help me prevent the veggie-pocalypse!

[peppypoo]

As some of you may know, Peppy is a hopelessly messy eater.  When I give her her veggies each evening, she scarfs the food down so quickly that she leaves puddles of green juice everywhere, not to mention her infamous green moustache after every meal.  The moustache may provide for cute photo ops, but when she cleans herself afterwards she invariably flicks the juice everywhere; I initially made the mistake of putting her veggie bowl close to the wall, and now my wall is a permanent exhibition of Peppy’s best Pollock imitation.  I’ve tried scattering the veggies to make her “forage” as I do with pellets, but it didn’t help the moustache and also only resulted in widespread green juice everywhere in her pen, as opposed to concentrated in one area (which is easier to clean).  Short of hand-feeding her to slow down her consumption, does anyone have suggestions on how I could help my little girl with her manners?  

Does anyone else’s veggie time look like this? 

[Monkeybun]

It says the image or video is unavailable

[peppypoo]

Oo, strange. Fixed!

[Monkeybun]

Ok, I burst out laughing at that pic. hehehehehe. No, can’t say I have ever had to deal with that! What a messy girl

Maybe giving her smaller portions more often?

[Freyja]

i’ve never seen this and i also have a food vacuuming bunny! what veggies do you feed Peppy? maybe its one particular veg culprit that you could alternate out or serve differently?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Sorry to laugh, but its just too cute. Bindi looks like the green-faced swamp bunny after eating dark veggies. He doesnt make that splatter mess, just a big green puddle. His face is such a mess but he always washes it all off afterwards.

I assume he makes such a mess because of his smooshy face, not sure why Peppy is so messy. I’m assuming you’ve had her teeth checked? He got worse when he needed his molars trimmed.

[Sarita]

LOL – that is cute…I’ve never had a rabbit be this messy either. Just wondering if you water down the veggies first and maybe that’s why they are so juicy…

[jerseygirl]

Haha Pepper!

I suppose making sure they’re dried off well might help. And if smaller pieces.

Could you serve them on old towels?

[CinnabunMom]

I have no advice, but this made me laugh so hard! She’s so cute!

[FrankieFlash]

She’s adorable! Can you serve her veggies in bathroom or kitchen where there are tiles and put her and veggies on old towel? Then you just can wipe everything down with wet rag and she most likely will clean herself there because of lava?

[Malp_15]

That is hilarious!! Nate does that too, but to a much smaller degree

[Stickerbunny]

lol… wow, no I have never seen that and my two devour their vegs as soon as I put them down. I guess it’s the way she chews? It’s adorable though. haha – Could you get one of those bird seed guard things to place around the walls where she eats? It’s just clear plastic, designed to keep food mess confined and is pretty easily cleaned. And maybe feed her on a towel so you just have to take it up and pop it into the washing machine.

[peppypoo]

Freyja – I don’t think the veggie content matters…Peppy is a non-discriminatory mess-maker haha.

LPT – is Bindi permanently green-stained around the mouth and chin too? lol. Peppy is still quite young (2 y/o), and her incisors are fine, though I really should take her in for a well-bunny checkup sometime and take a look at her molars too. Thanks for the suggestion!

Sarita/JG – oo yes, I do wash the veggies right before serving so they are usually soaking wet. Tonight I will try drying them off a little more before letting Peppy have at it, and hopefully it’ll help. I do already cut up her veggies…it was worse when I gave her whole leaves (imagine that!).

Frankie – unfortunately my kitchen and bathroom are small enough that no walls are out of flicking range haha. That and Peppy is fearless and has no problem with slippery flooring. Weird little thing she is..

Stickerbunny – sigh, more things to clean LOL. I will look into it!

I think it’s pretty hilariously adorable too..and would be more so if it weren’t such a mess that I had to take care of haha. I could have sworn she only had two colors when I adopted her, but lately her mouth/chin area as well as her paws are taking on this lovely green tinge. I think I may have discovered a new breed of bunny…the “green dutch”.

[Sarita]

Peppypoo maybe you might want to put the washed greens in a salad spinner to dry the excess water/juice off…oh, and it might not be a bad idea to get a bib for Peppy LOL.

[bmt87]

This is hilarious! I don’t understand how he is getting that much “liquid” out of just his greens? Is he just trying to swallow the green-fibrous part and spit out the juices? Do you wet them first? That’s so crazy! Lola sometimes gets a little green stain around her white mouth (and that sets my OCD into overdrive) but THIS is INSANE!

[peppypoo]

Sarita – As a poor student who does not like eating salad I unfortunately do not own a salad spinner…I guess I’ll just lay the veggies out on a towel for a little bit or something. However, I’d love to see Peppy in a bib .

bmt – Haha I have absolutely no clue how she does it. She just drips green juice as she stuffs her face…

[Stickerbunny]

peppy, use paper towels and place the greens on them, then fold the paper towel on top of them. Let sit for a few minutes, then serve. I have to dry my parrots greens off cause he won’t eat them wet. lol

[Beka27]

I agree that a salad spinner is awesome, but if you wouldn’t use it yourself, it might not be worth the investment. I’d probably wash the veggies ahead of time, let them dry for 10-15 minutes, and then serve.

[RabbitPam]

She looks so cute there, and is an abstract expressionist as well.

Couple of suggestions: first, make sure she has a water bowl with clean, clear water that she drinks out of separately.
Because I would recommend that you dry off the greens after you wash them (a paper towel, or a designated linen kitchen towel that dries between meals). She is getting hydrated (so is everything else) when you wash and feed wet greens, so it’s important to see if she gets her water elsewhere once you dry them off.

Other idea is to put her food dishes into a plastic litter tub that does not have any litter in it. Like a cat litter pan, a rectangular plastic box with sides about 4″ high. (They come cheap and standard at pet shops and Targets for example.) If she learns to eat her food in her “Dining Box” then the splatter may stay within it. She might clean herself in there too, and you can rinse it out easily. And if she accidentally pees there, just put her into her real litter pan for that. You can hang her hay bin over it to make it more food based and pleasing. Might be high enough to catch all the splatter.

[mocha200]

This made me laugh because this TOTALLY reminds me of my bunnies! I have green veggie juice stains on my carpet and one of their bunny sheets! I am not sure how it happens but while they are eating it just dribbles out of their mouth and onto the floor. Some days when I lay down to watch them eat their salads ( I think its adorable) I get sprayed in the face with veggie juice when they clean their face! I will try to video tape it sometime to show you guys! haha!

I have tried putting their veggies on a beach towel so it doesn’t go on the floor but my Lulu likes to take her favorite veggie and run! Crazy bunnies! I have had a salad spinner but I got to lazy after awhile to use it. I always thought you should leave the water on the veggies so they get more water intake, but I shouldn’t worry as my bunnies are good water drinkers anyways. I have also tried putting the veggies on hard floor but it just creates a big veggie juice puddle that gets tracked around my room and I have to go around cleaning up little green paw prints. Haha

Just wanted you to know, I feel your pain!

[bunnyfriend]

Hahahahha that picture is so cute! I think I remember you posting pictures of her passed out, with a big carrot stain around her mouth Adorable. My bunnies only make juice messes when I give them things like grapes, strawberries, ect. Then they spend like five minutes trying to lick up all of it off the carpet.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Peppy, Bindi is surprisingly clean in the mouth area, well unless he just finished greens, of course. Just a bit yellow stained under his chin. I have no idea how he gets so clean.

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