Questions and comments about plant safety for rabbits.

[MaggieJ]

You're right, Michael, that moderation is important when feeding a certain plant to rabbits. Moderation and variety are both key.

I generally gather a little or this and a little of that - usually five or six species per feeding. The rabbits do occasionally get a large amount of one plant (such as downed branches of willow after a storm) but since they are fed such a variety most of the time, they can manage these occasional one-dimensional feedings.

 

[rabbit@rtist]

Here's a VEGETABLE LIST
I've been using for 9 years (and the minirex bun just went down, but with lung cancer-- so hay + mycotoxins is my next post!)
The water you rinse the greens with helps hydrate, so leave it wet. (Distilled water will help keep kidneys clean and free of buildup.)
I feed a "salad" in the morning along with dry food and fresh water in clean crock, repeat all early in the evening and free feed timothy hay at all times.

Select at least 3 kinds of vegetables daily. I feed all organic.
A variety is necessary in order to obtain the necessary nutrients, with one each day that contains Vitamin A, indicated by ( * ) .

Add one vegetable to the diet at a time. Eliminate if it causes soft stools or diarrhea.

(!)= Use sparingly. [/b]High in either oxalates or goitrogens and may be toxic in accumulated quantities over a period of time.

Also, watch for gas-- espec broccoli and other root vegetables. And feed small amounts!
Not every rabbit likes or tolerates all of these, they will let you know. Watch the poops!-- like reading tea leaves. Very important especially when giving new food. Also the quality of the food makes a big difference.

Alfalfa, radish and clover sprouts
Arugula (!) *
Basil
Beet greens (tops)*
Bok choy
Broccoli (mostly leaves/steams) *
Carrot and carrot tops*
Celery
Cilantro
Clover
Collard Greens*
Dandelion greens and flowers (no pesticides)*
Endive*
Escarole
Green peppers
Kale (!)*
Mint
Mustard greens*
Parsley* flat leaf is best
Pea pods (the flat edible kind) *
Peppermint leaves
Radish (tops only)
Rasberry leaves
Romaine lettuce (no iceberg or light colored leaf) *
Baby Spinach (!)*
Watercress*
Wheat grass

I also use organic flat leaf parsley, basil and others for "treats" instead of commercial items. My rabbits prefer the list... and won't even eat anything from a bag. Bonus also-- these are all non-fattening. Bun appetite!

 

[michaels4gardens]

You're right, Michael, that moderation is important when feeding a certain plant to rabbits. Moderation and variety are both key.

I generally gather a little or this and a little of that - usually five or six species per feeding. The rabbits do occasionally get a large amount of one plant (such as downed branches of willow after a storm) but since they are fed such a variety most of the time, they can manage these occasional one-dimensional feedings.

I try to never let my rabbits be overly hungry when introducing new food plants to the feed mix, and I try to watch and see what they are eating and what they are leaving in the manger, and I always clean out the manger each night before refilling it [ the "waste" feed goes to sheep, who seem to be great garbage disposals for almost anything] My rabbits will eat a great quantity of some things for a few days, [like Cheese weed "malva neglecta"] -- I fed 3 wheelbarrows / day of malva neglecta for 3 days, along with kale, a little amaranth, and lambsquarters, and misc greens and garden weeds, the first 3 days they gobbled it up completely,to the exclusion of other "normal feeds", but after the 3rd day they had stopped eating any of the cheeseweed at all, so-there must have been something in it they needed, -and-- there must be something in it that has a limiting / toxic effect that accumulates. If I had let them just be hungry until it was eaten, I could have caused some kind of "poisoning" [or other negative consequences]
-same with willow, and cottonwood branches, after a storm there are lots available for feeding, but I always watch to see when they have had enough, and make sure there are other foods for them to move on to. Kale, Chicory, and radish greens are my staple green feeds I grow here, that they seem to always be ready for, so I try to make sure that some of that is available to them to "move on to" .
anyway-- JMHO

 

[MaggieJ]

