Like all other pets, rabbits need special care. Especially, the baby rabbits demand intensive care. Anyway, the baby rabbits drink their mother’s milk for up to 5 or 6 months.
In the meantime, they start eating solid particles like hay from 2 or 3 weeks old. As a beginner rabbit parent, you may have a lot of confusion about the baby rabbit’s diet.
Besides mother’s milk, you could provide unlimited alfalfa hay, healthy pellets, water, rabbit-safe vegetables, and fruits to the young rabbits. If the baby bunny can digest them, it is Okay for them.
In this article, I will walk you through the diet of the young or baby rabbits (Week by week). This guide applies to the pet rabbits who drink their mother’s milk.
If you are interested in learning about the diet of orphaned wild or Orphaned domestic rabbit breeds, you could read this article.
What to Feed Baby Rabbits?
It depends on the age of the baby rabbits. It is very tough to identify the age of the baby bunny. It takes 10 to 14 days to open the eyes of the newborn baby rabbit. So, if you find a baby bunny without opening its eyes, it is too young to take care of. They need hand feeding.
Sometimes the mom bunny doesn’t want to feed milk to its babies. Sometimes, some babies are suffering from malnutrition. So, you have to take special care of them.
Keep reading to learn about what to feed your baby bunnies week after week.
What to Feed Baby Rabbits 2 Weeks Old?
If the age of the baby bunnies is 2 weeks or less than 2 weeks, you need to feed milk to them (If the mom doesn’t allow the baby to drink or the baby is very weak). you could provide the goat milk or Kitten Milk Replacer. But don’t use cow milk or powdered milk.
Kitten milk replacer or goat milk is available in the pet store. So I hope, it will not be a hard job to find them.
Now you need to hand feed the milk to your baby bunny. You could use a sterile oral syringe to feed milk. Which are available in the local pharmaceuticals.
Usually, the mom bunny feeds 2 times a day to its babies. So, you could feed milk two times a day. It is enough. Rather overfeeding is harmful to the baby bunny.
Now the question is how much should you feed the baby bunny. Well, it depends on the breed of the bunny. if it is a large breed, you need to feed a bit more than the small or dwarf breed.
- 0-7 days baby bunny (4-5 cc milk)
- 7-14 days baby bunny (10-15 cc milk)
You don’t need to feed other things except for milk in this period. Milk is enough for their survival.
It would be better if you keep the baby bunny in a warm place (like at room temperature or a bit more). If you have a rabbit hutch or cage you could keep the baby bunny inside the hutch. Warm and cozy bedding is important for baby bunnies.
What to Feed Baby Rabbits 3 Weeks to 6 Weeks Old?
After 3 weeks, the baby bunny naturally starts eating the solid materials. Now their guts are developing and ready to consume all other foods like pellets, hay, and water.
Still, they are drinking their mother’s milk. But they also eat supplementary food items. You can provide fresh grass, alfalfa hay, timothy hay, healthy pellets.
You should have a clear idea of the rabbit diet. The diet of the adult and young rabbits is almost the same. Baby rabbits need more nutrition and fiber than adult rabbits. You can give high amounts of healthy pellets and unlimited alfalfa hay to the baby bunny.
The Ideal Diet For The Baby Bunny
Let’s have a look at the ideal diet for the baby bunny.
Hay
Without any doubt, Hay is the safest and most preferable food for both the adult and baby rabbit. Hay contains a high amount of fiber. You know, the rabbit needs high-fibrous food to maintain good health. Providing protein-rich pellets in high amounts may cause obesity.
Although many of the experts and vets recommend providing alfalfa hay to the baby bunny. You could provide Timothy hay to the baby bunny. it will not cause any harm to the baby bunny.
Apart from the alfalfa, and timothy hay, you could also provide meadow hay, oat hay, and grass hay to your baby bunny.
Green Grass
Can bunny eat the grass from the yard? A very common question from the beginner. Yes, why not? You could allow your baby bunny to eat grass from the yard.
One thing you must keep always in mind. Before providing the grass, please make sure that the grass is safe for the bunny. And they are not treated with insecticides.
Otherwise, you may face a bitter and unwanted experience.
Vegetables
In the wild, rabbits eat almost all kinds of vegetables. Rabbits can digest all types of vegetables except a few.
But you should not provide sugary vegetables like carrots regularly to your bunny. It results in obesity. You could provide high-fibrous vegetables like cabbage and other vegetables to your baby bunny.
Fruits
Most of the fruits are sugary. Yes, you could provide the sugary fruits to the baby buns. Baby bunnies love to eat different types of fruits like apples, guava, and others. You know, fruits contain a high amount of nutrition. So, it is beneficial to the bunnies.
Pellets
All the pellets are not safe for the bunny, especially for the baby bunny. You will find different types of pellets in the market. Some pellets may contain artificial colors and materials.
It would be great if you use timothy hay-based pellets. Among all the suppliers Oxbow is the best. Also, you could try other brands.
Pellets contain a high amount of protein and fiber. It makes your baby rabbit stronger and healthier.
Water
Water is the much-needed food element for the bunny. In the beginning, your bunny may not want to drink water. But you should not give up. In the beginning, you could change the water twice a day. I hope your bunny will be accustomed to the water.
You could use a water bowl or bottle for your baby bunny. Bunny tends to flip the bowl. So, the water bottle is the best choice for me.
During the winter, you could use an electric water bottle to prevent water from freezing.
Treats
Many of us tend to give sugary treats to the bunny. However, providing a high amount of sugary treats causes obesity.
You could provide treats twice or thrice a week, especially during the litter training period. Additionally, it will make a strong bond between you and your bunny.
Transition to the Adult Diet
When your baby bunny is 6 to 8 months old, they are young enough to take the adult diet. In this stage, you should focus on the Hay.
The diet of the adult rabbit contains the following ratio.
- Hay 80-85%
- Pellet: 10-15%
- Water: 5-10%
When Can a Baby Rabbit Have Fresh Foods?
A baby rabbit can eat fresh food just after the weaning or during the weaning. It depends on the feeding habit of the mom rabbit as does the baby rabbit.
If you buy or adopt a baby rabbit, perhaps you don’t know the feeding habits of the particular baby bunny. So if the baby bunny is usually with fresh food and vegetables like lettuce, carrot, cucumber, and others, you could provide fresh food to them.
If you don’t know the previous history, you could provide vegetables in a small amount to cope with the vegetables.
It is completely okay that baby bunnies eat fresh vegetables besides their mom’s milk.
What fresh foods are appropriate for a baby rabbit?
Well, you could provide fresh vegetables and fruits like cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, kale, raspberry leaves, or parsley.
Can I Provide an Unlimited Pellet to The Baby Rabbits?
The answer is both yes or No. Because your baby bunny will be adopted with unlimited pellets. As a result, it will not want to eat the hay and other vegetables. So, it would be great to provide a limited amount of pellets to the baby rabbits.
Contrary, providing an unlimited pellet is not harmful to the baby bunny. Anyway, you should train up your bunny with all types of feed.
Final Thoughts
Rabbits are sensitive pets. You have to take special care of the dog and cat. Otherwise, your bunny will be ill or will die in extreme cases. I believe you will benefit from this baby bunny diet.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to share.
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