An awwwwwwww day.

[biigblueyes]

Originally Posted by havalotta

ALL my pets are spoiled rotten. My hubby should have it so good!

I always said Mom's pets ate better than my kids did. I almost died laughing the day I saw her seatbelt the dog in the front seat to take her to the vet.

[Equilibrium]

soundsgood> "Was delighted to find that bunny droppings are "cold" and started grabbing some bunches with a big spoon to drop on top of the soil of the indoor garden." yaa.... me too!!! Saves space in the bokashi bucket!!!
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"Guess one question is whether the litter box hay, having had urine pass through it, will work OK in the above scenario." I think you'd be ok using it as a mulch around the top of plants. I don't use straw or hay in our trays so I've been draining the pee in our composter then dumping what's left of pee and poops around my plants and haven't noticed any ill effects. Check out the 5th and 6th paragraphs here, Dancing Rabbit: Newsletter: Summer/Fall 2008.
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4B> I buy a 50# bag of Nutrena Nature Wise that costs around $18 and mix it 50/50 with a 50# bag of a private label organic rabbit feed that costs $27 per bag. The gal told me it was Ecotrition Organic just repackaged under their label. I’ve been happy with it… real happy with it and it does look, smell, and feel just like the Ecotrition Organic pellets sold by PetCo for 3x the price. I used to mix my organic feed with AgriMaster rabbit pellets from Farm and Fleet. That’s their private label. Supposedly their private label used to be Nutrena but they switched over to a ConAgra mix and I had nothing but problems and ended up running to the vet a few times and he kept asking me if I’d changed feed lately and I kept telling him I hadn’t changed feeds but…. I found out from the department manager that I had changed feeds and didn’t even know it… believe me…. I am REAL touchy about our kids and our animals and somebody got a letter in which I expressed my “definitely-not-sugar-coated” concerns regarding changes of feed mixes without notification to the consumer…. they can ram any gift certificates toward future purchases of animal feeds up their rears since I will NEVER buy any animal feed from them again. 1 of my rabbits lost a whole lb in about 6 weeks and the tests I had run trying to figure out what was going wrong would’ve curled the hair on your chinny chin chin. ConAgra feeds are laced with GMOed crap and who knows what else. Right now, you might not want to buy any private label from Farm and Fleet because evidently they really have contracted with ConAgra for their private label feeds which sucks since their prices were good but…. I guess we get what we pay for. I don’t have a label for the organic no-name I buy from my feed store but I’ve got a label for the Nutrena product. I think you’re gonna have a hard time finding an affordable organic because you’re too far away from a major city but more power to you if you can and if you can't.... it won't mean you're a bad bunny mommy. You might have better luck tracking down Nutrena Nature Wise. Your rabbit will only get 6 oz of pellets a day because the rest of his nutrition will come from the timothy cubes. You could buy timothy grass if you want in bales. I buy the cubes because they’re compressed and easier to store. Gnawing on the pellets helps them keep their teeth in check too. I let them self feed on the timothy cubes and can bring a month's supply of both pellets and cubes for you. For treats… no more than about a tablespoon of anything in any day and lay low on leafy greens like dandelion leaves and mustard greens or you’ll end up at the vet getting scolded.... I know it happened to me.
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You're gonna be a great bunny mommy no matter what feed you settle on!!!

[soundsgood]

Thanks for the link, Eq. As a result of that reading, I'm going to save the topmost layers of litter box hay/droppings for use in the composting. I'd save it all, but it would prove too much and more difficult to separate.

For treats… no more than about a tablespoon of anything in any day and lay low on leafy greens like dandelion leaves and mustard greens or you’ll end up at the vet getting scolded.... I know it happened to me.

I don't feed Bunny-One either one of those kinds of greens, but I do feed her two handfuls of greens per day in addition to unlimited timothy hay (since I have a lot of room, I get it by the bale in 35# increments), along with a T. or two of pellets as treats or same amount of carrot or fruit. Never read anything bad about those particular leafies being bad...just curious. Guessing too much calcium in 'em. Having looked both up, they do have a lot of calcium.

