Can Pet Rabbits Eat Bananas? Is a Banana Bad for a Pet Rabbit
Rabbits have a very diverse diet and love eating foods of all different types. Most importantly, they do love bananas and can eat them. However, due to its high sugar content, there are a few key things you need to know when it comes to feeding your rabbit bananas. That’s what we’re going to cover in this guide.
Are they Safe for Rabbits?
Fortunately, you can implement bananas in your rabbit’s diet, which are high in potassium. The greener the banana, the better it is, right? Well, that seems to be the case for rabbits as well. However, since rabbits are so small, you don’t want to give too many (no more than 2 tablespoons of fruit per day for every five pounds of your rabbit’s bodyweight) because there are a lot of sugars in fruits that can impact your rabbit’s health, and even end up in causing them to be obese too. Not only this, but feeding your rabbit large amounts of sugars can cause them to have other health problems like diabetes, and more.
Do Rabbits Love Bananas?
Bananas are like a treat to a rabbit, because they love fruit. They give them a sugary sweet snack that still gives them some essential nutrients in moderation, and it’s like candy for a rabbit.
Can I Give Them Skin and Leaves?
The peel is literally nothing but fiber, but at the same time, it’s not completely toxic to your rabbit. You may want to make sure that they don’t eat an entire peel from the rabbit. Therefore, while most animals will actually eat the peel from bananas when given to them (rabbits too), you can literally peel the banana if you need to, otherwise you may end up getting rid of the rest of it. The best bet is just to peel the banana, then give it to your rabbit just to be safer. You definitely don’t want to feed banana leaves to your rabbit either, as there may be risks of poison from insecticides.
The Health Risks of Excess Bananas
We’ve mentioned it above, now let’s go into it in more detail. Bananas are a sugary sweet snack for your rabbit, but what can it do for your rabbit? More importantly, if you give a rabbit too much, what can it do TO your rabbit?
First off, since bananas are high in natural fructose sugars, they can give your rabbit a sugar rush. While it may be cute to watch your rabbit go ape, it can actually be harmful for your rabbit because sugars do to them what they do to us – increase heart rate. Aside from this, bananas have high amounts of starches, which can cause damage to your rabbit’s digestive tracts.
Conclusion & Can Rabbits Eat Bananas
Rabbits love bananas and we love them too (most of us do anyway). More importantly, when you have a pet rabbit, you love your rabbit. Therefore, you need to know that bananas are a great snack, but they should only be given to your rabbit as a treat. You can give your rabbit a sugary sweet treat daily, but you still want to be careful with any fruit your rabbit consumes. If you’re using bananas and your bunny hasn’t had any before, you may want to introduce them very gradually into their diet.
