new rabbit not eating much?? doesnt seem hungry??

I got this young black dutch doe at the auction on Monday. She hasn't eaten hardly anything. I mean like half or less of "oh ya my dutch are great, they eat nothing compared to my other rabbits". Very little.

She has eaten a decent amount of hay. I estimate it at less than my young dutch (from the ones I had years ago) would eat. She seems to be about 2months old. She didn't appear to eat any pellets at all the first two days here (Monday afternoon, Tuesday all day) and ate a decent handful of hay. On Wed I mixed a bit of sweet feed with the pellets. ((the sheep get sweet feed and cracked corn right now)). I did that because I have seen and heard local people using sweet feed and horse feed for their rabbits. I saw her nibble at the feed bowl twice that morning feeding the other rabbits.

It is now Saturday. I have put down about 1/2 cup pellets and about 1/4 cup sweet feed total since Monday. Of all that she only seemed to have eaten maybe a tablespoon worth. ((some of it got rained on the one overnight bc she had pushed the bowl over to where it could get wet. and some of it she pushed out of the bowl and was on the ground.))

I also gave her a small handful of grass and forage the last two days. she ate that.

Since Wed she has eaten another small handful of hay.

:shock: she does *ACT* like she is hungry or anything from what I can tell. of course she is a new rabbit but she isn't acting like it compared to any of the rabbits I have had before.

Could she just really be needing so little?
she is quite light and I was hoping to fatten her up and fill out. If she fills out decently I would like to do at least a test breeding with her and my buck. but if she stays this light and lean (not lanky, but quite light) I won't be doing that.

I don't have BOSS but should I try some 'old fashion oats'?

What did she get before you got her?

I mix oats with pellets when I want a rabbit to eat more, as extra treat.

Now most of mine pretty much ignore pellets, they live on lots of forage and a little hay.

I have no idea. part of the 'joys' of animals from an auction.

me guessing from what I have seen/heard in the local area:
40% chance was fed sweet feed or horse feed
30% chance was fed 'pet rabbit' Walmart type confetti crap
30% chance was fed one of the real cheap rabbit pellets. there is a few local off brand ones that are total crap a lot of people seem to use. but I use producers pride from tractor supply, which is what I have found to be the better of the cheaper rabbit pellets. (and personally I saw no difference using this vs the 'pro' or 'gro' etc pellets that are from $2-8 more expensive.)

Absolutely give the oats. It's soluble fiber content reduces the risk of GI slowdown by bulking up stool.
You can try to off a few safe greens if you can find them. Plantains, raspberry or blackberry canes, and strawberry leaves are more likely to cure GI problems than cause them, and can be very tempting.

new rabbits sometimes get very stressed out when moving to a new home.

As long as she is eating you are ahead of the game.

I've had some rabbits that when I get them here seem to go on strike with eating.
Sometimes I get them started with oats.
Sometimes with hay.
Sometimes I have to plop them out on fine spring grass for a couple of hours (where they will sit in terror for up to an hour) and then start sniffing and then glory be start nibbling on grass.

Once I get them eating they tend to do well. had one that took me a week of the "put out on the grass" treatment before he started to eat picked grass and another week before started eating hay... now he eats anything I put in front of him.

thanks. I'll take out some oats in a bit.

This is oddly the first rabbit I've ever really had a problem with like this. most of them have happily gone to eating what I feed within a day or two. the only one I had any issue with was one I kept inside on special quarantine because I had a hunch he was sick (someone gave him to me and I'd hoped to get one litter from him). but he wouldn't eat a thing except soaked oats and died after four days I think it was.