# Will rabbits over eat if you fill their hanging food feeder completely full?



## Stone_family3 (Feb 5, 2010)

Thinking of changing some of the things around in Belldandy's cage. Currently she will drink from a bowl and eat from a bowl. I was thinking of putting hanging water bottle and hanging food dispenser up but didn't know if they will over eat or not. Hay will be available.


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## jamesedwardwaller (Feb 5, 2010)

*Stone_family3 wrote: *


> Thinking of changing some of the things around in Belldandy's cage. Currently she will drink from a bowl and eat from a bowl. I was thinking of putting hanging water bottle and hanging food dispenser up but didn't know if they will over eat or not. Hay will be available.


timothy/orchard grass-(nondigestible-fiber)-is 70% of the diet,,only a small amount-of quality/lowfat/- pellets daily for nutrition and vitamins(digestible fiber),,i offer water in a bowl and bottle,,fruit tree branches/twigs are good for the teeth and gitract,,treats of dandylions,grass,clover --keep tract of the digestible foods eaten-that way there won,t be an imbalance in the gitract.//.an imbalance will create havoc from the ever growing teeth to the entire-ecosystem...people love to watch rabbits eat which can have serious results...sincerely james waller:wave::rose:


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## tamsin (Feb 5, 2010)

Yes, rabbits are like small children. They'll eat all the tastiest food first given the opportunity. Dry food usually comes into the tasty category so they'll keep eating that at the expense of hay which is what their main diet should be. About 95% of the time your rabbits dry food bowl should be empty.


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## Stone_family3 (Feb 5, 2010)

That's what I thought. Most of the feeders are huge. I could probably rig something up for free. That is if she'll give it a chance.


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## Korr_and_Sophie (Feb 5, 2010)

Some rabbits can control the amount of pellets they eat and maintain a good weight. Others will gorge on the pellets and become fat.
If your rabbit eats the pellets throughout the day, she will probably be OK. If she eats them all quickly, then she would probably gain weight. 
Adult rabbits should have a measured amount of pellets anyway. You could give the full days ration at once and that is all the pellets she gets that day and she can eat it as she likes. 
I would not use a feeder that has a large amount food. You can't monitor how much they eat in a day easily. If you give a set amount, you know if they don't eat it all on a daily (or twice daily) basis.


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## slavetoabunny (Feb 5, 2010)

Another consideration is that if you keep a large amount of food in a feeder, it's difficult to monitor if they are eating at all. It may take you a while to realize if they have stopped eating and are going into stasis.


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## Stone_family3 (Feb 5, 2010)

Yeah I feed her at night and it lasts through the night but by day break she is nudging me for more. She gets fresh stuff during the day since DD and her usually share


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## tonyshuman (Feb 5, 2010)

I know my guys would! Tony and Muffin (each around 4lb) get a tablespoon of pellets each, and that is probably their favorite time of the day. They run circles around my legs while I fill up their bowl, and when I put it down for them to eat from they push each others' face out of the way to get at it first. Their pellets are gone in 10 min. They just love the taste of pellets, and wouldn't eat hay unless I only gave them a tiny bit of pellets. Muffin would probably only eat veggies if she could, too.


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## Sox (Feb 12, 2010)

I feed Sox her pellets from one of those self-feeders without filling it to the top. Sometimes I have to be away for a day or two and when I do I put sufficient food for like 3 days. She just eats it all like in a day, she just stuffs herself!!  I used to worry but there is nothing much I can do. She is being overfed and she won't starve; there is always plenty of hay in the hutch. She is used to it now and seems quite happy. I am sure if she runs out of food she will continue to eat up the other 1/2 of the hutch. Seems to love chewing on the wooden hutch as if she hasn't got enough toys!


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## Nancy McClelland (Feb 12, 2010)

it varies from bunny to bunny, but, most would turn into blobs if given access to unlimited pellets.We have two out of seventeen that don't gobble down their pellets. The rest would eat pellets and never touch their hay. Coal, a blue mini rex weighed more than 8 pounds when we first rescued her. She now weigh 5 pounds and is not so roly-poly. With Nicky and Bam-Bam we can fill their dish and it will take them three or four days to clean it out. But, since you're the caregiver/slave, it's a judgement call.


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