When it comes to offering food to your homestead, pet, or farm rabbits, you must always check to make sure it is rabbit-safe. This is because rabbits have very sensative digestive systems that cannot tolerate many fruits or veggies that we humans can digest no-problem.
So, if you’ve been wondering if cucumber is a safe food to offer your rabbits, you’ve come to the right place! This post will highlight all benefits and risks of offering cucumber to bunnies.
Yes, mature rabbits can eat cucumbers as they are a non-toxic fruit. Thats right, cucumbers are actually a fruit and can be offered in measured moderation to your bunnies. However, if too much cucumber is ingested, your rabbits may develop serious health issues! So here are some important guidelines about rabbits eating cucumbers.
Read Below To Learn When And How Cucumbers Can Be Harmful To Rabbits
Why is Cucumber Good for Rabbits?
Cucumbers are about ninety-five percent water and can help increase a rabbit’s hydration in hot, dry climates as getting enough water is important for rabbits health. Plenty of water helps keep the rabbit’s immune system healthy, flushing out cell level wastes as well as toxins and other bodily wastes.
In addition, the skin or peel of the cucumber contains some fiber. Fibers are essential for proper metabolism in rabbits! However, rabbits typically eat all the fiber they need in the hay and grass they eat. Most pellets also include enough dietary fiber for your rabbit.
Can Rabbits Eat All Parts of the Cucumber Plant?
Yes, rabbits can eat all parts of the cucumber plant including, cucumber leaves, cucumber vines, cucumber peels or skin, cucumber flowers or blossoms, cucumber seedlings, cucumber roots, baby or mini cucumbers, wild cucumbers, and cucumbers right from the family garden.
Here is a one-minute video of a rabbit happily nibbling on a slice of cucumber.
How Much Cucumber Can a Rabbit Eat?
Mature rabbits may eat no more than 1 teaspoon of fresh cucumber per 2lbs of their weight per day. That looks like a few slices per week!
Why can’t rabbits eat a lot of cucumber?
Because too much cucumber will cause bacterial imbalances in rabbit’s sensative gut due to its high water content and low fiber content. As stated, rabbit required lots of daily fiber to keep their digestive system and metabolism running smoothly.
Can Baby Rabbits Eat Cucumbers?
No, baby rabbits should NOT eat cucumber. Baby rabbits (aka kits) should only ingest their mother’s milk. A baby rabbit’s digestive system is still developing and is not ready to process watery cucumber or other fruits.
Instead, wait until your baby rabbit is almost fully weaned off their mother’s milk before offering them treats like cucumber. Kits will become very sick and perhaps die if they eat cucumber before weaning.
How to Feed a Rabbit Cucumbers?
When feeding cucumber to your rabbit first wash it in cool water to remove pesticides and grime from handling or shipping. Then, cut or chop the cucumber into thin slices or small cubes. These smaller pieces of cucumber will be easier for the rabbit to digest! You can then place the cut cucumber in the rabbit feeder, in a bowl, or on their clean bedding.
When starting to feed cucumber to your adult rabbits, give them just a little over the first few days. As their digestive system adjusts to the cucumber, and if they seem to tolerate it well, you can work your way up to about two inches of sliced or chopped cucumber each week.
Can Cucumbers be Harmful or Risky to My Rabbit’s Health?
Weight Loss, Poor Nutrition, Weakened Immune System
Cucumbers have almost no nutritional value for rabbits and are filled with water. Rabbits need protein, calories, vitamins, minerals, and fiber on a daily basis – nutrients that a cucumber cannot provide!
So filling up on too much cucumber means that your rabbits will have a belly full of watery fruit and zero dense nutrients. In this case, they may lose weight, suffer from bloating or even deadly GI stasis.
Further, if your rabbits do not eat a balanced diet their immune system will be weaker and they will be more prone to sickness and disease.
Diarrhea
Eating too much cucumber can also aggravate a rabbit’s delicate digestive system which may cause diarrhea. This also leads to weight loss, a weaker immune system, and other deadly diseases.
Do Rabbits Like Cucumbers?
Most rabbits enjoy nibbling on crunchy cucumbers, although some avoid them. For example, most of my rabbits love our garen grown cucumbers but they do not seem to be overly interested in eating either the American cucumber or the English cucumber. Who knows? To each their own we say!
Note: Pickled cucumbers, known simply as pickles, are not fresh cucumbers and are typically very salty. Do not feed pickled cucumbers to your rabbits, they are very acidic and harm rabbits’ digestive systems.
Final Thoughts
This Can Rabbits Eat Cucumbers post is part of our larger post about What Can Rabbits Eat? Please click and give it a read! It is full of great information and I guarantee you will learn something valuable.
As we’ve discussed throughout the article, weaned adult rabbits can eat all parts of the cucumber plant, but baby rabbits may not eat any part of the cucumber plant.
And while cucumber may provide some variation in food texture for you rabbits, it is a very low in nutrient fruit. As such, they should never make up more than 5-10% of your rabbits well-balanced diet.
Remember, overfeeding cucumbers may lead to serious digestive and health issues, so feed this fruit to rabbits in moderation and err on the side of caution!
Want to know more about fruit for rabbits? You can click on this post:
Fruits Rabbits Can Eat