What to Feed a Baby Rabbit: Essential Guide for New Bunny Parents

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing great. Today, I’m going to talk about what to feed a baby rabbit. This diet is for any rabbit 7 weeks to 6 months of age. Before 7 weeks, rabbits should still be with their mother and drinking milk from her. This period is similar to when they start to wean. After 7 weeks, they start becoming a bit more independent and can eat completely on their own. I’ll go through everything your baby rabbit should be eating, how much to feed them, and when to start each part of their diet. Many people can get really confused and stressed about this process, so let’s clear things up.

Fresh Water: Essential for Your Baby Rabbit

Something your rabbit will always need is fresh water provided in a dish 24/7. Pet stores do sell bottles for rabbits to drink out of. I personally would never feed a rabbit water out of a water bottle just because the tip does not allow enough water to come out, and rabbits actually drink the same amount as a 20 lb dog. Because of that, they need to have a dish that allows them to drink as much as they want as easily as they can.

When a rabbit drinks out of a bottle, a lot of the time they’ll grab it with their teeth and shake it around because they get very frustrated that they can’t get enough water out. That is why I personally feed water from a dish. If your rabbit is currently drinking out of a bottle and you’d like to switch them to a dish, just put a dish of water in there along with the bottle for a while and wait for your rabbit to start drinking out of the dish. Most likely, they will start drinking out of the dish once it’s provided just because it is way more natural for rabbits to drink that way and they just like it a lot better. As far as keeping the dish clean, some people worry about this. Honestly, as long as you are emptying it, rinsing it, and refilling it twice a day, there will be no problem with it being too dirty or whatever.

Hay: The Cornerstone of a Baby Rabbit’s Diet

The next thing I’m going to be talking about is hay. Just like adult rabbits, baby rabbits need hay 24/7. This should be provided in a hay rack, in their litter box, or some sort of basket—something that’s really easy for them to access and eat.

Sometimes it’s hard to get baby rabbits to start eating more hay, and because of that, you do have to offer a couple of different kinds of hay to see what they like. A lot of people say to only feed baby rabbits alfalfa hay. Now, it’s completely fine for baby rabbits to have alfalfa hay and alfalfa pellets, but it’s not a rule that they have to only eat that. A lot of times it’s really nice to mix in a grass hay along with alfalfa hay because then, once they need to be weaned off of alfalfa, they will already be used to the grass hay. As far as hay, I would personally mix alfalfa and grass hay in your baby rabbit’s diet just so that the transition is much easier, and grass hay is totally safe for babies.

Pellets: Balancing Quantity and Quality

The next thing I’m going to be talking about is pellets. A lot of people recommend that baby rabbits be fed alfalfa pellets unlimited. Some people do choose to feed this way, and it’s not wrong; it’s completely safe for baby rabbits. But actually, most often babies do not need unlimited pellets. A lot of the time, that makes them not eat as much hay, and hay is the most important thing, especially in baby rabbits, because their gut is still developing and very sensitive. The more hay they eat, the healthier their gut will be and the healthier they will be.

If you’re feeding too many pellets, sometimes they aren’t getting the hay that they need to keep themselves healthy. Because of this, you can start measuring, you know, like a half cup or fourth cup a day for your rabbit to eat. At the beginning, of course, you’re going to want to start out with a larger quantity and then slowly decrease the quantity as you do not want to make diet changes quickly because that can upset rabbits’ stomachs. Personally, with Sterling, I just watched to see how many pellets he actually ate and then fed him that much once a day or twice a day, split up, and he did really great on that. He started eating a lot more hay, which is what I really wanted.

Introducing Veggies: Step-by-Step Process

The next thing I’m going to be talking about is veggies. A lot of people probably think that baby rabbits cannot have veggies, and I also have gotten a lot of questions asking how to introduce vegetables correctly, when can my rabbit start eating veggies, and all that type of stuff. It is kind of true and kind of false that baby rabbits can have fresh veggies. When they are very young, like a couple of weeks old or a couple of months old, I probably wouldn’t feed too many veggies at that point just because their gut is still developing and the best thing for them at that age is just to have a lot of hay and roughage. Normally, when they’re very young, you do not want to give fresh vegetables and stuff like that. People recommend waiting until they’re about 3 months old or until they’ve been on grass hay for at least 2 weeks.

