NOTE: use your brain when giving foods to rabbits. start tiny, monitor health, and then increase portions. Too much of any one thing is never a good idea.
NOTE: I am NOT vouching for the safety of this list, as you will see from my personal notes that I don’t have a problem with some things that she says are a problem, and other things are cautionary that she doesn’t comment on. I saw it, thought hmm….this might give some ideas. Why not keep an reference to it.
The following comes from here.
I
‘ve been looking for a list of plants and such that are OK to feed to rabbits, as well as those that are big no-nos. I stumbled across this list while researching as to whether it is safe to feed pigweed to chickens (it seems to grow very well in spots where I have had my mobile chicken pen…)
I call this method of research where I find answers to one question while searching for the answers to another “Planned Serendipity”
The rest of what follows is from http://www.carlaemery.com/newsletter03.htm
Home-fed Rabbits–Rabbits are a little picker than chickens. They are, of course, herbivores. They like to eat at night. In the daytime when I’m working in the garden, I stuff their cages with stuff I know they like: sunflower stalks, Jerusalem artichoke stalks, Bermuda grass, celery and celery root, carrots, prunings from fruit trees. In the morning, there’ll be much less, as they eat their way through the jungle. A rabbit in a cage crammed with food is a happy rabbit! I grow wheat and snip off green tops for them. They love that too. Here’s more info on what rabbits can and can’t eat…
CAN EAT:
Acacia: no food value, but twigs can be entertainment
Alfalfa: fresh or hay
Apples: all parts
Barley
Beans and bean vines (not soybean)
Beets: both top and root of regular, sugar, or mangel
Bermuda grass
Blackberry bush leaves
Bluegrasses, including Canadian
Bread: dry, or soaked in milk
Buckwheat
Cabbage: some is okay, too much may cause goiter
Carpet grass
Carrot: root and tops.
Cereals (if fat-free and fresh)
Cheeseweed (malva)
Chicories
Clovers: any but sweet clover
Coltsfoot
Corn: fresh or dried ears, fresh or dried stalks.
Cow Parsnip
Crabgrass
Dandelion
Dogwood
Fescue: red, etc.
Filaree (stork’s bill)
Grains: all types, unless dirty, damp, or moldy
Grapefruit: all parts (don’t feed too much)
Grass: Lawn clippings, grass grains, as long as they carry no
insecticides & are fresh
Hazelnut leave
Jerusalem artichokes: tops, stems, or roots
Kale
Kentucky bluegrass
Knotgrass
Kohlrabi: all parts of plant okay
Kudzu
Lettuce: all kinds – personal note: be aware that iceberg lettuce can cause problems. Feed VERY limited amounts.
Lespedeza
Malva (cheeseweed)
Meadow fescue
Milk: fresh or sour, as well as milk products
Millet: foxtail and Japanese
Milo
Napier grass
Oats
Oranges: all parts (don’t feed too much)
Orchard grass
Panicgrass
Parsnips
Peas and pea vines
Plantain
Poplar
Potato: but, not peelings, sprouts or leaves!
Prairie grass
Redtop grass
Rhodes grass
Root vegetables
Rye, rye grass, and Italian rye grass
Sheep sorrel
Sorghum grains
Spinach: in limited amount
Sprouted grains
Sudan grass
Sumac
Sunflower: leaves, stalks, or seeds
Sweet potatoes: vines or tubers
Swiss chard: in limited amount
Timothy
Turkey mullein
Turnips: all parts of plant
Vetch
Wheat
WillowBAD FOR BUNNY:
Some greens are high in oxalic acid in the uncooked state: pigweed, amaranth greens, spinach, comfrey, and Swiss chard. To a small-weight rabbit, especially a young one, these can be a problem. I do feed some spinach and chard to mine because they like it, but I don’t give them a whole lot. The plants listed below range from deadly poisonous, to hard-on-a-bunny, to no nutritional value.
Amaranth
Arrowgrass
Bracken fern
Bromweed
Buckeye
Burdock
Castor beans
Cherry leaves
Chinaberry
Chokecherry leaves or pits
Comfrey — Personal note: some folks feed this with no problems.
Fireweed
Foxglove
Goldenrod
Hemlock, poison/water
Horehound
Jimson weed
Johnson grass
Larkspur
Laurel
Lupine
Mesquite
Milkweed — personal note: yet wild bunnies have been known to eat this no probs.
