# feeding rose petals



## ~*sAbRiNa*~ (Mar 13, 2010)

Does anyone have a bun who likes rose petals? At my local small pet store they have brought in some organic "healthy" rabbit treats made with rose petals. Any reviews of feeding rose petals in the past? They are a bit expensive because they are organic but if I can still give her a treat without putting her into a diabetic coma I would be a very happy slave.


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## Pipp (Mar 13, 2010)

:wave2

I'd love to try them. How pricey is pricey? What's the brand?

Actually, I'd love to go into the natural bunny food business myself!


sas :bunnydance:


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## RandomWiktor (Mar 13, 2010)

Rabbits definitely enjoy flowering plants and it's a healthy treat for them, so I say go for it!


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## ~*sAbRiNa*~ (Mar 13, 2010)

Pipp, I can't for the life of me remember the brand name, I have been trying to look them up online to no avail. It was at a Global Pet Foods, do you have one in BC? they are those sticks that you are supposed to hang in the cage. I am not sure if I will be driving by there tomorrow or not but I will go and check this week for sure.

I will take a picture with my cell of the nutrition info too and see what our experts think of their "healthiness". I should have thought of that earlier.


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## Hazel-Mom (Mar 14, 2010)

Hazel loves rose petals. She gets the "pure" petals though, fresh or dried. She loves them both.
I'd probably not feed the sticks. Try getting just rose petals instead.


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## Cabrissi (Mar 14, 2010)

We have heaps of roses so roses are a firm favorite here.  Fresh are much prefered to dried.


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## luvthempigs (Mar 14, 2010)

Wow, I would have thought that rose petals would be dangerous/poisonous to an animal. Not sure why....


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## Cabrissi (Mar 14, 2010)

People can eat them too. They're good sprinkled among a salad, as rose-petal jelly, used to infuse rose water, to flavor an ice-cream, dried for rose petal tea, as a rose syrup on baklava and there is a lovely sweet Indian rose-milk drink as well. It's nice to use to infuse sugar the way vanilla-sugar is done or lavender-sugar for that matter. There are some lovely rose-water jellies (english definition of a jelly here - not the stuff you spread on toast) in some specialist lolly shops around here and of course Turkish delight. The rose hips are quite good as well and very healthy for you.

Some varities will taste better than others and in all cases you should avoid commercially grown rose petals (ie the florists) because they've been sprayed with pestacides quite heavily usually. If you buy them, you'll need to look for organic ones or ones raised to be eatten. The easiest way is to simply grow your own though.


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## Imarni (Mar 15, 2010)

I give my male bunny some every few days supplied from our own bushes though, the females don't seem to like them here but their like lollies to Pepa!


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## BunnyLove06 (Mar 15, 2010)

I have seen online rabbit boutiques that sell dried rose petals. For whatever reason, I didn't know if it was okay for buns to eat them (like those treats they sell at the pet store with all of the seeds). But, my husband has 10+ rose bushes, and if they really are fine for bunnies, then boy howdy they have some good stuff coming!


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## ~*sAbRiNa*~ (Mar 15, 2010)

So I went out and bought them today. I haven't tried them on her because I usually give her a treat when I leave (and I just got home so I haven't left yet )

This is for a whole stick, I will only be feeding her about 1/8th at a time.
Crude Protein min. 8.5%
Crude Fat min 2.0%
Crude Fiber min 4.0%
Moisture max 14.0%
Vitamin A 2490 U/lb
Vit. D 240 IU/lb
Vit E 22 IU/lb

Any opinions based on the nutrition info??


Pipp - If you are going to be starting to make and sell rabbit treats...and are willing to ship to Ontario I would gladly be your first customer!!!


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## tonyshuman (Mar 15, 2010)

They're a bit rich in terms of fat and protein, but as a treat they should be fine.

I have a mini rose bush and my guys get the flowers when they are ready to be plucked off (nearly dead). They like them, not as much as parsley, but they do like them.


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## luvthempigs (Mar 15, 2010)

Very interesting, thanks for all the info!

I do have one more silly question though, Does it matter what color the leaves are? Do the different colorstaste different?


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## Cabrissi (Mar 15, 2010)

It has more to do with the species and individual variety than the colour of the petals.  

I've not been impressed by my hybrid tea roses taste; despite being highly fragrant they are pretty bland. My older sorts are nice though...Squaters Dream (a bright yellow tea rose), Crepuscule (a buffy-honey colour noisette), Perle dâOr (a peachy china hybrid), Agnes (pale yellow rugosa), Veilchenblau (a blue-mauve rambling rose) and Buff Beauty (buff-honey hybrid musk rose) and are all well liked by the buns.


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## Hazel-Mom (Mar 16, 2010)

I have never really tasted our roses, but Hazel prefers the big red and yellow ones tastewise. The tea roses are definitely a last resort for her, too.

Amanda, now I'll have to find recipes for those things you mentioned, they sound very interesting. I do remember that my mom always had rose-water when I was a kid. I liked that, so I may try making some with our roses.


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