How to Grow Vegetables and Herbs for Your Rabbit

While we're all familiar with bunnies loving to nibble on carrots, they also enjoy a wide variety of other vegetables and herbs. These snacks not only taste good, but also add valuable nutrients to their daily diet. Here's how to start a garden of your own.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Flowerpots
• Potting Soil
• Trays For Pots
• Vegetable Seeds

1. Buy good potting soil, long flowerpots and drainer trays at a local nursery.

2. Buy seeds for your rabbit's favorite vegetables and herbs. Try romaine lettuce, radishes, escarole or endive, carrots, basil, mint, oregano and broccoli for starters.

3. Set the pots on a table out of your rabbit's reach.

4. Fill the pots with soil and press it down firmly.

5. Plant the seeds according to the package directions, but don't worry too much about spacing. Plants grown in pots can be placed closer together than called for on the package; they'll just be a bit smaller than plants grown outdoors in the ground.

6. Water the seeds well and regularly.

7. Continue to water the plants to reap as many vegetables as possible.

8. Pick fresh vegetables and some herb leaves daily; remember to rinse them well before feeding them to your rabbit. Feed only three or four oregano and basil leaves, as they're more likely than other herbs to cause diarrhea.

Tips & Warnings

• A healthful daily diet for a 5-lb. rabbit consists of 1/4 c. timothy pellets, 1 c. loosely packed fresh vegetables, unlimited timothy hay and unlimited fresh, cool water. If your rabbit is larger or smaller than 5 lbs., you'll need to do some math to figure out how much to feed her.
• Introduce only one or two leaves of the new vegetable at a time, and feed them along with your rabbit's standard diet. This way you'll know if the new food makes her ill.
• Remove the vegetable or herb immediately at the first sign of diarrhea. Wait until your rabbit's stools return to normal before introducing another new food, and avoid giving her the vegetable that made her ill again. If diarrhea persists beyond 8 hours, take your rabbit to the veterinarian immediately for treatment and for subcutaneous fluids to rehydrate her. Diarrhea can be fatal to rabbits.

[betcsbirds]

on 11/1/2008 The comment on the timothy hay being BAD for rabbits goes against every piece of information I have ever read. Whoever that vet was who said that is really not giving proper information. What kind of vegetables were you feeding? That can cause way more problems than hay; also, alfalfa hay and pellets are only for baby bunnies because they have too much calcium for grown rabbits. Check out the website by the renowned exotic animal vet in IL, Dr. Ken Welle, DVM at allcreaturesah.com for accurate information on rabbit care including diet. The only veggies givne should be greens...even carrots can be too sweet and cause gastric stasis in too large a quantity. Rabbits will eat almost anything but many foods can cause serious intestinal problems and death. It is best to feed timothy hay, timothy pellets and fresh greens (parsley, Kale, leaf lettuces, cilantro) with the OCCASIONAL treat o

[somebunnylovesu]

on 8/10/2008 Don't you think that some rabbits have different preferences in what they like the most. Have you noticed that French Rabbits really like the herbs?
http://www.lolbunnies.com/images/rouf2.jpg

[lambertfan]

on 6/20/2008 i am sorry i have to disagree with timothy hay, we had a rabbit he ate timothy hay, pellets and vegies. after a while he got sick, took him to vet and he asked what we fed the rabbit, when we said timothy hay the vet had a fit. he said timothy hay would kill rabbits and guess what it did. so never again will i feed a rabbit timothy hay, our rabbit we have now eats alfalfa pellets, vegies, and fresh water and some bunny treats.

on 3/2/2006 I got a small piece of broccoli and tied a 1m length of string to one end. Then I pulled the broccoli along the ground for my rabbit to chase, I know it's unnatural for a rabbit to chase it's food but my giant Flemish loved it!

on 1/27/2006 I have one rabbit that sleeps in my room. When she is alone I put an old T-shirt in with her and she has a ball throwing it around and messing it up. Rabbits like to have a little privacy, so provide them with a box, with holes in the side for ventilation.