Healthy Treats?

[Roxygirl]

What kinds of healthy treats do you give to your bunnies?

I’m looking for something I can give on a daily basis, especially since we are starting the bonding process with Heff and August.  I give them a bit of banana chip from time to time (about the size of my pinky nail), but I want to find something they both like that they can have on a daily basis.  August is easy, she thinks veggies are the best thing EVER!  This morning I learned that I all I have to do to get her to come to her cage when it’s time for me to go to work is to get the veggie container out and show it to her and she will follow it down the hall to the bunny room!  I also have to be a little careful about the quantity of veggies for August right now as we have been dealing with her producing extra cecals from her diet change.

Heff on the other hand, likes his veggies when it’s time for Noms, but it’s not the best treat in the world and he will ignore them either until I leave the room or it is Nom Time.  He’s a total sweet tooth (like his momma) and will snatch his bit of banana chip and run across the room with it, lest I take it away from him. 

They both like their pellets when it’s Pellet Time, but could care less when offered as a “treat”.  I’d like to find something that they both like that I don’t have to limit as much as fruit. 

(As I finished writing this, August binkied across the living room and flopped.  I guess she is excited about having healthy treat options!)

 

[RabbitPam]

I routinely order or buy (found some in small, local petstore) the Oxbow Treats. My bunny’s favorites are the Veggie Hearts and the Timothy Treats. They are a nice small size, made of ground up healthy components of hay and nutrients, but she loves them. I give one heart in the AM and one in the PM as her deal to go back into her house for one. The Timothy treats look like Cheerios.

I prefer fresh fruit over the fruit flavored dried treats, however, since they are much less expensive. A quarter inch slice of banana or just breaking off the tip is a great treat, but not daily. Also a slice of apple, a square of pineapple or a cranberry or two. A half a grape is a good fresh treat. All fruits contain a lot of sugar so not good daily, but spread out over a week is fine.

Baby carrots are more a meal with greens than a treat, but can be considered one as well. A raisin or a craisin is a treat, too.
If clicker training, use individual pellets as the reward treat. You can feed a lot as a treat reward daily without surpassing a limit.

[Elrohwen]

I keep a little dish of pellets out in the living room and hand those out as treats. They’re not quite as exciting as dried fruit (my bunnies’ true love is dried fruit) but it’s healthy and the pieces are small so I don’t feel bad giving a decent amount.

I’ll also rip off herbs or other veggies to hand out while I’m cooking dinner.

Dried fruit without sugar added is pretty healthy – there’s a decent amount of natural sugars which bunnies love, but in moderation it should be fine for most buns.

Craisins are my highest value treat. They often get craisins for going back to their cage when I know they’d much rather sleep under the chair all day.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I give Dried Papaya and Craisins on a daily basis. Since my buns are spoiled and get lots of treats, I only give very small pieces at a time. They don’t get a whole craisin every time they get a treat, I usually split 1 into 3 pieces. They get fresh fruit sometimes as a special treat. Banana, Pears and Pineapple are the favorites around here.

[TriBun]

 Wow, I think I’m giving my bunnies too many treats . I give them a treat daily, like an apple or banana slice. They get it in the morning to distract them while I clean their cage without letting them out. Whoops.

 

I really like the freeze-dried fruit. It’s not the same as dried fruit, it’s a different process so it can be done without adding sugar or sulfur dioxide (bleh). I also like it cause it doesn’t go bad super-fast like bananas do (I don’t get to the store often).

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I give oxbow papaya tablets or fruit or dried fruit. I am a crow (let me explain) in that I ‘love shiny things’ so passing up all the cutsy treats in the petstore with their cool packaging and great claims is difficult. All I need do though is pull it down and read ingredients…then I go home and give a peice of apple instead. Way healthier. The treats in stores for the most part are junk, and often should not be eaten by bunnies at all. I feel anything by oxbow is reputable and healthy and their papaya tablets are great

Also they will jump through hoops (literally) for the little martin pellets so I often use those as treats

[Hoppy Valentine]

I use the oxbow timothy treats and oxbow freeze dried banana which I break up into small pieces for Hoppy. He loves them. We even have a bed time thing we do so he goes in his cage at night time since he has run of the house all day. I shake his treat container and he comes running to his cage for a piece of banana then he goes in the cage and I close the door then he waits for me to give him the timothy treat heart and he is happy all night, my daughter lets him out in the morning while she gets ready for school and we start all over again at bed time. I also give him small pieces of banana treat when I want him to bond with me. He isn’t as use to that yet but I am still working with him on that. It will come with time I guess.

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