# Question about natural rabbit food



## JohnCaper (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi - I'm a newbie here, and to raising rabbits so please excuse me for my ignorance. I've been feeding my rabbits maple branches with quite a few leaves on them, then read that it is harmful for them, so I quit until I could find an answer. Some say its OK, some say its OK as long as they're not pregnant, some say its OK as long as the leaves aren't dried and some say its no good under any circumstances. Who is right? :shrug:
Also what about rosehips? I've heard they're good, but how much should I feed them?
Thanks for your help!


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## HTWannabee (Jan 19, 2007)

You shouldn't feed red maple, I believe. I give mine maple branches and some oak too. I have given them dried leaves as well. My unserstanding is just to be very careful and introduse anythiing new slowly over time as some bunnies tolerate greens well and others do not. I recently got some good advice on this very topic here and fed mine strawberry leaves and raspberry as well but just one at a time until I knew it could be tolerated and even then just a few at a time. The sticky at the top about natural feedng is very good to read as well.

I do not know about rose hips. I look forward to learning this along with you!


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Maple is controversial, as are many other plants. I do feed it fresh, but only as a variety green - in small quantities along with several other greens. I never want to put my rabbits in the position of eating something questionable because they have no alternative. I feel that feeding grass hay free choice is fairly good insurance against this. 

Except when the maple leaves are very young, the buns hardly touch them, although they do like eating the bark off small branches, especially in winter. I figure they know best and seldom bother offering them fresh mature leaves.

A trunk of our silver maple split off in the winds that were the tail end of Ike and we are drying the leaves and small twigs from that for winter. I tend to support the idea that dried is safer than fresh. If the buns won't eat them, all I've lost is a bit of work.

There are so many kinds of maple trees... and my impression is that some are better for animal fodder than others. I only feed sugar maple or silver maple. We don't have many maples on our property - it is mainly second growth ash with some willow and poplar - so maple hasn't played a big role in my natural feeding program.

Maple is definitely a green feed that we need more research on. I've never had any visible ill effects among my rabbits, but I am not as confident about it as I am about feeding apple, willow or poplar twigs and leaves. I admit that I am not even certain why some people consider it unsafe. 

I dried several bushels of weeping willow leaves and twigs for use last winter and the rabbits loved it and did very well on it. I'm doing the same this year and these along with grass hay free choice, alfalfa/timothy hay in smaller quantities, fresh foods as they are available and small amounts of grain will take them through the winter quite nicely. So whether mine will eat the dried maple leaves is not a major concern for me.


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## JohnCaper (Sep 25, 2008)

I keep hay out all the time - this is the major part of their diet, although the does took some time to get on to it. They came from a breeder that kept them in small cages and fed them strictly pellets. I feed them about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of pellets per rabbit (New Zealand Whites) in the morning along with hay and about 2 cups (for the 5 rabbits) of celery, raspberry leaves, a small amount of carrot occasionally and usually 1 pear divided up between the 5. I read that ginger is good for bucks "libido" and gave him a small amount tonight, which he loved.
The pen is between 2 maple trees so the leaves fall in on their own, but as I said I've put fresh ones in on the branch and they STRIP it, leaving the branch and bark but eating every leaf in sight - whether they have hay/pellets/vegi's etc or not. Pear's are their favorite, and maple leaves are #2, but I don't want to feed them anything harmful.

I'm just looking for economical variety for their diet.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Mine love mulberry leaves and branches and poplar. Holy cow.. do they love poplar!!!! They will walk all over everything else if I throw a poplar branch in...
I feed mostly weeds and branches and top off with pellets. I am so proud of my buns. They have gone from cage and pellet raised to colony and weed machines! And the popples get started right away eating the greens and branches with the adults. Too cute to see a tiny rabbit gnawing away on a big old weed!


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Quite honestly, John, I would not worry about feeding maple (depending on what kind of maple) as one of many greens on an occasional basis. I would worry even less about leaves that fall into the pens. I'm going to look into this further because we do need clarification on it. Why not just go easy for a few days and I'll see what I can come up with.

Thinking now about rosehips, they are definitely okay for rabbits, as are the leaves and branches of rose bushes. As to quantity... I would think a small handful would be plenty at a time. 

When you are feeding a good mix of perhaps five different plants at a time, it really helps to avoid problems. I figure a handful of this and a few sprigs of that and a branch of something else is the way to go. If you watch wild rabbits, they eat a little of one plant then take a few hops and nibble something different. They love the windfall apples from our old apple tree, but it is unusual to find more than a quarter of an apple eaten. My guideline for feeding my rabbits is, as much as possible, "as in nature".


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

I'd definitely give red maple a miss, but it is the only maple in this toxic plants list.

http://www.cbif.gc.ca/pls/pp/ppack.info?p_psn=92&p_type=all&p_sci=sci&p_x=px


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## JohnCaper (Sep 25, 2008)

I'm a little stumped at what kind of maple this is. There are a lot of them, which is unusual in Cape Breton. The closest thing I can find is Norway maple, but it says they are planted in urban areas. I'm pretty sure though that its not red maple, so I should be OK. They ate it for 4-5 days straight, along with their other foods, and had no side effects that I saw. If I were to gather them for winter, should they be dried? What way is best?

Anybody feed their bunnies birch or spruce? We have LOTS of them here, and they like the birch. The spruce they'll eat last.


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## AprilW (Nov 25, 2007)

I give my rabbits small twigs from our silver and red maples. No ill effects yet, but they don't receive large amounts either. After reading this I think I'll cut out the red maple. No sense in risking it. I do need to go to my aunt's house to cut more apple branches.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

If I were you, I'd get a positive ID on the type of maple and put in some research on toxicity. It's just not worth risking your herd to save a few dollars, just because the trees are convenient.

I used pruning shears to cut the twigs with leaves attached into 4 - 6 inch pieces and stored them in bushel baskets and heavy paper feed bags with holes cut in them for ventilation. They dry quickly that way. I gather that questionable leaves develop cyanide as they wilt but that it dissipates with time. One reference mentioned 30 days. So I suggest keeping the stored leaves for winter use rather than feeding them right away. As it is, I will be extra cautious about feeding them and will not be feeding them to lactating or pregnant rabbits. This in spite of the fact that I have seen no problems in the past.

BTW, welcome to the Forum. Nice to have you with us!


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I feed sugar maple to my rabbits. Fresh, wilted, dried, any way they can get it, they eat it.


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