by Kris Barton
Unless you have a perfect memory and know, in great detail, every single fruit and vegetable that’s safe to feed your rabbit, you could probably use a really detailed rabbit food list.
I know my wife and I need one.
Every time we have leftover fruit and vegetables in the fridge and we want to give them to my little Netherlands Dwarf, Ron, we always struggle to remember whether they’re rabbit-safe or not. Then the Googling starts and the frustration sets in soon after.
“Surely he can have a tomato?” My wife said.
I shrugged, grabbed my phone and quickly Googled it. What I found was conflicting and felt the risk was too great (it turns out the risk wasn’t too great – rabbits can eat tomatoes).
“I’m not sure,” I said, “I think it’s okay?”
“Okay,” she said, “let’s not risk it.”
This happened a couple of times and I just got sick of it. So I decided to create a safe rabbit food list that details every fruit and vegetable that we can safely feed our tiny little fluff monsters.
Table of Contents
A Healthy Rabbit Diet
I go a little bit deeper into a healthy Rabbit Diet in this post, but I feel it’s important that I go over the basics here before we take a look at the fruit and vegetables rabbit food list.
The most important thing for a healthy rabbit diet is hay. Hay should be the primary source of a rabbit’s diet, in fact, it should make up as much as 70% of their food intake.
This is because:
- Hay is very good for a rabbits digestive system.
- It helps maintain dental health.
- It provides a large chunk of your bunny’s nutritional needs.
The next most important thing in a rabbits diet is vegetables and this should make up around 28% of a rabbits diet.
Rabbits should also be given pellets as they are high in fibre and contain an even spread of nutrients, but no more than a handful a day. Pellets should make up the remaining 2% of their daily food intake.
Fruit, however, is considered to be a treat for rabbits – akin to consuming a cupcake in for a human. Fruit should be given to our little fluff monsters in moderation, a small handful a day is generally recommended.
Now that we know how much fruit and vegetables to give our bunnies as part of their healthy diet, let’s take a look at our ultimate rabbit food list and see what’s actually safe for them to eat.
The Ultimate Rabbit Food List.
So what do rabbits eat? Let’s just jump right into the rabbit food list:
| Fruit / Vegetable | Comments |
|---|---|
| Parsley | |
| Spinach | |
| Mustard greens | |
| Beetroot greens | |
| Swiss chard | |
| Radish tops | |
| Sprouts | from 1 to 6 days after sprouting as sprouts have higher levels of alkaloids |
| Carrot tops | |
| Cucumber leaves | |
| Endive | |
| Ecarole | |
| Frisee Lettuce | |
| Kale | all types are allowed |
| Mache | |
| Red or green lettuce | |
| Romaine lettuce | |
| Spring greens | |
| Turnip greens | |
| Dandelion greens | |
| Mint | any variety |
| Basil | any variety |
| Watercress | |
| Wheatgrass | |
| Chicory | |
| Raspberry leaves | |
| Radicchio | |
| Bok Choy | |
| Fennel | the leafy tops as well as the base |
| Borage leaves | |
| Dill leaves | |
| Yu choy | |
| Carrots | |
| Cucumber | |
| Broccoli | leaves and stems are allowed |
| Celery | |
| Bell peppers | any colour |
| Chinese pea pods | the flat kind without large peas |
| Brussel sprouts | |
| Cabbage | any type |
| Broccolini | |
| Summer squash | |
| Zucchini squash | |
| Cauliflower leaves | |
| Apple | any variety, but without the stem and the seeds |
| Cherries | any variety, without the stones |
| Pear | |
| Peach | |
| Plum | without the stone |
| Kiwi | |
| Papaya | |
| Mango | |
| Strawberry | |
| Strawberry tops | |
| Blackberries | |
| Blueberries | |
| Raspberries | |
| Pineapple | make sure you remove the skin because if you don't they might find it difficult to swallow 😀 |
| Bananas | |
| Melons | any type of melon is fine and you can include peel and seeds if you like |
| Star Fruit | don't worry, this isn't made of real stars. I checked. 😀 |
| Apricot | |
| Currants | |
| Nectarine | |
| Tomatoes |
[upgrade text=”Don’t forget: Click here to download our Rabbit Food List Quick Guide PDF and take it with you offline.”]
A Good Rabbit Meal Plan
Wowzers! I think we can all agree: that’s a BIG list! It contains some fruit and vegetables that I’ve never even heard of before, never mind tasted.
I think now that you’ve seen the list, it’s important to re-emphasise that a good rabbit meal plan shouldn’t go out of the window now you have a safe rabbit food list.
As I’ve mentioned earlier in the article, vegetables should only make up of around 28% of your bunnies meal plan and fruits should only be given as a treat and sparingly.
Gradually Introduce New Foods
Another good tip is not over-face your bunny with new things all at once. It’s usually a good idea to introduce new foods gradually, giving them small amounts to see if they like it. This is especially important with fruits.
For my Netherlands Dwarf, Ron, his favourite vegetable is most definitely Curly Kale. He absolutely LOVES it. He eagerly awaits it every morning, both of his paws in his food bowl, eyeing me every time I go into the kitchen.
We’ve tried him with other vegetables, but he’s not as eager to dive in as he is Kale or just turns his nose up at it completely. We’ve tried Ron on carrot tops, dandelion greens, spinach, mixed greens and turnip greens and he wouldn’t touch them – not even a nibble.
Other foods have been more successful. Strawberry tops is a major treat for the boy. Recently, Ron’s found a love of Green Beans which is good because it expands his menu AND him crunching on Green Beans is absolutely adorable.
The Banana Incident
However, one new food we tried to introduce into Ron’s his diet actually backfired on us – spectacularly. It was a banana.
We saw these videos on Youtube with rabbits going nuts for banana’s, even going so far as to steal them from their hoomans.
At first, Ron was no different. He wolfed down the bit of banana we gave and was eager for more. We didn’t give him more, but the damage was already done. He’d eaten more than his little tummy could handle and it gave him…problems. In the bum area.
We left it a couple of days until his problems subsided and then tried him again, this time with a smaller piece of Banana. But it was already too late. The damage had been done. As soon as we tried to hand him the banana, he scarpered away from it, scared at the very sight of it.
We haven’t tried him with banana since, but maybe we should. This time, we’ll just need to start with a smaller piece. Much smaller.
Rabbit Food List Further Reading
There are a couple of questions I see asked over and over again on pet forums and rabbit groups regarding specific foods rabbits are allowed to eat, so I decided to create a couple of in-depth articles focused on this.
Hopefully, this should dispel some rumours and provide definitive answers to put people’s minds at ease.
You can check out these articles below:
What Foods Does Your Rabbit Love?
Does your rabbit have a particular fruit or vegetable they love as much as Ron loves curly kale? Has your bunny turned their noses up at a particular food? Head over to our Facebook Page and let me know – I’d love to hear from you!
ALSO, if you liked this post and found it useful please hit the Facebook and/or Pinterest share buttons and share it with your friends.
[upgrade text=”And don’t forget: Click here to download our Rabbit Food List Quick Guide PDF and take it with you offline.”]
Sources:
Kris has had (and loved) Bunnies most of his adult life - he's even looked after friends fur babies too! He knows what makes them tick...and what makes them binky! 