I try to never let my rabbits be overly hungry when introducing new food plants to the feed mix, and I try to watch and see what they are eating and what they are leaving in the manger, and I always clean out the manger each night before refilling it [ the "waste" feed goes to sheep, who seem to be great garbage disposals for almost anything] My rabbits will eat a great quantity of some things for a few days, [like Cheese weed "malva neglecta"] -- I fed 3 wheelbarrows / day of malva neglecta for 3 days, along with kale, a little amaranth, and lambsquarters, and misc greens and garden weeds, the first 3 days they gobbled it up completely,to the exclusion of other "normal feeds", but after the 3rd day they had stopped eating any of the cheeseweed at all, so-there must have been something in it they needed, -and-- there must be something in it that has a limiting / toxic effect that accumulates. If I had let them just be hungry until it was eaten, I could have caused some kind of "poisoning" [or other negative consequences]
-same with willow, and cottonwood branches, after a storm there are lots available for feeding, but I always watch to see when they have had enough, and make sure there are other foods for them to move on to. Kale, Chicory, and radish greens are my staple green feeds I grow here, that they seem to always be ready for, so I try to make sure that some of that is available to them to "move on to" .
anyway-- JMHO

This is excellent advice, Michael! Thanks for posting it.

 

[rabbit@rtist]

Some of the best info I've seen

Super video and info from MediRabbit.com
about which fresh vegetables and how to feed them to your rabbits.
Including another most important component, how to check for gas and what to do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxCWDf0Wauk

 

[Sagebrush]

I have a question, is the ficus tree (Ficus exasperate) safe to feed the leaves to rabbits? I cannot find any information about it. I also have a fig tree (Ficus carica) that I would like to add the leaves and fruit to the rabbits forage if safe.

 

[EnglishSpot]

English Primroses--the type you can get from the store in late winter and early spring (primula vulgaris). I am aware that the leaves themselves are poisonous but last spring our rabbit would just decimate the flowers off the primrose--and not touch the plant itself. She snapped off the primrose flowers so quick that I didn't need to deadhead at all and it kept blooming til early summer!!

Wikipedia states that for humans the flowers and leaves are edible.

Obviously, the rabbit isn't dead and she never touched the leaves themselves, but does anyone know if there is an accumulation effect with primrose flowers?

 

[michaels4gardens]

JMHO--I have learned a lot by trial and error, [sometimes that is a bad thing] but-- I feel that as long as your rabbits have plenty of safe things to choose from, they will "USUALLY" eat the good and leave the bad.] - but-- some things build up in the system and then become a problem, like malva neglecta [cheese weed] chenopodium species [lambsquarters] amaranth [red root pigweed to some]
--plants that are loved and "safe" for rabbits still need to be fed along with some palatable "always safe foods [ like grass hay]. so that when the rabbits get enough of a particular food, they have something else to move on to for a few days until their system clears whatever it is that is building up. Rabbits will eat things that are poisonous if they are hungry, or just hungry for greens, so -- as long as you don't introduce questionable foods to a hungry rabbit there is less chance they will eat very much of things that are toxic. again JMHO -- we have all heard stories of rabbits that killed themselves eating toxic plants , -so reasonable caution is advisable. BUt-- as a general rule, things people can eat --rabbits can eat-- including cooked meat /meat byproducts [avocados are possibly one the exceptions]

 

[EnglishSpot]

She had a wide variety in the yard to eat from (willow, snapdragons, petunias, geranium, marigolds, pot herbs) and I tried to keep the prims above rabbit level, but inevitably the pots got moved off the outdoor table and back on the ground.

I'm a bit uncertain now as to the 'poisonousness' of primrose leaves.... if I can eat them, she can too?? I'll have to do some more research!! Thank you, Michael!

 

[lereg15]

I'm a complete idiot when it comes to research on the computer, so can anybody tell me what this is and if they're safe for rabbits?

 

[Susie570]

Thistle maybe? Thistle would be rabbit safe (does it have stickers on it?)

Kind of looks like dandelion weeds too, but they would probably have flower head on them by now (many of ours do)

 

[lereg15]

Thistle maybe? Thistle would be rabbit safe (does it have stickers on it?)

Kind of looks like dandelion weeds too, but they would probably have flower head on them by now (many of ours do)

It's sure not dandelions!! I have thousands of them (I should have taken a pic of a portion of my yard).
No, they don't have any stickers on them, but they do have a fuzzy feel to them. They kind of look like the weeds we had in Fl, but those had little 'lady finger firecracker' type flowers that came out of them. As far as I know, these dont have that kind of flower to them, if any at all, ( I'm slacking on my yard work so far), so I usually weedeat them or mow them down.

