine lettuce, cilantro, basil, carrot tops (greens) etc. Once a week you can give her a little piece of carrot thumb size or a slice of apple.

Unlimited fresh water at all times.

That's it.

I haven’t gotten her yet (it’ll be a couple of weeks), but she’s a Holland Lop. She’ll be 2 months old when I pick her up.

Thanks for the advice! Everything I was reading was just saying alfalfa, alfalfa, alfalfa for young rabbits, so that’s that I was going with. So should I go and exchange the hay for timothy or orchard or something? And should the pellets be unlimited as well?

 

[A & B]

I give my young rabbit 1/4 cup of pellets in the morning and again at night. If you're feeding the youth rabbit pellets, I'd feed timothy hay instead of alfalfa.

 

[Cute Alice bunnies]

I would say unlimited pellets until 4 months old like others said
Then I would do half Alfalfa half Timothy hay until she is 5-6 months old
I give my adult Netherland Dwarf 1/8 a cup (2 Tablespoons) of pellets and my Dutch mixes 1/4 cups (4 Tbsp) as they are bigger that my other one
And they always have Timothy hay available and water too

 

[Preitler]

First thing to do is to ask what that rabbit was fed until now, and continue that for now. A move is a lot of stress, you don't want to add the stress of a changing diet.

Later on, in few weeks, you still can gradually switch him over to whatever diet is convinient for you.
Imho, that is a great site about feeding rabbits, but there are many equally good ways to feed, there's not "the one diet" for rabbits.
https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/articles/free-food-for-rabbits

I would offer grass hay anywy, alfalfa and high protein is great when the goal is butchering weight asap, but not really necessary for pet rabbits.

 

[majorv]

I agree that you need to get whatever the rabbit is being fed now. Then you can slowly start transitioning to the Oxbow pellets you have. You can start by feeding unlimited pellets but if she starts getting chunky you’ll need to cut back. If her pellets are alfalfa based you don’t need alfalfa hay, too. Any grass hay will work.

 

[zuppa]

That's true you should ask about her diet where you are getting her from, usually breeder would give you a bag with her changeover food so you could safely change it if you need to, but best would be to continue with same type of pellets until she's 4 months at least. Also ask them about vegetables some young rabbits are getting vegetables earlier with their mother and because they are still on milk they might have some runny poop when still very young but then able to eat some vegetables even at 2 months. One of my rabbits was already introduced to vegetables when I got him so I gave him some romaine lettuce and basil every evening, just ask what vegetables she already knows (if any). Or just leave it until she'll be 4 months.