This is a specific conversation about Rabbit food and hay — getting the diet right — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
You've got a 4-year-old American rabbit with a large frame — and you're right to double-check the hay question, because some owners assume bigger breeds need more pellets to compensate. They don't. Hay should make up around 80% of any rabbit's diet regardless of size or breed. It's not filler — it's the mechanism that keeps the gut moving and the teeth worn down properly. Pellets are a small supplement, not a main course. So tell me: what are you currently feeding, how much hay is he getting, and is he in good health?
He's getting a good handful of hay in the morning, a big bowl of pellets, and some veg in the evening. He's healthy, good weight, very active. I wasn't sure if the unlimited hay thing applied to bigger rabbits or if they needed more pellets.
inparticular.ai
The unlimited hay rule absolutely applies to large breeds — if anything, a bigger rabbit has more tooth surface and more gut to keep working, so hay matters even more. The issue I'd flag is the big bowl of pellets. For a healthy 4-year-old, you want roughly one tablespoon of pellets per kilogram of body weight per day — an American rabbit typically runs 4–5 kg, so you're looking at four to five tablespoons maximum, not a full bowl. The veg is fine as a supplement. What breed of pellets are you using, and roughly how much hay does he actually eat — does he go through it quickly or leave most of it?
He tends to leave quite a bit of the hay, honestly. He goes for the pellets first. The pellets are a budget supermarket brand — I can't remember the name. Is that the problem?
inparticular.ai
That's almost certainly the core of it. Budget pellet mixes often include seeds, coloured bits, and dried fruit — rabbits pick out the tasty parts and ignore the rest, which means they fill up on low-fibre, high-sugar content and lose interest in hay. It's a very common pattern. Switch to a plain, uniform pellet — no muesli mix, no added bits — and cut the quantity right back, and you'll likely see him eating far more hay within a week or two. The hay itself is also worth looking at. What are you buying?
Just hay from the local pet shop, I don't know what type it is. Should I be buying a specific kind?
inparticular.ai
For a healthy 4-year-old adult rabbit, Timothy hay is the gold standard — it has the right fibre balance and a coarser texture that keeps teeth wearing evenly. Meadow hay is a reasonable alternative and adds variety, but Timothy is what you want as the daily staple. On pellets, I'd recommend Burgess Excel Adult Rabbit Nuggets. They're a single-ingredient uniform nugget with no muesli-mix nonsense, made specifically for adult rabbits, and widely available. Cut his pellets back to the correct portion, swap to Timothy hay kept fresh and available all day, and the hay consumption will almost certainly pick up. His size isn't the issue — the food setup is.
That makes a lot of sense. So just to confirm — unlimited Timothy hay all day, small measured portion of the Burgess nuggets, and veg stays as it is?
inparticular.ai
Exactly right. Hay always available, never rationed. Burgess Excel Adult Nuggets measured at roughly one tablespoon per kilogram of his body weight daily. Fresh leafy greens like romaine, kale, or herbs in the evening — that's a perfectly balanced adult rabbit diet. Give it two weeks and you should see a clear shift in how much hay he's actually eating once the pellets aren't doing all the heavy lifting.