Here's a close up of them:

 

[Rainey]

Chicory? I'm not so good at telling from photos, but if it is chicory the rabbits love it and it's good for them and that would be at the right early stage. (Chicory has blue flowers and gets stemmy later in the season.)
If you can, find someone in your area that knows their plants and if possible find out the Latin name as the common names vary widely around the country and around the world.

 

[lereg15]

Chicory? I'm not so good at telling from photos, but if it is chicory the rabbits love it and it's good for them and that would be at the right early stage. (Chicory has blue flowers and gets stemmy later in the season.)
If you can, find someone in your area that knows their plants and if possible find out the Latin name as the common names vary widely around the country and around the world.

Possibly, I don't know, but they seem to have a broader leaf than some of the pics I've seen of them. I asked a grounds keeper about it, and he said he would let me know, ( if he does or not is a different story).
I think I found it, but not 100% sure. Dwarf Plantain or Plantago virginica. I know it's from just pictures, but could anybody verify this for me, Please?

 

[Rainey]

Plantain is also good rabbit forage but all the ones I know have smooth leaves, not fuzzy.

 

[the reluctant farmer]

I don't think so. The plantains I see, including plantago virginica, have...lines..like fibers inside of the leaves..running the length of the leaves. Sometimes they're spade-shaped leaves, sometimes rounded, but they always seem to have this thick, smoothish texture with the fibers running the length of the leaves. If you tear a leaf, you'll feel the "strings". I've attached a picture from the web & will take one if I get a chance from my yard. Whatever it is that you have, I hope the groundskeeper ID's it, because I have it, too!

 

[michaels4gardens]

Shepherd's purse starts out looking kind of like that, but i think the leaf edges are kind of jagged, -or maybe- Hawkweed, - [is edible]

 

[lereg15]

I don't think so. The plantains I see, including plantago virginica, have...lines..like fibers inside of the leaves..running the length of the leaves. Sometimes they're spade-shaped leaves, sometimes rounded, but they always seem to have this thick, smoothish texture with the fibers running the length of the leaves. If you tear a leaf, you'll feel the "strings". I've attached a picture from the web & will take one if I get a chance from my yard. Whatever it is that you have, I hope the groundskeeper ID's it, because I have it, too!

Thanks!! I hope he does too, but another guy said possibly plaintains too. I can always take one to the golf course, head maintenance guy too, if the guy never answers me back! <br /><br /> __________ Wed Apr 08, 2015 9:07 pm __________ <br /><br />

Shepherd's purse starts out looking kind of like that, but i think the leaf edges are kind of jagged, -or maybe- Hawkweed, - [is edible]

The hawkweed looks like the plants I was talking about in Fl.

 

[Susie570]

I don't know about that plant, but check this out

http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/13270-just-a-weed-or-an-unrecognized-health-boosting-plant.html

 

[michaels4gardens]

I don't know about that plant, but check this out

http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/13270-just-a-weed-or-an-unrecognized-health-boosting-plant.html

Purslane is a common weed, also an ornamental with various varieties and flower colors and sizes, [ornamental varieties I have tasted are more bitter]- also a great salad vegetable with several culinary varieties, [I prefer Golden, and Red Gunner.] I think it is much better added raw to salad, as cooking seems to make it a little slimey . [ my rabbits like it also]

__________ Thu Apr 09, 2015 5:56 am __________

[For our warm climate friends ]--another plant both me and my rabbits liked ,was Xanthosoma brasilense [Tannier Spinach] but it likes a warm climate [like Florida where I lived when I grew it] They also like Bac-haw Taro [colocasia esculenta] leaves, -Both of these plant varieties contain very little of the " itch " that must be cooked out the leaves of most "edible" xanthosoma or colocasia varieties. My rabbits seemed to like small amounts of Turmeric leaf also. Rabbits also like a lot of the leaves of "True Yam" dioscorea sp.], and seem to be able to eat vast quantities with out a problem, - I also grew a plant called Chaya [Cnidoscolus chayamansa] http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/982- ... acle-plant I liked the variety I had as I could eat it raw [some varieties have a lot of cyanide or stinging hairs on the leaves ] my rabbits liked small ammounts , they would eat a bunch of it for a day or two, then ingore it for about 3 days, then eat some more [it must have toxins that accumulate in the body] --modern scientists have concluded that Chaya must be "toxic" and must be cooked, [total supposition based on no direct studdies] -because it contains Cyano-whatevers , but the natives of central mexico have been eating large quantities of it raw for a thousand years, so-- scientists must know something I and the natives have never noticed.