[Equilibrium]

Unlimited timothy hay or cubes is a good thing. I know alfalfa should only be given as a treat though. I think the big no no was feeding actual greens of any type to domesticated rabbits under 6 mos of age and then I've got 1 rabbit named April that I've had nothing but problems with that's been to and from the vet so many times I've lost count that he said no more than a small dandelion or mustard leaf for her if I couldn't stop myself but that she'd be better off on her pellets and timothy cubes with a little bit of carrot every once in a while for the rest of her life. I sparred back and forth with my vet a little bit since bunnies in the wild are eating all kinds of greens by about 6 weeks of age but.... he had really good reasons why I shouldn't.... too bad I forgot what most of them were. Next time I go in I'll specifically ask him what the deal was on the leafy greens. I will admit that I give a few dandelion greens to our babies as a treat and I even give April a dandelion leaf every now and then..... and I give her a turnip leaf every once in a while too shhhhhh.... don't tell my vet!!!

[Equilibrium]

Guess who's getting some belly rubs laying on his back between my legs>>>

[BooBooBearBecky]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

Guess who's getting some belly rubs laying on his back between my legs>>>

oh oh oh....OMG....is that my "Bun-Bun??!!!

I want to hold em, and squeeze em, and hug him and rub noses with him!!

BTW, I made a trip to the farm store last Friday, and I found Nutrena Naturwise Premium rabbit pellets. Still looking for Timothy Cubes...

I also checked out hutches, and I found some nice ones!

[Equilibrium]

Uh huh.... that's your little mutant. Those are my legs if you want an idea of how big he is. He'll be 6 weeks old on June 1st. He's still bigger than the others but they're catching up just like the vet said they would. He's got more boing in him these days. I put a dish towel over my legs because I was wearing shorts and they're easily spooked and baby bunny nails HURT.
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You done good on Nutrena. The reason why I mix is I figure there's no way 2 different manufacturers could change their product at the same time and I just don't want to be incurring the expense of lab work trying to figure out why my 10 lb April is losing weight again. That's a "sensitive" rabbit.... Bunbun isn't. Nutrena is a pretty stable product. They don't seem to screw around with their pellets so if that's the only product you can get.... you done good finding it. Bunbun will probably be a 12 lb rabbit when he's full grown. You may have to move him to 8 oz of pellets a day.
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Find out where the horsie people buy their feed. That's probably where you'll find the timothy cubes. I can bring you a whole 50 lb bag so don't worry about it.
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If you can.... show me what hutches you're thinking about. I've got to buy or build another hutch and could use some more ideas. I know this sounds weird but you'll save yourself a lot of work if you can find a hutch that has a sliding tray incorporated into the design. Those poops are black gold.... mustn't lose even so much as 1 of those little nutrient packed nuggets.

[BooBooBearBecky]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

Uh huh.... that's your little mutant.

Bun-Bun is not a mutant because he's adorable.

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

Find out where the horsie people buy their feed. That's probably where you'll find the timothy cubes.

Yes, I did find timothy cubes in the horsie section, but I thought because there was a HORSE on the bag, that it wasn't the type I was supposed to buy for rabbits. So no problem, I can get timothy cubes at the farm store too!

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

If you can.... show me what hutches you're thinking about. I've got to buy or build another hutch and could use some more ideas. I know this sounds weird but you'll save yourself a lot of work if you can find a hutch that has a sliding tray incorporated into the design. Those poops are black gold.... mustn't lose even so much as 1 of those little nutrient packed nuggets.

The hutch I looked at in the local farm store did have a nice slide out tray. I'm looking for an example I can show you, but haven't found it online yet.

I did find this...
Rabbit Cages : Shop Rabbit Cage & Rabbit Hutches at RabbitCageSource.com
LOTS of ideas for hutches here.

[havalotta]

Originally Posted by equilibrium

uh huh.... That's your little mutant. He's bigger than the others and has more boing in him these days.

bun-bun is not a mutant because he's adorable.

Awww gee wiz, mommie Boo.

I'm liking you already!

[BooBooBearBecky]

Lol!!!