# WalMart Rabbit food



## belladbd (Sep 6, 2012)

Hello all! I adopted my rabbit Maximus about a year ago from an abandoned apartment. He was in rough shape at first and very timid, but with alot of love and dedication he's wonderful, playful, and happy. 

I only shop at WalMart for the prices (which I'm sure everyone does eventually). I've run into an annoying problem with the food. It seems that there are dormant moth larvae in the food, which hatch and infest my house. My pantry was prime breeding ground, and most of my cereals had to go. 

Anyone else heard of this problem?


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## ldoerr (Sep 6, 2012)

I NEVER buy rabbit food from grocery stores or pet stores. I get mine from either Tractor Supply or a feed store. You are paying WAY more than you need to even if you are getting it from walmart. I can get a 50lb bag of food for $13 at any feed store. If I were you I would see about going to a Tractor Supply or a local feed store and ask if they sell rabbit food. Most of those places will sell it in 25 and 50 lb bags. Even if you do not use it all before it goes bad, you will have saved $$. It is also almost always better than the stuff that you can get at a grocery store/walmart.


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## LakeCondo (Sep 6, 2012)

For one rabbit, I would say don't get more than a 10-lb bag at a time unless you can keep some of it in a air-tight container kept in a dry cool place.

Check out wag.com. They carry both Oxbow & Kaytee. Shipping is free with a $39+ order if it includes items from a sister site. Orders come in just a couple days.


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## Blue eyes (Sep 6, 2012)

*belladbd wrote: *


> I only shop at WalMart for the prices (which I'm sure everyone does eventually). I've run into an annoying problem with the food. It seems that there are dormant moth larvae in the food, which hatch and infest my house. My pantry was prime breeding ground, and most of my cereals had to go.
> 
> Anyone else heard of this problem?


I used to have that problem with bird seed that I'd get. I found out that if I stuck it in the freezer for a day, it killed any larvae.


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## BunBuns Human (Sep 10, 2012)

It could be a one time event at the store or it is even possible that the moths got in it after purchase.

As noted, you can freeze it to kill larvae. I store mine in airtight USGI steel ammo cans. Anything like rice, flour etc that is not stored in the ammo cans gets moths pretty quickly.They can bore right through paper and plastic to get at the food. I found that once I got moths, anything and everthing that they would eat had to go into heavy duty sealed containers of one type or another.

I get it at Walmart of about $7.50 for a 25 pound bag. 

I do have some concerns thoughabout the level of calcium in that food for long term use as to whether it could cause kidney problems in a long lived rabbit. Pellets for rabbits that are going to be killed when they are three months old are not necessarily good for a pet rabbit expected to live 10-15 years. Most, if not all,of the pellets are formulated for the kill industry which encompasses about 95% of the bunnies in the US.


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## whitelop (Sep 10, 2012)

I get my rabbit food from an animal supply store in my area. I get a 25# bag for around $16-$18. (I pay a little more than others because I know the owner of the store and really really like going there, they're very helpful.)
I only have 1 rabbit, but I put the food in a container to store it and it stays good until she eats it all. I think its probably a better quality of food than the stuff you get from walmart. And my bun really likes it. I also get mini bales of hay from there.


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## Rescuemom (Sep 10, 2012)

I won't feed Walmart food to my rabbits, let alone my dogs... Just my opinion.


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## BunBuns Human (Sep 10, 2012)

*Rescuemom wrote: *


> I won't feed Walmart food to my rabbits, let alone my dogs... Just my opinion.


Uh-Oh! *NOW* you tell me.* I* eat Wal-mart food!

Though compared to some of the stuff that BunBun eats, Wal-Mart pellets ain't the worst of it.

[flash=425,344]http://www.youtube.com/v/X_7oixcRgO8&feature=plcp&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]


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## blondiesmommie (Sep 10, 2012)

^ that's cute lol ^


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## BunBuns Human (Sep 10, 2012)

*blondiesmommie wrote: *


> ^ that's cute lol ^


BunBun thanks you.

But Booger's videois winning the cuteness contest.

[flash=425,344]http://www.youtube.com/v/DB1sbdbTdwI&feature=plcp&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]


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## Blue eyes (Sep 10, 2012)

I've been getting the wal-mart food "Bunny World." I'm in the process of switching now though. It is alfalfa based, not timothy based. I know the rescues recommend using timothy based.
I'm transitioning to Oxbow essentials.


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## FallenRabbit (Sep 10, 2012)

Put it in the freeze, I do that with my bird food. I don't see a problem with walmart food, I mean as long as the rabbit is not lacking any nutritional benifits. The rabbit came from a place he didn't get a lot of food from.. he won't care if it is from walmart.  Just my opinion.


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## LakeCondo (Sep 11, 2012)

The nutritional value has to be degraded if the food has larva. The chance of expensive vet bills outweighs the value of using contaminated food, doesn't it?


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## Kipcha (Sep 11, 2012)

Freezing food isn't necessarily a good way to go anyway. While it defrosts it increases the chance of mould and I've read that it can ruin the good stuff.

Personally, I would also go towards a new brand of food...


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## Imbrium (Sep 11, 2012)

http://www.3bunnies.org/feeding.htm#pellets says that freezing can ruin pellet food ><

as far as food brands go, I like sherwood forest - https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/

it's very healthy and freshly made within a few days of being sent to you (they include a "made on" tag with the date!)


