[BarkingPup]

So at the time I didn't think much of the previous owner's statement "we only fed him collard greens" but now I wish I had realized what that meant. Hamm refuses to eat anything other than leafy veggies.

So far, he's eaten: lettuce (pretty much all except iceberg), bok choy, chard, kale and various tops and herbs. He does eat broccoli but it causes gas so I haven't fed him any since.

I've tried: sweet bell pepper, squash (butternut, zucchini and acorn so far), cucumber, and asparagus. But he refuses to touch them.

I'm worried he's not getting enough nutrients from his green leafy diet. Especially right now when the winter makes it hard to find anything other than lettuce and the occasional chard. I'm not sure how I get him to eat other foods... do I just keep offering?

 

[Jess]

How about parsley and cilantro? Those are leafy-ish

 

[BarkingPup]

How about parsley and cilantro? Those are leafy-ish

He does eat parsley just not all the time. It's expensive here (more so in the winter) not organic (don't know if I should be worried about that but...). The only herbs I can find that are sold in bushels are watercress and parsley, all the others (sage which he loves etc.) are sold in tiny containers at three bucks which is ridiculous. I'm going to start growing my own herbs tho, so in the summer he should have plenty of food.

My town sucks for specialty items... sigh. If he ate other stuff I wouldn't have to budget his food so much.

 

[FlickeringHope]

I had a terrible time with parsley, so be careful! It only sprouted when I COMPLETELY IGNORED IT. Lol.

 

[Dragonrain]

Does he eat hay? What about pellets?

I don't give my rabbits much pellets, their diet is mainly leafy veggies and tons of hay. I give them a small amount of pellets just in case their diet is lacking in anything, but I give them pellets only a few times a week, not everyday.

I would keep offering him other stuff even if he doesn't eat it at first. Some rabbits are really picky and it will take awhile of offering a new food before they will try it and hopefully decide they like it. One of my rabbits is really picky and he usually won't touch new foods for weeks, then eventually he'll randomly decide that are probably safe and will finally try them.

 

[Purple-Hops]

Akin used to be picky too. . . but it was the opposite, she never got veggies so all she ate was pellets when I got her. Try taking away Hamm's meal of lettuce ad instead offering him some pellets in his food bowl that still smells like his lettuce bowl. Same with hay. When he stops relying so hard on lettuce etc he will eat more of whats around. He will not let himself starve !

 

[Jess]

Yup, that is what I did with Smudge. Before I knew any better, I free-fed him pellets and he wouldn't eat much else... When I took away his pellets, he gave in and chowed down on his hay that same day LOL.

 

[BarkingPup]

@Dragonrain Hamm eats both pellets and hay with gusto. He gets 1/3 cup of pellets a day and 1-2 cups of health food a day. If I had the money to provide more greens I'd do it in a heartbeat but times are tough right now :/

I'll keep shoving extra food into his bowl then.

@Purple-Hops That's a good idea! Make him an opportunistic feeder. Buhahahaha. He'll probably be mad because he loves his leafy foods but he has to eat other stuff! No choice, Hamm!

@Jess I'm sure he appreciated it... even if he was mad... a bit