I don't think switching off a lettuce diet quickly would cause any harm so long as water is available. Rabbits aren't going to kill themselves just to get some lettuce and if it's a bowl instead of a bottle they don't have to learn how to use it. Unless you really research what you are doing a good pellet and hay should be the main part of the diet. A *good* pellet. Not petstore sugary junk. Nutrena puts out relatively small bags of pellets at feed stores but even if you buy and waste a portion of a 50lb feedstore bag it will not be as expensive as the little pet store bags. Same with hay. The wildlife will enjoy your excess (sometimes we would throw slices of alfalfa out to the wild rabbits in winter) and think how much people often spend buying specific food for wildlife. Most who buy from pet stores will only trust a handful of brands like oxbow.
Fresh foods are a bit of a debate. While the pet only oriented sites are big on store bought veggies more people who feed fresh foods here prefer wild forages. Rabbits did not evolve to eat fruits and vegetables that humans do. Grocery store stuff aside from herbs and some leafy greens are higher water, higher sugar, less fiber, and less other useful nutrients than forages. Wild rabbits browse on bushes, vines (they love berry canes), edible wildflowers, some grass but much of it older and tougher than well mowed yard grass, etc... Things that are more dense. You can find many things in the stickies of the nutrition section. For all those reasons many believe high water vegetables humans eat are better as treats and the diet should be higher in fiber. Not that properly done a rabbit can't adjust to those diets but there is less risk of digestive upset that is a major cause of death in herbivores like rabbits.
Fresh foods are a bit of a debate. While the pet only oriented sites are big on store bought veggies more people who feed fresh foods here prefer wild forages. Rabbits did not evolve to eat fruits and vegetables that humans do. Grocery store stuff aside from herbs and some leafy greens are higher water, higher sugar, less fiber, and less other useful nutrients than forages. Wild rabbits browse on bushes, vines (they love berry canes), edible wildflowers, some grass but much of it older and tougher than well mowed yard grass, etc... Things that are more dense. You can find many things in the stickies of the nutrition section. For all those reasons many believe high water vegetables humans eat are better as treats and the diet should be higher in fiber. Not that properly done a rabbit can't adjust to those diets but there is less risk of digestive upset that is a major cause of death in herbivores like rabbits.
I wasn't sure if that was good or not, but yeah
