What to give your rabbits in the winter

Winter food

What do you really need to give your rabbits during the winter period when there is no grass?
We rabbit owners tend to give our rabbits a lot of grass because it still looks green and lush but it can go really wrong if we do. When it's winter it's very important not to give your rabbits grass as the frost has gone in it too many times. and has destroyed it then the rabbit can no longer tolerate it. It's true that the grass has a high sugar content in the winter because the grass no longer uses nourishment to grow because it's dark and the temperature is so low that it no longer grows but it can however make sugar when the sun shines but instead it stores in the plant. This results in our rabbits getting a stomach ache and not doing very well and maybe they will no longer cooperate with us.

Well, now to what you can give the rabbit instead of grass. It is always very important that the rabbit always has access to hay and straw from libitum and this is especially important in winter. We give our rabbits very green hay and they love it. You can also choose to give your rabbits some branches from some different trees if you have some available or they can be bought in stores. You can give them witch hazel / hazel branches, apple branches, cherry branches, pilgrims and mirabelle plums branches. However care should be taken to give too many branches of stone fruit as they may well contain hydrochloric acid which rabbits cannot tolerate in excessive quantities.

It's also an opportunity to give bamboo branches but here you have to be extra aware that it has not started shooting. The shots from the bamboo are quite toxic to rabbits so you can give them the branches from there as long as there are no shots. Also, do not confuse the elephant grass with bamboo as these two plants are not the same at all. Rabbits must get nothing from the elephant grass because the whole plant is poisonous. 

Bamboo bush

Bamboo shots where the marks are placed