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## BunBuns Human (Sep 11, 2012)

*Blue eyes wrote: *


> It is alfalfa based, not timothy based. I know the rescues recommend using timothy based.


It is my understanding at this point of inquiry that the alfalfa is the source of the higher calcium, not a problem for a rabbit that doesn't even make it to 6 months. And that thetimothy based has the lower calcium which is much better for a long lived bunny.


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## Rescuemom (Sep 12, 2012)

If rabbit food and nutrition is anything similar to dog food and nutrition(and I'm not talking along the lines of similarities in their needs - let's face it, an herbivore =/= a carnivore, I mean along the lines of brands and quality and nutritional value, etc), then Walmart food(particularly Walmart brand and other cheap, lower brand foods) is not nearly so nutritional as those high quality brands that have ONLY what is required for nutritional value, and not all these additives, preservatives and other 'fillers' just to fill the animal up rather than meet their nutritional needs.

I find the higher quality, or the closest to their natural diet that I feed, the longer my animals lived/live and the better their health, leading to less veterinary costs to boot.

For example, Beneful dog food causes my epileptic dog to have grand mal seizures monthly, if not weekly, but if he's on Acana or raw, he has MAYBE one in a year, two at most - and that's just from preservatives(BHA and BHT being the big ones) and fillers that don't do anything nutritionally of value to his system.

Take a rabbit, put it on the cheapest, lowest quality food possible that's made up of corn, sunflower seeds, and other small grains and junk that's more used as a filler than as actual nutritional valued ingredients, and you're more likely to have a shorter lifespan and larger vet bills.

Just my opinion after much research into finding what's best for my pets.

That said, I'm not saying your pet is going to drop dead because you feed cheaper food, by any means. Nor am I bashing anyone else's food choices for their pets. This was my choice, for my pets, after I did research for several years and found what was absolutely best for their health.

I do think that if there's larva in the food, I likely wouldn't feed it to my pet. Nor would I freeze it only to have problems later. New brand sounds like the best option.


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## Nancy McClelland (Sep 12, 2012)

We've been using Wally World food for more than a decade with no real problems. Coal was able to make it to 13 1/2 and that was an integral part of her diet, along with orchard grass and fresh veggies.


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## Blue eyes (Sep 12, 2012)

*Nancy McClelland wrote: *


> We've been using Wally World food for more than a decade with no real problems. Coal was able to make it to 13 1/2 and that was an integral part of her diet, along with orchard grass and fresh veggies.


I've never seen/heard of that brand. Where do you get it?
Coal was an old-timer  I met a 13 1/2 yr old bun last Saturday. He was owned by the owner of the rescue.


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## missyscove (Sep 12, 2012)

Blue eyes wrote:


> *Nancy McClelland wrote: *
> 
> 
> > We've been using Wally World food for more than a decade with no real problems. Coal was able to make it to 13 1/2 and that was an integral part of her diet, along with orchard grass and fresh veggies.
> ...



Wally World = Walmart.


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## Blue eyes (Sep 12, 2012)

oh :embarrassed::embarrassed::embarrassed:


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## FallenRabbit (Sep 13, 2012)

LakeCondo wrote:


> The nutritional value has to be degraded if the food has larva. The chance of expensive vet bills outweighs the value of using contaminated food, doesn't it?


But not _all_ Walmart brand rabbit food has larva. Believe me I am NOT a fan of walmart, I would much rather shop at target... So I'm not basing this off of my like for walmart. Well you just have to check to see if the entire bag is filled with larva or if it was just a couple eggs which you could easily kill by freezing. If the bag was moldy by being frozen then don't use it, but at least then you didn't completely was money. You tried to fix the problem. If you are comfortable with using Walmart food that is fine, if you want a bigger name brand that is fine too. You are the owner/voice of your animal so you have the option.  As long as you give the rabbit the pellets, veggies, and hay it should be fine either way!


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## BunBuns Human (Sep 13, 2012)

*Rescuemom wrote: *


> If rabbit food and nutrition is anything similar to dog food and nutrition





> Take a rabbit, put it on the cheapest, lowest quality food possible that's made up of corn, sunflower seeds, and other small grains and junk that's more used as a filler than as actual nutritional valued ingredients,


I don't think that this is as big an issue with rabbit pellets as it is with dog food.

Dog foods use cheap fillers because meat is expensive.

The main bulk of pellets is alfalfa or timothy which is actually cheaper than corn, grainsor sunflower seeds. In other words, what rabbits naturally eat is some of the cheapest stuff around. As long as the pellets have the proper blend of minerals and other nutrients, which are cheap, they should be OK. Even the "highest grade" pellet is still going to be inexpensiveas long as you don't pay "boutique" prices.

And unlike dogs, rabbit pellets are only part of the diet, typically hay beingthe common supplement.. In addition to the bananas, carrots and oatmeal that are treats, the lads get a large supply of fresh garden greens of various types.


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## FallenRabbit (Sep 13, 2012)

:yeahthat:
Well writen!


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## LakeCondo (Sep 13, 2012)

It sort of becomes a vicious circle. People don't buy food at places that don't have much turnover. Then what the store DOES have gets even older & less & less nutritious.


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