Miner’s lettuce
Moldy bread, moldy anything
Oak
Oleander
Pigweed – personal note: mine will eat the young leaves, they leave the stalk and older leaves
Poppy
Potato leaves, sprouts, or peels
Rhubarb leaves
Soybeans or soybean vines
Sweet clover – personal note — what’s wrong with clover?
Tarweed
Tomato leaves
Other personal notes: mine will eat melon rinds of all sorts … plus any flesh I leave on them. I make a point of only feeding one slice per week. Don’t want to overdo this wet food at all. Mine do not do well on cabbage itself, they can handle limited amounts of broccoli stalks. I am VERY careful with this family of plants.
For other ideas check out carla’s page here.
You might want to add another personal note to this list. I’m pretty sure corn is not good for rabbits. I have read on many websites to stay away from it. Here is one… http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html
I’ve fed corn frequently to my buns…particularly in the winter and have had zero problems with it. I find that if it is mixed with other things in the diet it is not a problem. NOW…if it were a sole or main food, that would be a different story.
Rabbits can have troubles digesting it.
Thanks for your article & informative.
Hi, My rabbit loves eating paper and cardboard. She runs in my room and eats: hay, carrots, rabbit pellets, Nasturtium leaves, a little paupau every now and then, strawberries, and sometimes a little spinach. What am I doing wrong?
What am I doing wrong?
you are giving her paper and cardboard to eat.
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Thankyou I newly have rabbits and made the mistake of letting them eat anything they wanted for the first week (my daughter’s pets) so I have copied this list and will get an eating plan up and going for the babies (2). Very useful, particularly the harmful ones.
Thanks for your info. Really useful for me.
Does anybody know if it is ok to feed Kiwi Fruit?
yes, they can eat kiwi. Like anything sugary, limit the amount given.
what part of the sweet potato is good for guinea pigs and rabbits
sweet potato – the vines
as far as I know the sweet potatoe and the vines are edible for rabbits.
Thank you for this list. My rabbit’s favourites are apples and orange and I’m looking for what else is good for them. Many thanks.
I am definitely thankful to author who work tough to write this write-up. Its extremely informative write-up. Thanks once again.
Thankyou for this list i have been particularly worried about clovers as i have alot in my garden bu the one i have are the white clovers and are fine for my rabbit. also i wonderd about onion?
onion is a no go for almost any animal.
Sorry but pretty sure that potatoes are not good for rabbits
thanks i cant wait for christmas when i can give my bun some orange… he goes bananas over it and mine loves sweet potato especially if you mash it up without any added like butter etc!!!!
rabbits can eat potato.. they just can’t eat the GREEN potato. Most rabbits, prefer to have their potato cooked and mashed. DO NOT add butter etc to it though.
I must add this caveat: bunnies can be given a greens only diet, but if you do so you must make sure you also give them a BALANCED diet. Rabbits are herbivores..that means they eat trees, branches, a variety of greens. They also need salt and minerals.
My 2 month old “dutch dwarf” bunny ate a few cat kibbles tonight.
I’m a new bunny owner and didn’t realize it might be bad until reading up on bunny diets. It was Purina One Chicken & Rice Formula. I think it only ate about 2 or 3 small pieces at the most. Any advice. She seems okay, and is eating just fine but I haven’t seen any poops lately so I’m a bit worried.
i wouldn’t worry on it. 2-3 pieces shouldn’t hurt her.
I’ve heard of a rabbit who would ONLY eat cat food and did quite well, though it is not a diet that I would recommend.
my rabbit likes to eat dust is that bad
also if it is bad tell me what i can do to make him stop
i lost 5 bunnies already by feeding them lettuce! i will recommend no lettuce at all for your bunnies!
Don’t let him eat it by keeping it cleaned up.
As to losing your bunnies from feeding them lettuce…perhaps you fed it to them too quickly OR you had an illness running through your rabbits that the lettuce merely pointed out more clearly. Many rabbits can eat lettuce with no issues.
dandelion leaves are free and plenty around, large leaves are darker and can soften poo, my bun has them nearly everyday, a good handful, hes 2. and no probs at all.
My lionhead ate tomatoe leaves! Not maney and he semes fine. Will.he be ok??????
