Apple cider vinegar?

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Rabbit Talk Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
LittleFluffyBunnies

LittleFluffyBunnies

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 20, 2015
Messages
448
Reaction score
4
Location
South Africa
Hi!

I wasn't sure exactly where to put this, so this is my best guess.

Anyway, I have heard apple cider vinegar is really good for bunnies. Is this true? We at one time were looking after an NZ/Californian mix and the owner said to give her apple cider vinegar in her water to help keep her gut clean. I am wondering about the benefits and I am thinking of using it for my rabbits. I got some today, but how much do I give in the water? Do I rotate and do water with it and then water without? Or do I continue using it? Is it safe to use?
 
Apple cider vinegar is often used for rabbits. Some folks swear by it; others dismiss its use as an old wives' tale. It certainly won't harm your rabbits and it may help. Most rabbits enjoy the flavour and it may encourage them to drink more water. It is safe to use all the time.

Two tablespoons of ACV (apple cider vinegar) per gallon of water is the usual amount. Or 30 ml. per four litres if you use metric. You don't need to obsess about getting it exactly right--it is a supplement not a medicine.
 
It adds some trace minerals and digestive benefits. I haven't been using it lately so I forget the amount I had in my water. The real problem is that ACV in the cost effective big bottles is just acetic acid (pure vinegar with nothing else in it) with a little apple "flavoring" added. That's not very useful. You need unfiltered, raw ACV that will have all sorts of stuff in it sort of threaded and clumped together which is called the mother. That is made up of everything breaking down the liquid into vinegar form. Braggs is the brand most people mention and find nationwide. Some have said adding a culture from the raw ACV to the bulk acv will grow more and make it useful but I don't know. There's not much in there for it to convert. I am testing turning apple juice or cider into ACV from cultures or feeding the culture on apple slices in bulk acv. It's a slow process so I have nothing conclusive yet.
 
I actually had success turning the cheap ACV into goo stuff , adding a few apples and some mother from braggs. It is slow. I put it in the bottle in the fall and it was ready by spring. Probably would go faster if my house was warmer. Maybe takes about 3 mos?

But... I have seen no real effect on the rabbits besides adding a bit to the feed bill, so I stopped using it some time ago.
 
yeah, I've been using it for almost a year now and finally stopped this month after absolutely no difference to anything. That and the negative side effect no one talks about; Good ACV is irresistible to flies and they all kept sneaking into my mixing pitcher and contaminating it. The last straw was coming out to find a pileup of 3 dead houseflies and countless corpse flies swarming around inside despite cleaning the pitcher the day before. This issue has disappeared after enough rounds with plain water that the smell finally stopped attracting them.
 
I put screen door mesh under the lid of my vinegar eel cultures because I kept growing fruit flies in my aquarium room.
 
Works great in hanging water bottles, and I don't have that problem with flies. Not sure how I would know if it wasn't working, because it's just an overall health booster, so I think that would be tricky I find out....
 
I gave up bottles a long time ago. Mold growth in the humid summer, freezing in the winter. filling 75 bottles became a pain, so I switched out one winter and never switched back again.


If I can't tell any difference, or see a benefit, no reason for me to do it.
 
Ok, thanks everyone! I have decided to use it as a supplement for before breeding, just in case it does do something. I change wash water dishes daily, but I will watch out for bugs.
 
I have hanging bottles but I found that the smell of the vinegar enticed flies to lay their eggs directly on the bottles, especially the ridged part for twisting the nipple onto the bottle... blech. They have stopped now though with fresh plain water. :) In fact the population has disappeared after the switch. The stuff was just too enticing to flies and the smell was always there because bunnies always have water.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top