The reason they need to be on grass hay is that this creates a really healthy gut, so once you start feeding them fresh vegetables, it won’t get upset. A lot of people will try vegetables, and then their rabbit will get runny poop, and they’ll be like, “My rabbit can’t eat vegetables because it gets an upset stomach from it.” Rabbits in the wild were created to eat grass and fresh produce all day long, and that’s what they eat. Fresh vegetables are really healthy for them, and most rabbits are completely fine with fresh vegetables once you introduce them correctly. You also read my articles what vegetables can rabbit eat and what can’t rabbit eat.

The first step is to wait 2 weeks after they have been on grass hay so that their gut is nice and healthy. After that, you want to introduce very, very slowly some vegetables into your rabbit’s diet. Normally, what I do is take a tiny little piece of Romaine, red leaf, or green leaf—something really easy on a rabbit’s stomach—and give them a little piece one day, then wait until the next day to give them any more. During that period, you want to watch and make sure they aren’t having runny poop. If they are, then you’re just going to want to wait until they stop having that. Really push the hay and try to get them to eat a lot more hay during this time. Try to offer a lot of different types of hay like orchard grass, Timothy, and meadow hay. There’s a ton of different grass hays out there, so just try to give them a lot of hay so that they are eating a lot of hay. Normally, my rabbits will have a little bit of runny poop with the first vegetable I ever try, and that’s completely normal. It’s totally fine as long as you don’t keep increasing the vegetables and making it worse.

If they do have runny poop, slow down and take away that vegetable, don’t feed that for a while, and just wait for the runny poop to disappear. After about a day with solid poop, you can try again with the same small amount. Probably try a different type of veggie this time, a different type of lettuce or something like that, and see how they react. Normally, rabbits react really well to Romaine. I’ve never really had issues with that, as long as you go slow. Just keep giving them a tiny little piece every day. After a couple of days, you can start increasing the amount you give—not an obnoxious amount, but slowly increase it. By about a week, I had Sterling on a full piece of Romaine lettuce. Once your rabbit is eating one piece of lettuce completely fine, you can try a different type of vegetable like kale, collard greens, or some herbs. Just like before, start with a small piece and gradually increase. That’s pretty much how you do it. Eventually, you want your rabbit up to one cup of vegetables for every two pounds of body weight. Ideally, you’ll want them on that amount by their six months of age so that they’re on the adult rabbit diet by then. But if you got your rabbit towards the end of its baby stage and it’s just introducing vegetables, be sure to take your time. You do not want to rush it or push it and make them have an upset stomach.

Treats: Sparing and Healthy

Last but not least is treats. I know a lot of you are going to want to give a lot of treats because your rabbit is so cute when you bring them home, but please try to restrict yourself and not feed too many. Sugary treats can really upset a rabbit’s stomach, especially at this young age, but they can have a small amount. I would personally try something very small, like a little piece of a dried carrot or a little piece of dried fruit or something like that. A vegetable would probably be more mild and not as sugary as fruit, so it’s really up to you, but don’t give too much. Also, stay away from all of those really nasty processed treats. Cereals, wheat, flour, and anything like that is a big no-no in a rabbit’s diet, especially dairy. Dairy is not good either.

I probably wouldn’t feed treats every day, especially at this young age, and I also probably would not give treats until the rabbit is old enough to eat vegetables at around 3 months or so and after they’ve been eating grass hay just to know that their stomach is going to handle it okay. In the beginning, when you’re introducing new vegetables, that is kind of going to be a treat to your bunny, so they really don’t need any other treats at that point. Once they start getting older and their stomach is handling a lot of stuff, then you can start feeding a little bit more treats, but also know that treats are just fed sparingly. Even with adult rabbits, I only give a couple of treats a day, even if that. Sometimes I don’t even give treats every day. It really just depends, and make sure to stick with healthy treats.

 

So that’s pretty much it for this article. I hope that gave you a little bit of insight into what baby rabbits should be eating. Remember to always ask your rabbit vet if their diet is good or if it needs any adjusting. Also, remember each rabbit is different and is going to accept things differently and have different speeds for introducing vegetables and all that. Don’t feel bad if your rabbit is behind or ahead because there is no strict schedule. Just relax and have fun with it, and I’m sure your rabbit will do great. If you have any further questions, be sure to leave them down below. If your rabbit ever stops eating or is acting sick, please bring them to the vet. Thank you so much for reading, if you found it helpful please share it with your bunny parent friends.