P.s awesome list ,thanks!
some rabbits can eat tomato leaves and be just fine. They are toxic…not immediately poisonous. So it’s a matter of seeing if he handles them okay. I wouldn’t advise giving him more of them.
Ok so are blackberry leaves really ok? I mean they have thorns on them. Willl my rabbit eat them anyway?
Peter Rabbit ran into the briar bush for a reason (and it wasn’t just to hide from Brer Fox.
raspberry and blackberry leaves are just fine for them, as are roses. Currants on the other hand don’t tend to go over well. Though mine have eaten gooseberry.
In my rabit’s hutch under all the bedding hay etc I’ve got a plastic table cloth to soak up any moisture.
Not sure if this is cause she’s only very young, but she sometimes eats the table cloth.
Can this harm her???
not a good idea to let her eat your table cloth. if she gets a bit enough piece down her throat she’ll kill herself.
you mention plantains but not bananas??
please be carefull feeding rabbits apples, the seeds are poisonous Apple seeds contain cyanogenic acids. humans are protected by the hard shell but rabbits chew them and release the poison cyanide
my rabbits have had many apples…I’ve watched them eat them and what happens to the seeds is they disappear into the bedding. Also remember that yes the seeds are poisonous but they aren’t immediately deadly. You have to eat ALOT of apple seeds to kill a body.
It think some bunny owners are a bit too precious with this whole diet thing. Use common sense. Everything in moderation, really. I know this sounds irresponsible, but if my rabbit decides to eat corn, well I also believe that their judgement is better than mine when it comes to sensing their food and diet. I’m quite liberal though..
I’ve read that apple seads are bad because they contain arsenic,along with many other seads
I drop a leave a response when I especially enjoy a
I actually do have 2 questions for you if it’s okay.
And, if you are writing on other online social sites, I would like to keep up with you.
post on a website or if I have something to add to the conversation.
Usually it’s caused by the sincerness displayed in the post I looked at. And on this post Rabbit Safe Foods | Maholia. I was excited enough to post a thought
Could it be simply me or does it appear like
a few of these remarks come across like left by brain dead individuals?
Would you make a list the complete urls of all your community pages like your Facebook page, twitter
feed, or linkedin profile?
My grandfather bred rabbits for ten years and I have had two as pets. The second one is now 8.5 years old. I also work with Gainesville Rabbit Rescue in FL. In my experience, NEVER give them bread or crackers or things with grain. They can’t digest it. A very little bit (including corn) won’t hurt them, but they don’t digest it. It just passes through. Too much can stop up their very sensitive digestive system and it all has no nutritional value for them. Ironically, a rabbit’s diet is closer to that of a horse than any other animal, even mice. Milk products are another no no. Fruits are good but in moderation, I can’t think of any that are bad for them. Never let them have seeds of any fruit, maybe strawberries and kiwi as an exception. Regular potatoes= bad for bunnies. Sweet potatoes= good for bunnies. Sweet potatoes have a lot of the same vitamins that carrots do, hence the orange color in both. Cabbage and broccoli in severe moderation. Broccoli usually goes well if introduced to their diet slowly but I would avoid cabbage at all costs. My grandfather fed his rabbits cabbage once and lost like 20 to severe diarrhea within 24 hours. At the same time, any high water content food (like celery) can lead to diarrhea if you give them too much. Diarrhea is a big deal in rabbits. My best suggestion if your rabbit has diarrhea is to keep them on a strictly hay (timothy) diet for a few days until their system evens out. Romaine lettuce and most green, leafy veggies are great, but DO NOT give them iceberg lettuce. It has no nutritional value and a high water content that could give them diarrhea so I would strongly suggest to avoid it entirely.
Ideally, a rabbits diet should be 1/2 hay (let them eat as much of it as they want), 1/4 pellets (plain, not the kind with little treats in it; maybe a cup a day, depending on the size of the rabbit. Too much makes them fat) and 1/4 fresh veggies. They can have fruits as a snack but I wouldn’t do more than once every 2-3 days. A strawberry a day is acceptable or an apple slice a day but bananas have high sugar content so I would split it into halves or quarters and not give them more than a total of one banana a week.
Email if you have any other questions and I’ll do my best. Punkbunny4christ@aol.com