Which hay and food?

Hi everyone just a quick question.

When I brought my buns home they where on regular meadow hay and muesli Wagg rabbit food. I've read online that buns under 6months should have Alfalfa hay and 6 months+ Timothy hay, but I've been told to just feed then on Timothy hay now so that's what I've been out and bought them today. About the Wagg food, I've been meaning to change to pellets but what is the best way to gradually change over and to what pellets?

Thanks

They can indeed have alfalfa hay until they are 6 months. Molly and Junior didn't get much tbh :(I thought I was feeding them it because the bag says Alfalfa King but it was Timothy hay!  (Apparently the bag does also say Timothy hay )

Definitely get them off the muesli and on to pellets. We use excel adult. I've read on here before that excel has given some buns soft poop but I've fed it to 3 rabbits with no problems at all.

Change over slowly, the first day you should give 90% muesli 10% new pellets, the second day 80% muesli 20% pellets etc etc.

Some members use science selective pellets instead of excel. I can't get it here.

A lot of the young rabbit feeding guidance is based on meat farming rather than real dietary need. Your buns should be fine on meadow hay. As for pellet, there are a lot out there to choose from. Ultimately you need to go with what you can get and what suits your buns. You do want to go for something that is high fibre. Excel appears to be the most widely available but, as Thumper said, Bruce gets soft poos with normal excel. However he is fine on both light and mature excel. My buns are also fine on science selective both adult and light. And they get a mix of all of them. There are 2 reasons I mix different types of pellets. Firstly it means they are used to several different foods so will pretty much eat whatever food I give them which is useful should you get snowed in and are limited to what the most local pet shop has in. The other reason is that I have seen that when the company's tweak their recipes it can often cause problems. By mixing several types together you reduce the chance of physical problems caused by a change of recipe and also minimise the chance of them rejecting the food.

I am glad you took my advice on the Timothy hay, the only reason I said about this is because when you messaged me you mentioned the alfalfa, alfafla is okay like I said but it can be hard to get them to change to another hay later on as they can get addicted to alfalfa. I personally would use Timothy or meadow, well I cannot use meadow as Dougal does not seem to like it of the ones I have tried so far but loves the western oxbow and it is very good for his teeth. I mentioned that 1 in particular as it is stalky, I would use both your meadow and Timothy for different textures together and then they will have good healthy teeth. It does all depend on your rabbits and their taste and I do hope they like the nice green Timothy, did you buy a small bag to try out like I suggested just in case they did not like it? let me know how you get on.

Sorry about not telling you how much to do of their pellets gradually. I am glad you posted up this question as like I advised other people on here are way more experienced that me and have very good ideas of what buns like and they helped me a lot, that is how I was able to help you the other day and was glad to do so Hun. I just did not want you to worry over the Alfalfa hay like I did, I have never given it to Dougal as he has the excel adult pellets now and he started on the junior ones and they have everything in they need anyway. This is what I was advised when I asked this question and Dougal has gorgeous fur and skin and teeth etc so for him it works well that hay and he took very well to excel food, but some can get sticky bums, Dougal does not but all buns are different. You can try a small bag to begin with and see how they go and change over as advised above and if you find it does not work go for the SS or start with the SS, whatever you think. But the advice Cheryl has given is also a very good idea.

Do you know the quantity of pellets you need to feed also once you get them gradually switched over?

burgess do samples - http://www.fibrevores.co.uk/order-sample.html

supreme do trial size bags of selective - http://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/selective-rabbit.html

I agree with the others

He can eat Alfalfa hay until he is 6 months, but he'd also be fine on meadow hay too. You can buy meadow hay at pretty cheap prices if you shop around, too. I get a huge bale for £3.50 and that will last me several months. Try local farms/equestrian stores, and just check the bale is not mouldy or damp, it should have lots of lovely green bits and smell nice when it's broken open. Or you could go to hayforpets, lots of people use their Ings or Timothy and Rye hay and it's lovely stuff. I used to but my two are such wasters that is wasn't cost effective! Feeding a variety of textures/types as well as dried herbs etc is the best way to keep their diet varied and their teeth down.

I feed Science Selective pellets only. Like has been said, they can upset some bun's tums. I used to feed Willow the Burgess Excel pellets and she was fine, but when I bonded her with Mo they did not agree with him at all. SS have been fab

You should be looking to feed roughly an egg cup full of pellets per bun, per day.

I should have put that answer on instead of just asking about egg cup full each, at least fluufslave had the sense to.

Hiya

Like the others have said the meadow hay will be fine- what's important is that they have plenty of it and get them changed from the muesli which is bad for them ASAP.

Mine have burgess because the SS makes Charlie's tummy bad, it's also widely available :-) mix in 10% per day til all the meusli is gone from the diet.

Sending nose rubs :-)

Thank you all for your replies! I place meadow hay in their bedding area and Timothy in their hay rack, does that sound ok?

My mum and I are going to The Range tomorrow to buy a bag of Burgess excel, what type will be best for 3 months old? We will gradually change their food as everyone has said and will be checking up on their poop!

As for the amount of food I read online that they should have good all the time untill their 6months old, so that is what I've been doing! But from now on ill give them an egg cup full each

Another question? What is better for them, water in a bowl or a bottle?

