There are few people who treat these cute creatures with indifference. Rabbits are not only bred in private farms for obtaining meat and fluffy fur, but also contain just for their own pleasure in homes and apartments. In order for the animal to be healthy, happy with life and cheerful, you should know how to properly feed rabbits.
How can you feed rabbits at home?
Before you buy a fluffy friend, find out how best to feed rabbits, as well as on the proper mode of feeding them. It is best to constantly use the same type of balanced diet. The main criterion: fiber should be a lot, calories - a little. You can not treat the pet with delicacies that are not found ready-made in nature (chocolate, chips, cakes, fresh rolls and the like)
The lifespan of a rabbit depends directly on the correct content. You can not dramatically transfer the rabbit to a new feeding regimen. Even a very useful and tasty treat should be introduced gradually, in limited quantities, so that the stomach adapts to the unusual food. Otherwise, the rabbit may have a stomach stop, which in the future will lead to the death of the animal.
What vegetables can you feed rabbits?
Since rabbits are herbivores, vegetables are part of their diet. Try to ask the child how and what to feed the rabbits correctly and anyone will answer you: "Carrots and cabbage!" What kind of vegetables do you really want to treat your pet and which ones will harm him? Is it possible to feed rabbits with raw potatoes, beets and other root crops? Vegetable menu must be included in daily feeding. Vegetables need to be washed, wipe dry before feeding. Here are some vegetables that can make up the rabbit's diet:
- carrot;
- leaves of stern cabbage;
- beet;
- Jerusalem artichoke, potatoes (boiled or raw, in minimum quantity);
What kind of fruit can you feed rabbits?
That's what you can feed a domestic rabbit besides hay, cereals and vegetables, so it's fruits. Fruits - an excellent source of vitamins, their rodent eats with pleasure. Introduce in the diet of fruit, like any new food, should be carefully, carefully monitoring the condition of the rabbit and controlling the stool of the animal. Preference is given to fruits with dense flesh (apples, hard varieties of pears, quince). From citrus fruits, you can give one mandarin slice about once every three days. Fruit is better not to mix in one feeding, and offer their pet separately.
What kind of grain to feed rabbits?
Cereals are best given to the rabbit in the form of grain mixtures. In these mixtures it is possible to add the grain of such plants as:
- corn;
- oats;
- barley;
- wheat.
Corn can be offered to a rabbit both in cabbage and in bulk, although some breeders claim that it is better to grind it. Once a day, it is allowed to treat the rabbit with oats (preferably purified from shells) to improve digestion. Barley is nutritious, but it should be given in a small amount in a crushed form, its shell is poorly digested by the stomach of a rabbit. Can I feed rabbits with wheat? Yes, you can. This grain is readily eaten by the rabbits, wheat contains vitamins of group B, E and up to 15% of protein, but it is better to give it in tandem with other grains or to interfere in the feed mix.
What kind of grass can you feed rabbits?
Dry hay from meadow grasses and flowers, or meadow grass and field flowers in the sun-tidy form - the main food of a rabbit. Hay needs a rabbit to improve intestinal motility, so that the food is well advanced along the gastrointestinal tract, it must be included in the rabbit diet. For hay, any herbs suitable, except for poisonous (such as spurge, celandine). What kind of grass to feed rabbits: alfalfa, dill, parsley, lettuce, spinach, celery, carrot tops.
Can I feed rabbits with bread?
Whether rabbits are fed bread - this question worries many owners and causes discussions between supporters and opponents of such food. Rabbits gladly eat crackers. But they should not give fresh bread, we do not forget about their weak stomach! Bread is cut into pieces so large that it is convenient for the rabbit to chew them and dry them in air or in a low-fire oven. Bread is not food for a rabbit, but a treat - we mean it.
What to feed a dwarf rabbit?
As a pet, it is preferable to keep a decorative rabbit . It is smaller than a rabbit intended for agricultural purposes and less shy. Let's try to figure out how to properly feed rabbits living in a city apartment. After all, such a rabbit moves less than his forest brother, so it is especially important that the food is balanced and not too high in calories.
The better to feed rabbits of decorative rocks :
- in the summer - grass from ecologically clean area, in winter - dry hay (this hay can be harvested by yourself or bought in a pet store) in the amount that it considers necessary to eat a rabbit;
- grain mixtures;
- branches of apple, linden, willow, coniferous species;
- fruits and vegetables;
- factory dry food in limited quantities (otherwise the rabbit will refuse to eat hay, which is bad for digestion)
What to feed the little rabbits?
How to properly feed a domestic rabbit at an early age: children rabbits can not be limited in nutrition, food in the cage should always be. In connection with the unsettled stomach of a rabbit, it is better to not give fresh grass and juicy forage until 3-4 months, only dry hay. To develop the musculature and bones of the skeleton of rabbits, protein and calcium are needed, which it can receive from special feeds for young animals. Such food is in pet stores.
How many times a day to feed rabbits?
As a rule, a rabbit himself knows how much food he needs. Limit the animal should only if the rabbit is gluttonous and threatened by obesity. In other cases, in the question "how much should you feed a rabbit a day?" Rely on the natural instinct of the animal. The gastrointestinal tract of the rabbit is so arranged that, to maintain the tone of the intestinal muscles, it needs a lot of fiber, hay and clean water in the water bowl. If the hay in the rabbit is permanent, then problems with digestion is not expected.
Feed the rabbit with a juicy food, a grain mix with vitamin supplements, twice a day - in the morning and in the evening. Since the rabbit is considered a nocturnal animal, the evening portion of food should be somewhat larger and caloric than the morning meal. Juicy foods after feeding should be removed from the cage, so they do not wander and do not become moldy. Such a spoiled feed is deadly to rabbits!
Well, you learned how to properly feed rabbits. Being a master of a fluffy rabbit is very pleasant and not at all difficult. All that is required of you is attention and affection. Experienced rabbit breeders believe that an attentive owner will immediately notice deviations in the behavior and state of health of the animal. And the measures taken in time will allow your pets to be healthy and cheerful during the years that nature released them.