# Don't tell me I screwed up already..Rabbits and oak leaves



## UUmom2many (Apr 21, 2009)

So the cage was outside waiting bunnies. Some very brittle dry oak leaves got in the cage. I cleaned it out but missed about 2 or 3. We put the new bunny in and he ate them like an addict. I looked it up but some sites say any dry tree leaves are bad, some sites say toxic others don't say at all. I'm so worried I did something horrible to my bunny. 

We're in FL and I believe these are live oaks. The leaves were compleley dry, crumble to the touch really and all brown. If that makes a difference...


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## a7736100 (Jun 4, 2009)

Don't worry. Most sites don't know what they're talking about. A few leaves isn't going to do anything.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Oak leaves are not prime rabbit food, but as far as I know they are not toxic. Your rabbits will be fine.


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## UUmom2many (Apr 21, 2009)

Thanks Maggie! I feel better with you guys ok'ing it. Some sites (like a 4H one said it was a daily diet of 1 leaf and promoted appetite) said it was ok, others said one leaf would kill the bun! I tried to do my homework before running to you guys but I couldn't find anything clear.


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## budwpm (Jun 28, 2009)

Since it got cold here and I can't go pull weeds then I just hand rake up the top cover of leaves(when they are wet on the ground they mold but the top ones typically are not wet) and most of them are white oak and pin oak leaves. I feed each rabbit free choice of leaves and what they don't eat in one day they like to use for pooping on to give me something else to do. Be careful to start the rabbits slowly on them because they could still give them poopy butt.


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## UUmom2many (Apr 21, 2009)

I'm keeping him (as of right now he has no name but I'm pushing for Oliver) on the pellets and very very slowly introducing him to a natural diet. Since he hasn't been on a free ration of hay that will be the first thing I'll start with. We already set up the free hay feeder so I'll see what he'll do with that first. I was just worried since a few sites said they were toxic yet didn't give more info


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## damoc (Jul 14, 2007)

my rabbits while in colony this past summer gobbled up tons of oak and oak leaves and it did not seem to harm them one bit in fact they realy seemed to like them.

they also seemed to like acorns from the white oak but not so much the ones from the black oak


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## budwpm (Jun 28, 2009)

The acorns I tried to feed them were from a pin oak I believe and they didn't seem to want to bother with them either. Something else mine loved was mimosa if you have any handy. It was a bit on the wet side so start them slowly but once they can free choice mimosa they can pretty much free choice anything green.


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## HendricksHearth (Jul 18, 2009)

I am sure a couple of leaves won't be an issue for the OP. That being said, I would be careful feeding Oak and Mimosa on purpose. I understand that Mimosa produces a neurotoxin in the seed pods and oak trees have been linked to toxicity animals many times. I understand they contain tannins and phenols, especially in young acorns, buds, etc. that can attack animal proteins. One example among others is Acorn Calf Syndrome- when a cow does not have enough usual forage and eats acorns to supplement her diet the calf can be born deformed, with short legs, strange hooves, and a misshapen head. I am sure our bunnies can go and eat them and may never have a problem, but why risk it when there are plenty of other food options that are not linked with health complications?

Best of luck!

Lauren


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## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

The comments against Oak leaves are because of the tannic acids.

That being said, while I try to keep them away from my rabbits, they are always blowing into the rabbitry in the fall and the rabbit seem to love them. I have not had any problems with the few that have eaten them, and I know several of the buns have eaten a number of them.


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