Thanks for helping!

It depends on you buns really. Mine used to have a bottle but now they have a bowl. They seem to drink more with a bowl.

Don't buy too big a bag of excel, it will take you a while to get through it and if it doesn't agree with the buns it will be a big waste.

Water in a bowl deffo, it allows them to drink more which is so important when it is this hot! although if they are in a hutch in this heat, I would pop a bottle in as well in case they spill the water.

Food I give 50/50 of excel and SS but I think iam going to switch to SS only as sometimes spike has soft poos,and i give about 15g in a morning and night and water deffo in a bowl,mine drink so much more water now,i fill it up at least twice a day

We have 31 rabbits and so they are all on different food, some are on no pellets at all and just hay and Fresh herbs, some are on Sience Selective Adult and some SS Junior and some are on Burgess Excel Adult. We buy different hay's so they get a change but at the moment their favourite hay is Alfalfa King Timothy Hay  which we usually buy from Pets at Home but they are having trouble with the supplier at the moment as it's imported from America .

I have put a bowl in their run and they have seemed to be drinking from it! I didn't think they would. Just need to buy two more rabbit bowls now. I will be going out in a hour to get them some Burgess Excel.

One more question as my rabbits are Lion head x is shavings no good for their substrate? They have shavings at the moment.

Thanks for all your help

Daisy&Henry wrote:I have put a bowl in their run and they have seemed to be drinking from it! I didn't think they would. Just need to buy two more rabbit bowls now. I will be going out in a hour to get them some Burgess Excel.

One more question :lol:as my rabbits are Lion head x is shavings no good for their substrate? They have shavings at the moment.

Thanks for all your help

The trouble with shavings is they get stuck in the fur of Lionheads, I much prefer hay as it's warmer in the Winter and they can eat it and it's quite harmless ,some shavings also give off a dust which you can't always see and this can cause breathing problems in bunnies, they can also get in bunny eyes as well.

So shall I put hay all over their enclosure instead of shavings?

Daisy&Henry wrote:So shall I put hay all over their enclosure instead of shavings?

We put newspaper down with hay on the top in their indoor cages and their litter tray with newspaper down, then megazorb and then hay and in their play pens they have mats down, and litter trays with hay in and hay racks or anything safe that you can stuff hay in .

As for food I've only used burgus exel pellats, juniour for the young ones then moved onto the adult, hay is from my local farm shop, which is timothy hay at £7 a bale, lasts my lot of a good while.

I agree with above post, start them on the junior/dwarf excel food, not adult yet. The food will probably be cheaper online tbh or at harvest animal feeds. Do you know of this pet shop with being in Darwen at the weekends? your partner will, here is the link to the address, they sell a lot of stuff and they are so nice in there and if you cannot see what they want they will get it in for you as long as they can get hold of it from their supplier. I think Range is expensive towards them so if you want excel and good prices, if you can I would suggest there Hun.

http://harvest-animalfeeds.co.uk/ trust me these are the best. I will only buy from here or pet supermarket online as they do free delivery on anything and are also cheap.

I had Dougal on junior until he was about 4 months then slowly changed him to adult. Even though it is the same brand when changing to adult you still need to do this slowly when they are ready.

We use a bottle for Dougal and he drinks well out of it but he is an indoor bunny. You sounds like you are taking very good care of your babies and if you need help with anything ask on here, the HH gang are brilliant and lovely. Also Pm me any time you want to and I will help as much as I can.

Megazorb is good for the floor of the cage and it is very absorbent , and a layer of hay on top for the hutch, I do not know which HH do this as I just use megazorb as it is a cage inside but it is really good stuff. I do not know if it is needed for outside buns?

Shavings are not good for them at all, I would just leave it out completely.

If they are in a hutch I would just put newspaper down in the daytime area and then newspaper with hay for their bedding area.
If they a litter tray pop in newspaper with hay on top.....they like to eat while they poop.

I put newspaper on the bottom,I did use to cover the floor with hay but they used to pee anywhere,as well as the litter tray,so for the litter tray,I put megazorb and then newspaper on top,as sometimes the megazorb gets stuck in there fur too and then hay on top,I put a handful of good hay in the cage about 4 times a day

There is no need to feed a junior food. The adult one will be just fine for  them. Junior foods are really a hark back to a time where people were fattening young buns for the pot. In the wild rabbits would be on grass and forage just like their parents from about 6 weeks. Buns are built to convert poor food into energy. Feeding a junior pellet now will just cause you the headache of switching over again when they are older.

And I agree shavings are a waste of money and resources and are not the ideal bedding from a health point of view. There are much better options available.

BugsBunny, that pet shop is just around the corner! I will be going in their in 2 weeks time as its my birthday next weekend. At the moment we have got them burgess excel and we just add little amount of pellets at the moment and the rest is Wagg muesli food.

Also thank you everyone else! When I clean them out tomorrow I won't place their shavings and just news paper and see how they go! And hay in their bedding area. They aren't litter trained but they have a corner they each poop in, so shall I just buy a corner litter tray so it's easier to clean out? Thank you everyone!!