He doesn’t like fresh fruit at all. He sniffs them and then gives me the butt like he’s offended at the offer. If I leave it in the food bowl he might eat it 10 or so minutes later, but most of the time he absolutely refuses to eat it. Pellets and hard dry processed treats he absolutely loves. He loves dried bananas, but fresh bananas are a hard no. He will tolerate greens, his favorite is spinach, but I know he can’t eat very much of that so I mostly give him arugula. He is very grumpy about eating arugula. Is this normal? Should I be trying to change his diet? I just think it’s so strange that he absolutely despises everything fresh.
by Aezlogy
17 Comments
Fruit is actually really high in sugar and should be a very limited treat for bunnies.
Leafy greens are really good for them. My bun likes parsley, Swiss chard, dark green lettuce, beet greens and baby kale (kale should be given in limited amounts).
Do you have access to an unsprayed lawn? You can also give him dandelion greens, clover and grass.
He eats hay too right???
With vegetables, what have you already tried? He just sounds kinda picky, so you can just explore other options. There’s tons and tons of rabbit-safe leafy greens out there.
He doesn’t actually need fruit.
My bunny was 100% like this. We thought he was really weird. He wouldn’t really eat hay or fresh veggies. One trip to the vet and the vet said he has to eat hay and veggies. Somehow or another he heard that and boom, started eating all of the stuff we gave him. Little dude now loves basil, arugula, blackberries and strawberries. I guess what I’m saying is give it time and just have it available. He’ll come around. Or take him to the vet so he can listen to the doctor. ^.^
My last rabbit was a junk-food boy. Would only eat baby carrots, produce-wise. Everything else (fruits, greens, veggies) would be left uneaten in his bowl. Loved himself some processed yogurt chips. Didn’t seem to affect his health, as he lived to be 12, though he did have occasional constipation issues. Just make sure your guy is eating plenty of hay and he should be fine.
My current rabbit will try anything once, as long as he sees me eat a bite of it in front of him first. Like some sort of royal poison tester.
How long have you had him? My lionhead came from the pet store and for the first couple months he didn’t like anything fresh either. I guess cause he wasn’t used to it. The pet store never gave greens and gave unlimited pellets and hay. He came around eventually and loves trying new veggies now. His favorite is cilantro which is really cheap where I’m from which is a bonus.
Besides hay and pellets, he doesn’t really need any other food. Snacks are ok from time to time, banana helps with passing ingested hair and isn’t too sweet. Fresh fruit is rich in sugar and could cause problems, bunnies don’t need to eat it. The same goes with fresh greens. They can be high in calcium which increases the risk of increased urine sludge and blader stones that can cause urinary problems since they expell 44% of calcium through their urine. They can be given as a snack, but it’s not recommended to give bigger amounts daily as a meal. As long as your bunny is eatin hay, you’re fine. Mine does not like fresh fruit AT ALL but he loves to eat bananas 
I had a rabbit just like that. Did everything I could. Didn’t work for me. We had to do mixed hay types and sprinkle feed pellets in order to get him to even eat hay.
However, my new bunnies are amazing eaters and love their greens. The only thing is they’re both massive 8lb bunnies so we’ve had to become strategic in providing affordable feeding. Each get 3 cups of salad a day.
Besides the crisping trick, you might want to get those prepackaged Romaine hearts. They’re often super cheap compared to other prepackaged greens. I always refer to the House Rabbit Society ([rabbit.org](http://rabbit.org)) for feeding info and quick tips. I also like the Bunnylady’s stuff.
Bunnies always need unlimited hay, leafy greens, and then some pellets. If your bunny will only eat certain things or a certain amount of whatever then there isn’t much you can do. All you can do is your best 🙂
My Bunny isn’t picky, but I was surprised how much he loves dill and carrot greens. Even more than cilantro or parsley.
My bunny likes romaine lettuce. He also likes cut up strawberries and blueberries and cut up pineapple and baby carrots
One of my rabbits doesn’t like anything other than hay (all types) and just lettuce or cilantro. Hates every other vegetable or fruit that I’ve offered her. My other bun will eat anything.
I love reading these threads because it reminds me that all bunnies are weird and have their own special tastes. But your rabbit still wins the weirdness award for not liking fresh bananas!
Why cant he have too much spinach?
My little guy only likes apple and strawberrys once in a while (sometimes boysenberry) but most of the time he only wants grass,weeds,flowers,hay and pellets i mean its great because he only wants to eat what’s healthy and good for him 99% of the time
my bunny also doesn’t love his veggies. he always eats his veggies way slower than his pellets
What fruits have you tried? I have a picky eater too, he actually have to be approached with something two separate times before he’ll even take a cautious nibble, then he usually loves it!
Mine is the exact same, eats hay and pellets happily, anything fresh is an outright no. I call him my little ipad kid.
I spoke to my vet about it and they said that it’s fine, some rabbits are picky and won’t eat anything other than the figurative chicken nuggets, and that’s ok <3
I have one bunny who will eat anything and everything, and one who refuses everything except pellets, treats and bananas (both eat plenty of hay.) I give the picky one a salad everyday regardless and he just picks out bits he feels like eating :’) he seems to like carrot but will wait a while before eating it, and he goes theough phases of liking different herbs. Maybe just try different herbs each day and see if he likes any of them? Its ok if he wont eat his salad though, its good for them but they don’t need it to survive