Bunny wants salt but won’t take the salt lick!

[Binks]

Hello, I’m not sure if talking vaguely about a rabbit who recently had babies is against the rules, I checked, twice… so if it is please let me know, I’m new here. I promise I won’t share photos of the babes as I won’t be keeping any.

Anyways, yes my rabbit had many babies last week so you know she’s low on mineral right? 

She has made it very clear that she wants and needs SALT as she grabs chips and other salty snacks out of my hands and runs away to munch on the stolen goods. I do not voluntarily give her my salty munchies and it’s usually too late to snatch it back from her when she grabs a piece. She also digs and bites at the snack bag if I’m holding one… she’s really after salt. 

 I have tried absolutely everything to get her to even acknowledge the salt licks I have purchased for her, 3 different brands of salt lick! I have wet the salt licks so she can smell and taste them better, I’ve rubbed her favorite lettuce all over them so she might check them out, I’ve held them close to her face so she would bite them to move them away (which she has, but that’s it!), I’ve left them hanging in the cage to let her figure it out on her own, I’ve diverted her attention to the area of which they hang, everything! I’ve even experimented a bit- I showed her a piece of pringle chip with the salt lick under it, hoping she might mistake the salt lick for another pringle… grabs the pringle, turns around, kicks the salt lick, and runs!

She has not looked at or even tried to eat any salty snacks on hand before the baby bunnies came in to the picture, so I’m 100% on this.

I used to breed rabbits a lot in the past and they’d all go crazy for salt, this is a common occurrence. None of them refused the salt lick until this one!

Any help or advice is appreciated, thanks a bunch!

[sarahthegemini]

If a rabbit is getting healthy pellets, she shouldn’t need a salt lick. They’re generally not recommended anyway. Just because she likes the taste of salty foods doesn’t mean she’s lacking in salt lol. What pellets do you feed her?

[Binks]

She’s getting healthy everything, lots of hay, good quality ~Canadian~ pellets, lettuce, broccoli, the odd carrot. Only the best for the bun! 

She has seen salty snacks and sniffed them before she had her babies, but only after she had her babies she’s been interested in chowing down on them. They do need more salt and minerals when they have babies as their body demands it to help make and feed the babies, often causing a temporary deficiency in the mother upon arrival.

Thanks for the reply.

[Bam]

Your bunny seems smart and crafty! I’m pretty certain she would use the salt licks if she needed salt. 

If she needed salt badly, you’d see other signs of sodium definciency in her, because sodium is so vital for the normal workings of the body. I looked up the symptoms of hyponatremia (too little sodium in the blood): Mild symptoms include a decreased ability to think, headaches, nausea, and poor balance. We can’t know about headaches of course, but she’s not showing signs of the other 3, it seems.  

As Sarah says, a bunny can go crazy for salty snacks without needing salt. My Bam goes absolutely crazy for salted peanuts, he stands on his hind legs and begs for chips (crisps) and he once stole a pork rind and ran off with it. He’s male, so there’s no pregnancy to blame it on. Just plain gluttony =/

Your bun does need extra calories now though, when she’s just had babies. This could be why she’s so desperate to get the fatty salty snacks, if she doesn’t normally hog snacks from you. Good food for a new mum is junior pellets and alfalfa hay, plus her normal grass hay. Junior pellets have more protein and calcium than adult tabbit food, so it’s good for a lactating doe. Alfalfa is also rich protein and calcium. If you cant get junior pellets, an extra helping of her normal pellets will do. You can add a pinch or two of rolled oats if you like, buns tend to love oats and it’s easy on the tummy.

ETA: You can write about a bun that’s recently had babies. We love to help if we can. What’s not allowed is posts that promote breeding, like plans for breeding and cute baby pics (sometimes necessary pics are allowed if there’s an ailing baby with some visible physical abnormality) etc. 

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Binks on 7/15/2017 2:57 PM

She’s getting healthy everything, lots of hay, good quality ~Canadian~ pellets, lettuce, broccoli, the odd carrot. Only the best for the bun! 

She has seen salty snacks and sniffed them before she had her babies, but only after she had her babies she’s been interested in chowing down on them. They do need more salt and minerals when they have babies as their body demands it to help make and feed the babies, often causing a temporary deficiency in the mother upon arrival.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, but again, if she’s getting healthy pellets (I.e. ones suitable for a nursing mum) she shouldn’t need a salt lick. Are the pellets suitable for her?

[Binks]

Hey, thanks for the reply! 

She really does seem very smart indeed, and she’ll flop and lay down just about anywhere she feels like!  

She has perfectly normal bun behavior other than her salt cravings, there are no ongoing medical issues. I haven’t heard of junior pellets but I will certainly look up where to find them. She does have good quality alfalfa hay and sometimes I give her grass and dandelion. 

I have recently given her a small spoonful of oats and she is just loving it! scooping up as much as she can in her tiny mouth. 

Do you think there could be a replacement salty chew for the ~Human Snacks~ she’s been stealing? the ingredients in chips and crackers might not be the best for her and the babies. If not then that’s fine, I’ll just up the pellet supply and hope for the best.

Thank you so much for the help, I appreciate it.

[Binks]

Yes, she gets good quality, healthy pellets. She’s more into eating through a whole bunch of lettuce and kale at the moment, and resorts to pellets if none of the above is available, usually during night hours. Everything she eats is rabbit-safe, fresh, and high in nutrients. Another person recently suggested she may be after calories and not so much the salt, which makes better sense considering the salt lick rejection. I’ll see what I can do from here.

Thank you for your time and help.

[LBJ10]

Wild rabbits will seek out more calorie dense foods during times when their bodies are stressed (breeding season, winter, drought, etc.). So I would agree with Bam, it may not necessarily be the salt but the fat she is after. Her body is telling her to take in more calories, the easiest way is to find calorie dense foods. A junior or “young rabbit” formula pellet will be alfalfa-based. Alfalfa is higher in protein and calcium, but it also has more calories than timothy.

[Q8bunny]

Rabbits don’t need salt licks. Ever. Hay and pellets provide all the minerals they need, making external sources of minerals unnecessary. Your bun may want more calories if she’s nursing, but it’s not the salt on your snacks she’s after – it’s simply the snacks themselves.

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