Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/141

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS
127

will not do it because it is one of the cleanest animals in existence and it will not drink contaminated water or eat bad food unless starved to it.

No more feeding is necessary until night when a good-sized handful of clover or alfalfa hay should be given to each rabbit. It is hard to say off hand just how much each animal should have. That is a matter of the individual rabbit and of observation. The rabbit should have all that it will eat up clean in the night and no more or less.

Alfalfa hay, while a little more expensive in the Middle West and Eastern portion of the United States than any other hay, is undoubtedly the best hay to use, as it contains a better feeding value than clover, having about three times the protein content that clover has.

One summer I conducted an experiment with peanut hay as a forage for rabbits and I consider it the equal if not superior to alfalfa. If you live in the South or are where you can secure peanut hay for your rabbits,