Hi there:

My Roscoe will be 6 months old in a couple of days, and I have seen some posts that refer to limiting the amount of pellets around age 7 months.  He is a Flemmie, and is already like 11 pounds at 6 months, and he eats A LOT of pellets.  I currently give him unlimited pellets, unlimited hay, and about 2 cups of greens in morning and at night.  He's a mighty big boy with a very big appetite.  He doesn't eat as much hay as expected, though - probably because of the unlimited pellets and the amount of greens he's getting.

 

I have seen other posts that say around 7 months to limit to 1/2 c pellets per 4 pounds of bunny.  That would be about 1.5 cups of pellets a day for Roscoe?  Does that sound right?

The information that I've seen is to start limiiting pellets at 6 months of age, and to give 1/4 cup per 5 pounds of rabbit. I just saw one chart that said a rabbit who weighs 11 - 15 pounds should get 3/4 cup of pellets a day. I don't know if a Flemish requires more pellets per pound than a "regular" size rabbit, or if you go strictly by their weight, and it's the same for all breeds. Of course, your bunny will keep growing and will weigh more than 11 pounds when he is fully grown. You can also start transitioning him to Timothy pellets, since I assume that he is currently eating alfalfa based pellets.

Cutting back on his pellets should make him eat more hay, which is what we all want our bunnies to do.

The recommendation amount varies on different sites, but generally it's either 1/8 cup or 1/4 cup per every 5 or 6 pounds. Large rabbits don't need an exponentially higher amount of pellets, it should be determined by weight. While he's still young (6 months to a year) he can have a bit more pellets (the higher range) but past a year I would start reducing the pellets further. The majority of his diet should be hay, followed by veggies, and then a small portion of pellets. Flemmies have a large frame, but they should not be overweight, they should still be thin looking. As his pellets are limited, his veggies can be increased a bit also.

Oh boy, I'm going to decrease the amounts gradually, cuz Roscoe's gonna be one ticked off bunny, LOL. He does love his pellets! I will check the contents of my pellets when I get home and adjust accordingly..... Thanks for the info!

Doing changes like this gradually is the best method. Measure out his pellets and each week give a teaspoon less. Another option is to feed pellets in two separate servings (morning and night), but I find that my rabbits eat more hay/veggies when they get pellets only as a night-time snack.

What quantity of pellets is he getting now?

Beka -

He's just been getting unlimited pellets til now. I have a big ceramic bowl that I keep filled with pellets, and he eats as much as he wants. This morning, I emptied it, and then put in 1 cup of pellets, so I can see how much he actually eats in 24 hours. The bowl is pretty big, probably holds at least 2 full cups of pellets when full, and I would probably fill it about every other day.

So my guess is he's eating about 1 cup a day right now, plus at least 2 cups of greens a day - 1 in the morning, 1 at night. His hay rack is always full of Timothy hay, and he has horse-quality grass hay in his litter pan too that he eats throughout the day while in there doing his business.

When I see pics of Bullrider's Blue, I realize that my Roscoe is a little on the pudgy side in comparison. I think I've been feeding him too much.

Okay. Even when feeding unlimited pellets, you still want to know the quantity, so it's good you measured. As you decrease the pellets, you can start to increase greens. He should be getting at least 4-6 cups a day. He'll miss the pellets less when he has more veggies. The veggies and hay will fill him up without "fattening" him up.

For comparison, my two rabbits total about 10 pounds (4 and 6 pounds) and they share about 6 cups of veggies per day. I only feed veggies once a day (morning) and they graze over the course of a few hours. I only feed pellets at night (1/4 cup shared) and they pick at that over a few hours. Hay box is replenished 1-2 times daily. As adults, you want them to run out of pellets and veggies after awhile because that will force hay consumption.

Flemmies are very lean, muscular rabbits. As you know, they have a large frame, but ribs should still be easily felt and there should be a clear "waist".