If you just acquired your first pet rabbit,one of the most important question to get answers to is to know what do pet rabbits eat.There are so many different kinds of rabbit food

in the pet stores that you are probably puzzled about what to buy.These are 6 essentials things to provide your rabbit that will keep him healthy.

What Rabbit Eat and keep Rabbit Healthy

Hay Alfalfa hay should be available to your rabbit at all times until he reaches the ages of 6 to 8 monts old.Because alfalfa provide a high concentration of calcium and carbohydrates, you have to gradually switch him to Timothy hay.Loose, long strands of hay contains fiber and promote good digestion.

Fresh Food Your rabbit should get about a cup of fresh greens everyday per 5 pounds of weight.Give him at least 3 different fresh greens like spinach, brocoli, celery leaves, fresh grass from the garden, dandelions leaves, romaine lettuce, ect.Start him out at the age of 2 months gradually, adding a new green every week and remove from the diet anything that cause diarrhea.

Fruits and treats Limit your rabbit to about one tablespoon of fruit a day.Too much fruit will make him sick and promote teeth decay.Great treats consist in strawberry, babana, pinaple, blueberry,apple, any fresh fruit that he likes. Avoid dried fruits, raisins, cereal bars,bread, salty or sugary snacks, oatmeal and fresh or dried corn.

Rabbit Pellets Young rabbits up to height month old should have free access to alfalfa pellets.After that limit the amount to 1/8 of a cup daily for a 2-4 pounds rabbit. Also gradually switch him to timothy hay based pellets.Resist the temptation to give him more. To much pellets will lead to obesity because of their high calcium and carbohydrate content.

Water and vitamins Fresh water must be available at all times for your rabbit.Serving it in a bowl is better for the rabbit to drink,promoting a natural drinking position.If you have to put him in a cage on some occasions and he spills all his water, then give him a drinking bottle instead.Vitamins and salts are not necessary when your rabbit get a balance diet everyday.

Night Droppings A few times a day after eating you will notice your pet licking his anal area and eating some of his droppings at the same time. This is normal for the rabbit so do not worry about it.What he is eating are called "cecotropes". They are made of vital nutriments that have not been absorbed well by the large intestine.The rabbit need these nutriments in his diet.It is just a part of what do pet rabbits eat.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I hope you found this information helpful on what do pet rabbit eat.Did you know that pet rabbits can be quite easily litter trained? To get a lot more free tips and watch videos about pet rabbits, please visit my blog at http://www.petrabbitcare.blogspot.com and enjoy learning about your pet rabbit!

Pet Rabbits Have Required Essentials

05.11.2009 | Author: myarticlenetwork | Posted in Uncategorized

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Rabbits may be small in stature, but they have a lot of special needs and requirements that differ from the normal type of pets that we are accustomed to. If it is in your mind to have a rabbit for a pet, the need to take the steps to learn how to take care of one first. To get you started, here are some things you should learn:

Rabbit Hutch

Ideally, your rabbit’s cage should be at least 4 times larger than your rabbit, but bigger is always better especially if it will spend most of its time inside the cage. The cage’s floor should be solid. Many people are still apt to use a rabbit cages that have wire floors in them as they are much easier to keep clean than solid floor type cages, but this can often lead to problems in sores on your rabbits feet.If you are using a cage that has a wire floor, then you need to cover it with a sisal mat or grass, or even a piece of wood.

What to Feed Your Rabbit

Make sure that you have an unlimited supply of grass hay, such as brome or timothy. This is a primary part of your rabbits diet, and it truly helps to keep your rabbit healthy by ensuring that it has a clean intestinal tract. You will also need to keep a supply of quality rabbit pellets on hand. You should feed younger rabbits (younger than six months) pellets that contain a minimum of 8% fiber and approximately 15 to 19% protein. You are also going to need to feed your rabbit things such as collard greens, carrots tops, different types of lettuce, turnip greens, and any other type of dark leafy green vegetable that might come to mind. At least 2 cups of leaves should be given for 6 pounds of rabbit. Give your rabbit a clean and fresh supply of water at all times.

Litter Training

Rabbits have a tendency to use a single part of its cage for littering. Once your pet makes up it’s mind, fill it with pelleted-newspaper litter or timothy hay. You need to make sure that you claim it’s litter box each and every day to keep the odors down.

Cleaning

Make sure that you clean your rabbits cage once a week. When you do this, you need to put your rabbit in another safe place in your house, or an alternate cage. Sweep the floor to remove any solid debris. Whenever you clean and scrub the cage floor, make sure that you use soap and warm water.

