5wk old baby and hay?

[Brass]

I am going to be getting my first rabbit either this weekend or next. It is currently 5 weeks old and the breeder told me that this group of babies self weaned very early. She was concerned about that somewhat so we are considering leaving the bun with her family for another week, since I currently have no rabbits.

Anyway, it is fed entirely pellets. She said that if the baby got diarrhea I could give it some hay. I'm wondering if I could just give hay (or cubes) right off the bat? Or should I wait until a certain age? How do I slowly add it in? I'd like to move toward a more natural, less pelletized diet.

Thank you!

 

[Zass]

Grass hay is usually the safest thing for baby rabbits. I would not just include it, I would strongly encourage feeding it along with the pellets. But...waiting a week, or two, or three, is best if you can.

The survival rate will be higher, the baby will be less stressed, transitioning onto your types of feed will be easier.

If it were me, I'd be happy to let the breeder pay to feed it for the next few weeks.
There really is no benefit to taking them home before 8 weeks. As far as temperament goes, my nicest rabbit ever was brought home at 10 weeks old.

 

[akane]

Usually you don't have to adjust to hay. Many will do it themselves if they haven't had anything but pellets. They are very resistant to new food types. A young one would be more likely to taste test hay sooner but hay is pretty easy on the digestive tract. Any plain grass hay (sometimes cubes have a binder) would be fine. Watch out for weeds. It takes a lot less of a toxic plant to kill a rabbit than it does large livestock and some areas don't value quality grass hay much. You can get great alfalfa here but all local grass hay I call weed hay. I did beg a few bales of sheep hay off a guy who really values his livestock. He said he didn't like how the hay turned out anyway but never why. It was better than the local horse hay aside from the legume hays. Maybe it's just that we have such awesome pasture. Good hay just isn't needed to get them by except a little sunbleached and poorly stored alfalfa.

 

[Brass]

I will have to check the hay for weeds. I know it's a grass mix including clover and sometimes trefoil. No alfalfa, can't grow up here.

My husband says its Timothy, crab grass, quack grass. Don't know the technical names but will have to look that up.

I have Timothy/alfalfa pellets by standlee. I bekieve there are no binders but will double check. <br /><br /> __________ Sun May 18, 2014 9:11 am __________ <br /><br /> Bentonite: binder???

 

[akane]

There's really no point feeding hay pellets to a rabbit on regular rabbit pellets. Your pellet is the same type of powdered or close to it hay but with some grains and supplements. They are mostly only useful when putting together a pellet free diet and even then hay cubes are superior. Longer strands have a greater positive effect on teeth and digestion.

Bentonite should actually be a safe binder. It's a clay that many feed to animals or take themselves for the health benefits.

 

[Brass]

I mis-typed. I have Kalmbach Pellets and Standlee CUBES.

I'll just feed hay!

Do I start with small amounts and work up?