Pumpkin -- they won't eat it

My rabbits turn up their fuzzy noses at pumpkin!

They will eat raw, green pumpkin seeds. But, they won't eat the seeds that still have the hulls on them.

They will eat raw sweet potato, but not raw pumpkin.

I thought perhaps their refusal last Fall was because I offered them pieces of the big carving pumpkins; so, yesterday I offered them slices of raw pie pumpkin. Nope. Nada. Ain't having it.

Ideas?

How can I get dehull the seeds easily? or get them to do it themselves?

I have no idea. spoiled little buggers!

Rabbits are very sensitive and empathic animals. :yes:

Just as you or I might feel uncomfortable having rabbit for Easter dinner "No way are we eating the Easter Bunny!" they too may feel some discomfort consuming "The Great Pumpkin" today of all days.

It is Halloween today, after all.

Try again tomorrow.

:yeahthat:


hahahhaha good one

MamaSheepdog":2fqqk8qm said:

Rabbits are very sensitive and empathic animals. :yes:

Just as you or I might feel uncomfortable having rabbit for Easter dinner "No way are we eating the Easter Bunny!" they too may feel some discomfort consuming "The Great Pumpkin" today of all days.

It is Halloween today, after all.

Try again tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Sensitive, definitely. But, they have not been taught about Easter Bunnies or Halloween as I don't "do" those (I celebrate Resurrection Day, not a fertility rabbit :lol: ).

Well, in that case... :hmm: I recall someone else had picky bunnehs that wouldn't eat pumpkin (and it wasn't even Halloween!) and MaggieJ recommended trying to offer it cooked instead.

As for the seeds, just as a way to get them to eat them initially, maybe roast and salt a batch and try that. Rabbits love salt, after all. And then you can eat some too!

MamaSheepdog":2r8yeici said:

Well, in that case... :hmm: I recall someone else had picky bunnehs that wouldn't eat pumpkin (and it wasn't even Halloween!) and MaggieJ recommended trying to offer it cooked instead.

As for the seeds, just as a way to get them to eat them initially, maybe roast and salt a batch and try that. Rabbits love salt, after all. And then you can eat some too!

Click to expand...

uuummmm...I see it now...I'll have to put a recliner out in the rabbitry so I can get comfy while the bunnehs and I share a snack of roasted/salted pumpkin seeds! :mrgreen: :lol:

Will definitely try the baked pumpkin...can't pass up a good, cheap, food option just because they are too good to eat it raw! :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop:

Mine wouldn't touch raw pumpkin, they wanted it cooked and pureed. haha, so I pressure canned a bunch.

Zass":1recx59n said:

Mine wouldn't touch raw pumpkin, they wanted it cooked and pureed. haha, so I pressure canned a bunch.

Click to expand...

How did you pressure can it?

cubed, cooked for a few minutes, and canned with the cooking liquid. I did quarts, so it was something like 10 lbs of pressure for 90 min.

Excellent! thanks, Zass!

MamaSheepdog":efrnprvv said:

Well, in that case... :hmm: I recall someone else had picky bunnehs that wouldn't eat pumpkin (and it wasn't even Halloween!) and MaggieJ recommended trying to offer it cooked instead.

As for the seeds, just as a way to get them to eat them initially, maybe roast and salt a batch and try that. Rabbits love salt, after all. And then you can eat some too!

Click to expand...

I get pumpkin seeds that is roasted and salted... these little buggers still don't like it.. I have to dehull it one by one so they will nibble on it. I'm thinking of making a bunny biscuit maybe they will eat that.

Parsley Graybuns was a very GOOD bunny on Halloween. DH offered him some small slices of fresh, raw, just-cut pumpkin Thursday and Parsley absolutely SNARFED IT UP!

Later (much later), after I was off from work, I offered Parsley a couple more tentative slices of raw pumpkin. "GIMME THAT, WOMAN!" and he snatched it out of my hand, taking it to the back of his ex-pen, where he could enjoy some...privacy :wink: ...with his Piece of Pumpkin.

Well, hey! we've got lots more of that in the fridge! And the rest of the pumpkins were baked yesterday and puréed today. We'll probably freeze the purée for its long-term storage. I'm pretty beat after four or so days of working until after 10:00 at night and then today until 6:00, so I'm not interested in pressure-canning anything. Freezing will be interesting, though...I brought home half a lamb last Saturday, and a lot of that is in the freezer...I think I'm going to have to start cooking from scratch more often (which I actually like to do when my hips/knees aren't hurting), but when I have work in carload lots like I did this week, I'm lucky to put a quesadilla together for lunch, much less thaw/roast/etc. something for dinner.

But the bunny is eating well; today he thought he had died and gone to heaven, I'm pretty sure. I had a large apple as part of breakfast, and I took the seeds out of the core--which I had cut generously, knowing that Parsley would get it. He got some pellets, 3 whole tablespoons' worth, plus the apple core, the pumpkin slices, and his greens. He was soooooo excited! He pressed his nose to my hand, put his little forefeet on my arm, trying to see "Whatcha got, Mom?"

No refusal here, no; not this guy!

Mine bunnies are SOOO picky!!

Yesterday, I brought them goodies home from our church fellowship lunch: baby carrots, celery, grapes, pineapple. Now, me, I figure they'd go for the grapes first -- each got 2 grapes. But, no. All the snatching was for the celery! By this morning, everything was eaten but it seems that celery was the big hit from the treat box.

(Oh, and there were also cucumber slices and grape tomatoes. Those went to the chickens and ducks. FYI: cucumber slices make really cool mini-frizbees!)