Handling

Rabbit injury is caused by improper handling. Do not pick up the rabbit from it’s ears. The way to pick up your rabbit safely, is to use one hand to give its front leg support and the other hand it to give its back legs support.

Supplies for Your Rabbit

The following items are a requirement if you want to own a rabbit: cage, pelleted bedding or litter box, carrier, hay rack and grass hay, grooming brush, quality rabbit pellets, safe chew toys, digging box, water and food bowl (preferably ceramic).

rabbit

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

rabbit name for herbivorous mammals of the family Leporidae, which also includes the hare and the pika . Rabbits and hares have large front teeth, short tails, and large hind legs and feet adapted for running or jumping. In most, the length of the ears is considerably greater than the width. Although usage varies, the term rabbit generally refers to small, running animals, with relatively short ears and legs, which give birth to blind, naked young, while hare refers to larger, hopping forms, with longer ears and legs, whose young are born furred and open-eyed. Rabbits are chiefly nocturnal, although they are sometimes seen in the daytime. They have acute senses of smell and hearing. They feed on a wide variety of vegetation and are responsible in many areas for the stunted nature of the ground cover. When feeding on green herbage, rabbits, like hares, excrete soft pellets which

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rabbit name for herbivorous mammals of the family Leporidae, which also includes the hare and the pika . Rabbits and hares have large front teeth, short tails, and large hind legs and feet adapted for running or jumping. In most, the length of the ears is considerably greater than the width. Although usage varies, the term rabbit generally refers to small, running animals, with relatively short ears and legs, which give birth to blind, naked young, while hare refers to larger, hopping forms, with longer ears and legs, whose young are born furred and open-eyed. Rabbits are chiefly nocturnal, although they are sometimes seen in the daytime. They have acute senses of smell and hearing. They feed on a wide variety of vegetation and are responsible in many areas for the stunted nature of the ground cover. When feeding on green herbage, rabbits, like hares, excrete soft pellets which they reingest; the waste products of the redigested food are excreted as dry pellets. Wild rabbits are frequently infected with tularemia , which is dangerous to humans.

The European Common Rabbit

The European common rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, is native to S Europe and Africa, but is now found, in its domestic varieties, throughout the world; wild varieties have also been introduced in some places, such as England. All domestic rabbits, including the so-called Belgian hare, belong to this species. Wild common rabbits are up to 16 in. (41 cm) long and usually weigh 2 to 3 lb (0.9-1.4 kg). They have soft, thick fur, usually grayish brown above and white below. The tail is usually carried upright when the animal runs, exposing the white undersurface. Common rabbits live in elaborate systems of adjoining burrows called warrens. The young are suckled in a special burrow, dug by the mother at a distance from the warren and lined with a nest of her own fur. The entrance to this burrow is plugged with earth when she is away. Domestic rabbits, which may be various colors but are commonly white, are bred for food and for their fur, which is much used in making fur trim and felt. They are also frequently used as laboratory animals and are kept as pets.

New World Rabbits

The New World genus Sylvilagus includes the many species of cottontail rabbit , which resemble the European rabbit in appearance, as well as the marsh rabbit and swamp rabbit ( Sylvilagus palustris and S. aquaticus, respectively), of the S United States. These rabbits do not burrow, although in winter they may shelter in a burrow abandoned by another animal. They usually rest, like hares, in hollows which they make in the ground or in vegetation. The Idaho pygmy rabbit, Brachylagus idahoensis, of the U.S. Great Basin, digs simple burrows. The many North American species called jackrabbit are actually hares, as is the snowshoe rabbit, or varying hare . There are several species of short-eared rabbits in Asia and one, the volcano rabbit, or Mexican pygmy rabbit ( Romerolagus diazi ), in central Mexico, where it is in danger of extinction.

Reproduction

The reproductive rate of rabbits is notorious. The common rabbit breeds from February to October; its gestation period is 30 days and there are five to eight young in a litter. In most regions its numbers are kept down by its many predators, such as the fox, the badger, and birds of prey. However, when domestic rabbits escaped in Australia, where they had few natural enemies, they ran rampant and stripped the countryside of vegetation in many regions. They were brought partially under control by the artificial introduction of a viral disease, myxomatosis.

Classification

Rabbits are classified in the phylum Chordata , subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Lagomorpha, family Leporidae.