Rabbits make amazing pets as they are sociable, clean and smart. From the moment you bring your rabbits home, they’ll be a massive part of your family.
It’s only natural that you’ll want to spoil them. And what better way than by making them their own special snacks?
You can treat your bunnies to not just one – but three different homemade recipes. The best part is that these are all easy to make and approved by our vets!
While we love to spoil our pets, just make sure that you are feeding your bunnies the right diet with hay and/or grass, five to six different types of fresh plant /veg and just one to two tablespoons of rabbit nuggets every day depending on their size.
If you’re treating them to one of these homemade recipes, make sure not to feed too many treats and remember that hay and/or grass should still make up most of their diet. If your bunnies haven’t had any of the ingredients before, it’s best to offer anything new to them in tiny amounts first to make sure it is not going to upset their stomach.
1. Banana skewers
For this recipe, all you’ll need is a banana and feeding hay strands. Whilst this may not be a challenging recipe to make, it’s a great way to encourage your rabbits to eat more hay whilst giving them a delicious treat.
Ingredients
- 1 small banana
- 15 feeding hay strands
Step 1: Slice the banana
Start by slicing your banana into small pieces. Make sure that the pieces are small enough for your rabbits to eat. Whilst the size doesn’t have to be exact, ideally, try to slice them to be around 1cm. If you have an extra banana, just eat the rest of it yourself.
Step 2: Prepare the hay
Now, you’re going to take long strands of feeding hay and poke them through a slice. We recommend finding the thicker pieces of hay and putting between five to six strands of hay through a single slice of banana on each end.
Step 3: Treat your rabbits
When you are happy with your treats, feed your rabbits. We recommend feeding only one banana skewer treat each day, as bananas are high in sugar, which is bad for their teeth, guts and weight. Make them fresh on the day you are planning to give your rabbits a treat.
2. Apple chips
This recipe is nice and easy – just like the banana skewers! But, you will need to use an oven for this one. Other than that, all you’ll need is an apple.
Ingredients
- 1 apple
Step 1: Prepare
Start by preheating your oven to 90°C. After this, cut up your apple into reasonable slices, and make sure that you remove the seeds and the core. The sizing does not have to be exact, but we recommend trying to make these pieces roughly 6cm so they’ll be nice bite-size pieces.
Step 2: Bake the apples
Put your chunks of apple on a baking tray and place them in the oven. Leave them in the oven for about an hour, making sure to flip the apples halfway through.
Step 3: Serve the treats
The best thing about this recipe is that both you and your rabbits can enjoy these treats. Just be sure to wait for them to fully cool before serving.
As apples are considered a treat, we recommend serving your rabbits a small piece or two in moderation, alongside their usual diet.
3. Bunny biscuits
When you buy rabbit treats from a shop, you may find yourself reading a long list of ingredients. With this homemade recipe, there are just three simple ingredients! Not only are these treats tasty but they’re also approved by our vets. This is probably the most complicated recipe on the list – but your rabbits will absolutely love these bunny biscuits.
Ingredients
- 75g of your bunnies' food
- 2 to 3 small strawberries
- 1 cauliflower
Step 1: Cut up the fruit and veg
The first thing you’ll need to do is preheat the oven to 180°C. While the oven preheats, you can start by chopping up the strawberries and cauliflower into small pieces. We recommend only using half of your cauliflower and saving the rest for yourself.
Step 2: Break down the rabbit food
Now, you’ll need to grind your bunnies' food up so it becomes powdery. We recommend placing them in a zip lock bag on a cutting board and using a wooden spoon to mash them. You could also use a pestle and mortar if you have one to break up the food. If you’re having trouble breaking up the food, try adding a little bit of warm water to it.
Step 3: Blend the fruit and veg
You’ll need to turn the cauliflower and strawberries into puree. To do this, pop them both into the blender. If you are having trouble blending, try adding a little bit of water.
Step 4: Mix all the ingredients together
Now that you have all your ingredients prepared, put them all together into one bowl and mix until they have all blended together.
Take a bit from the mixture and roll it into a ball. Place this onto a baking tray and repeat this process until you have used all your mixture. We recommend trying to keep your balls fairly small – ideally about the size of a bottle cap. This way, you can easily portion control the treats.
Step 5: Bake the mixture
Bake the mixture for about 30 minutes, and be sure to turn them around about halfway through. Wait for them to cool before serving to your rabbits.
Make sure that you don’t give your rabbit any more than two of these every day. You can store these treats for a week in the fridge as long as they are in an airtight seal.
Feeding your rabbits
Rabbits are herbivores meaning that they only eat plants and other plant-based foods. They need a balanced diet that is high in fibre to help avoid dental disease and gut stasis. The best way to do this is by ensuring their diet is mostly hay.
There’s nothing wrong with treating them every now and again – especially with our vet-approved homemade treats. But make sure they’re not being overfed to keep them at a healthy weight. And to offer tiny amounts of new ingredients to your rabbits to avoid upsetting their stomach.
Find out more about feeding your rabbits the correct diet here.