Can rabbits eat other than rabbit food?

Question

The pet shop keeper said that other food such as carrots, vegetables,etc is not very good for them. Is it true?

Answer 1

Before six months, bunnies' main diet should be hay, water, and lucerne pellets. Some say you can begin introducing vegetables at four months, some say not until six months of age. Most importantly, when you begin to introduce vegies, you must do it VERY slowly and gradually - begin with just one slice or one very small piece of your chosen vegie or fruit, and make sure it doesn't give her diarrhoea over the next 24 hours before giving any more. Please see my website, where I've written articles on this, at
http://au.geocities.com/leaswebsite/bunnyfood

Also, NEVER give lettuce and NEVER give cabbage to rabbits - lettuce and cabbage are both very bad for rabbits, can cause diarrhoea and bloat which can kill them -
http://au.geocities.com/leaswebsite/bunnyfood#lettuce

And please check out my site at
http://au.geocities.com/leaswebsite/bunnyfood#safe&poisonous
for lists of safe and dangerous foods for bunnies older than six months of age, reproduced from the excellent "Rabbitlopaedia" by Meg Brown and Virginia Richardson.

Have a read of these great detailed rabbit sites too -
http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittalk.html
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rabbits/a/?once=true&
http://www.tagyerit.com/hopline/cold.htm
http://www.rabbit.org/
http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/
http://au.geocities.com/leaswebsite/bunnyhouserabbits.html - http://au.geocities.com/leaswebsite/bunnyfood.html - my own site - please have a browse and enjoy reading!

Answer 2

No, otherwise God would have made rabbit food. He just wants to make money off rabbit food. It won't hurt to buy a good rabbit food as part of their main meal, but definitely supplement with carrots, greens, etc. and the little guys will love you for it.

Answer 3

As a rule of thumb, people who work in pet stores are rarely informed about the animals that they sell.

Carrots are fine for rabbits, but since they're a starchy vegetable, they're really more of a treat and should only be given in limited quantities.

There are lots of veggies that are good for rabbits, but there are a few that are bad. Check the link below for more detailed info.

Answer 4

I had never thought about it but I know that gerbils and hamsters are only supposed to have a small amount of fresh veggies or they can get sick (diarhea). On the other hand, guinea pigs can eat all the fresh veggies you want to give them. I always thought that rabbits and guinea pigs had a lot in common. My neighbor let all his rabbits go so there are about a dozen rabbits wandering around my neighborhood eating grass. It actually sounds to me like the pet store owner just wants to have you buy lots of extra rabbit food.

Answer 5

I feed my rabbits all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Mine love cucumber, oranges, apples, banana's, pretty much anything. They can even eat bread and some kinds of nutri-grain type bars. You should avoid iceburg lettuce and try to give them mainly dark colored leafy greens. There are some foods that you should never give them, like onions and radishes. The pet shop keeper was just trying to get you to buy lots of pellets. When buying pellets, try to get timothy based pellets. Most are alfalfa based and that is only good if your rabbit is young and growing or if it is pregnant or nursing.

Answer 6

No its not true. In fact, lettuce and shredded carrots help its bowel movements and you can even place a whole carrot in there for them to nibble on and that will help with their eye sight. I had a rabbit and I fed it lettuce and carrots at least 2 times a week and it lived for 15 years.

Answer 7

That shop keeper is an idiot. If your rabbit is under 8 weeks old stick to pellets and the shop keeper shouldn't be selling that young anyway. The pellets that you do feed your rabbit shouldn't have any grains or fruit in it. That will only make your bun fat. Please go to http://www.rabbit.org There are lots of articles on things to fee your rabbit.

Answer 8

Back when we had rabbits, we fed them rabbit chow and we also supplemented that with carrots, lettuce, other greens in the house and other vegetables as we happened to have about.

Our rabbits loved all of it and they lived long while growing nice and plump and adorable.

Hope that this helps.

Buddhadan

Answer 9

feeding ur rabbit vegetables is perfectly okay, as long as they are organic or they are rinsed in water really well because the pesticides that are sprayed on them can make ur rabbit sick. Carrots would be fine cause they grow underground, its stuff like lettuce that is dangerous

Answer 10

you should rely on what a VET tells you not a part time employee working for a pet store.
and NO carrots and other veggies are NOT bad for you bunny, that pet shop worker doesn't want you to stop buy food there.