The key to good health, well-being, high productivity is animal nutrition. Many rabbit breeders have a question regarding squash in the diet of animals. Undoubtedly, zucchini is an affordable and useful product, but the possibility of feeding them to rabbits, many owners are in doubt. To find out whether these vegetables are useful for your eared fish, in what quantities and at what age - continue reading.
Can Rabbits Zucchini?
Zucchini are juicy food (parts of plants and fruits with high water content in the composition). It is known that succulent fodder is an extremely important component of the ration of hares.
Therefore, feeding this product to rabbits is not only possible, but simply necessary for normal health and development. The introduction of zucchini in the diet will help make it more diverse, fortified. You can feed zucchini both decorative and agricultural types.
Did you know? Briton Alberto Marantonio raised a zucchini, which as a result hit the Guinness Book of Records as the longest zucchini in the world. Its length was only slightly less than the height of the farmer - 160 cm!Zucchini is rich in ascorbic acid (C), vitamins B6, B9, PP and K, the amount of minerals in it is insignificant. But the vegetable also contains fiber and organic acids.
Use of the product in the diet of rabbits:- normalizes the activity of the cardiovascular system;
- has an antioxidant effect;
- stimulates blood formation processes;
- normalizes the activity of the nervous system.
Feeding rules
With the ability to include the product in the diet eared understand. Now it is important to understand at what age it is best to introduce a juicy vegetable, as well as in what quantity. Equally important is the processing of the product or its absence.
Find out whether it is possible to give rabbits: beets, fish oil, burdocks, wormwood, nettles, bran, cereals, bread, pumpkin, corn.
From what age can
Introducing babies with zucchini is best from the age of 1.5-2 months. By this period, their digestive system is already sufficiently adapted and strong enough to withstand juicy food. However, some breeders prefer to postpone familiarity with the product to four months of age. 
How to give
Before feeding adults, zucchini should be thoroughly cleaned of soil and dirt, rinsed, the skin should not be cut off. It is necessary to give the vegetable in its raw form. Rabbits with appetite eat both fully ripe and slightly immature fruits.
For convenience, zucchini can be cut into small slices or cubes. For feeding babies, fruits can be peeled, and too overripe specimens should be cleaned of seeds.
Important! With excessive intake of succulent feeds in rabbits, diarrhea, bloating and imbalance of intestinal microflora can begin. To prevent digestive disorders, you need to adhere to the daily requirement.Regarding the dosage, the breeders are of the opinion that succulent fodder in the eared ration should be about 200 g per day. These portions can include only zucchini exclusively, but it will be more useful to mix them with other vegetables (pumpkin, potatoes, carrots), bringing the total weight to 200 g.
Despite the enormous benefits of the vegetable, it is strictly forbidden to transfer the rabbit to the zucchini diet, since one type of product will not be able to satisfy the body’s need for nutrients.
Can rabbits pumpkin with zucchini?
Proceeding from the above, it is also not forbidden to give a pumpkin to rabbits, and the combination "squash + pumpkin" is quite common and useful. If the zucchini is given only raw, the pumpkin can still be boiled and pureed, especially for rabbits. Little rabbits can be given a pumpkin from 3 months.
In the crushed form, it can be added to the combined feed, thereby increasing their nutritional value and palatability for animals. It is useful for adults to eat pumpkin seeds for the prevention of helminthic invasions, especially since rabbits enjoy eating them.
The inclusion of pumpkin in the diet improves the quality of wool, stimulates digestion. The use of pumpkin sukrolnymi females subsequently increases milk production, the viability of the offspring.
Did you know? Food inside the rabbit intestine can be up to 5 days or more. The musculature of the intestine is very weak, therefore only constantly incoming new food can push the old food to the exit. Due to weak muscles, the rabbit does not develop an emetic reflex.
Pumpkin is an excellent product for the fattening period of rabbits, which coincides with the time of harvest (September-October). Pumpkin tops can also be fed by eared fish, after grinding it and pouring boiling water over it. But you need to enter into the diet gradually. 
What else can be given to rabbits
Since rabbits are herbivores, they can be fed a huge amount of plant products. Below is a short list of what ears will gladly eat:
- From the middle of spring to the middle of autumn, the basis of the eared ration is green food. These are leguminous and cereal grasses, foliage and tops of root crops (forage clover and alfalfa, corn, greens of oats and rye, tops of beet and potatoes). Green food is given in pure form or as part of mixtures.
- Rough feed (25% of the diet). This group is rich in fiber: twigs, hay, grass meal. Such feed is given as an independent food or in the form of mash (herbal flour).
- Concentrates (30-40% of the diet). This is a highly nutritious food: cereals and beans, meal and cake, fish and bone meal. Some feed can be given in whole or crushed form without processing (oats, barley), while others should always be pre-soaked (cake and meal, crushed corn, wheat bran).
It is important to know: in no case should you feed the rabbits.
Despite the great benefit of vegetables in the diet of rabbits, some of them are strictly forbidden to be given to ears:
- red cabbage;
- Red beetroot;
- cucumbers;
- tomatoes;
- onion;
- radish;
- young or with traces of green potatoes;
- eggplants.
Important! Rabbits are "vegans"therefore, the presence in the diet of animal products, including dairy, is not allowed. As a mineral supplement a small amount of meat and bone meal is possible.Thus, zucchini in the eater ration is a very valuable and useful product, besides it is very affordable in our area. The main thing, when feeding rabbits with this product, to observe the norm, so as not to harm the digestive system. Zucchini and pumpkin are excellent products in order to enrich, diversify the diet and improve the health of animals.
Can zucchini bunnies: video
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