CAN RABBITS EAT WATERMELON?

Yes, rabbits are allowed to eat watermelons. Watermelons mostly contain water. It’s a refreshing fruit and nutritious food for rabbit pets. However, we need to take some precautions before feeding watermelon. We need to feed a small amount of watermelon and should not feed them too often. It may cause health issues for the pets. Like diarrhea.

Good healthy rabbits need a well-balanced diet with nutrients and vitamins. In general, rabbits the main food source is high-quality hay. Hay mainly contains fiber that helps their digestive systems. Being a rabbit lover, you should know the best things that can feed rabbits. This article will cover all the things you should know about watermelon from A to Z. This article provides you all the things you need to know before feeding watermelons to your rabbits.

Extra Information About Watermelons

Watermelons are mainly known as a refreshing food. Watermelons are large fruits & usually, those are eaten raw. Watermelons come from the family Cucurbitaceae. This family has various healing properties ad mainly contains water. Because of high water content, it helps you feel full. The combination of water and fiber can keep you hydrated. Watermelon even contains low calories and low sugar and it’s good for humans and animals.

Among many other fruits, watermelon contains more Lycopene. Lycopene helps to reduce the risk of cancer and eye disorders. People used to use all parts of watermelon fruit even seeds and rind. Watermelon juices are famous in the world.

There are more than 40 watermelon varieties all around the world. If we consider the main 4 types, they are

Seedless watermelons: They are the most popular watermelon because of the less seedless nature. Crimson, Bijou, Jack of hearts, king of hearts, etc.

Icebox watermelons: They categorize this type because of the size of the melons and fit more easily in the refrigerator. Tiger baby & sugar baby are some of the icebox watermelons

Picnic watermelons: Picnic watermelons are a bit larger than the icebox variety. They have a bright green rind and deep red flesh. Black diamond, Charleston Gray, Crimson, etc.

Yellow/Orange watermelons: Their flesh mostly looks yellow. These watermelons are Desert king, Yellow baby, Honey heart.

All these varieties are good and rich in nutrition. One cup of watermelons has many nutrients.

• Vitamin C: 21% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI)
• Vitamin A: 18% of the RDI
• Potassium: 5% of the RDI
• Magnesium: 4% of the RDI
• Vitamins B1, B5, and B6: 3% of the RDI

Nutrient	Value
Water [g]	91.45
Energy	30
Energy [kJ]	127
Protein [g]	0.61
Total lipid (fat) [g]	0.15
Ash [g]	0.25
Carbohydrate, by difference [g]	7.55
Fiber, total dietary [g]	0.4
Sugars, total including NLEA [g]	6.2
Sucrose [g]	1.21

Sources include: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

According to researchers, watermelons are good for many illnesses for both humans and animals. It can help to prevent cancers (support for immunity) because of Lycopene and other compounds in watermelon. It can help to improve heart health, helps to prevent kidney stones, helps to protect skin health, increase vision in the eyes, and many other things. All these nutrients are good for rabbits, we will discuss them later in this article.

GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT : RABBITS & ASPARAGUS

Is Watermelon Good for Rabbits?

Watermelon is a good source of food for rabbits. Yes, it is safe for rabbits. Watermelons contain essential vitamins, fiber, minerals & antioxidants for rabbits. But you should offer only a small amount to your rabbit in their daily diet. Keep it in mind to remove the back seeds and it’s better to only give small pieces of juicy flesh inside the watermelon.

When you are introducing new food to rabbits, always give a small portion of it to the rabbit’s daily diet. Make Sure to introduce one new food type at a time. These things apply to any type of food. Rabbits’ health is in your hands.

All the types of Watermelon are good for rabbits and humans. All these types contain good nutrition. But you must make sure to give small portions of watermelons as an occasional treat to rabbits.

Rabbits’ main source should be hay. We should prioritize hay in the regular diet plan. Overall nutrition can be cover by hay. Unlike humans, fiber is essential for rabbits. It can prevent bad bacteria from forming in the intestines. Some of the bacteria can lead to critical health issues for rabbits. This is why we should give priority to hay. But rabbits can’t live eating hay all day long. We must add veggies and fruits to their daily diet.

Watermelons are one of the favorite treats for rabbits. End of this article we will provide you general diet plan for rabbits. It will help you to understand.

Can Rabbits Have Watermelon

YES. Rabbits can have watermelons but only a limited amount. Watermelons are on the safe food list for rabbits. Watermelons are most likely other healthy fruits like Mango, Cantaloupe, squash, cucumber, eggplant, cherries, strawberries, cherries, pineapple, and many more..These healthy fruits can also be bad if we overfeed them. Always try to provide them with the proper amount in moderation.

Health Benefits from Watermelon To Rabbit

Being hydrated is the most common health fact for a pet like rabbits and bunnies.

• Water: Watermelons contain 92% water. It will help your pet to stay healthy and hydrated.

• Vitamin C:  Vitamin C helps muscle development in rabbits & it helps to maintain a healthy blood system. Vitamin C act as an antioxidant that helps the bones, skin, and connective tissues. Vitamin C is essential for rabbits, due to lack of vitamin C, rabbis can have the scurvy disease. This is a common illness among rabbits.
• Lycopene: Lycopene is an antioxidant that has cancer-fighting properties. Lycopene can help your rabbits to prevent cancers.
• Vitamin A: Vitamin A improves your pet’s vision and develops bones. Watermelons are good suppliers of beta-carotene that helps to prevent age-related blindness.
• Potassium & Magnesium: Watermelons are rich in potassium and magnesium. According to researches, these nutrients can reduce the risk of death from heart diseases. Potassium can protect from muscle mass loss and reduce the risk of developing kidney stones.
• Fiber: Watermelons contain fiber which helps to reduce constipation and gut motility. Fiber is essential nutrition for rabbits. Watermelon rind contains more fiber. Before feeding the rind follow the guide on watermelon preparation for feeding rabbits in this article.

How to Recognize Good Ripe Watermelon for Rabbits? 

You can easily recognize good ripe watermelon for rabbits. Try to pick up if you feel the weight in your hands and it’s the easiest way to tell it’s ripe. When watermelon is ripened, you can see a white or yellow color on the bottom side. In striped melons, when it’s ripened the colors between stripes become darker. Some say you should try knocking on the melon, if you can hear a hollow sound, it’s ready to eat.

How to Feed Watermelon to Rabbit?

As we know now, Watermelons are good, natural food for rabbits. But there is a guide you must follow before feeding watermelon. Let us check it out.

Before introducing new food to rabbits for the first time, you need to start up with small portions. Don’t try to introduce many kinds of food at the same time & try to give the same food until they are fully adapted to eat. Keep it in mind to introduce a small portion of the new food with other regular foods (daily diet). Follow up the rules for better health in rabbits. This must be done for the watermelons if you introduce them to the rabbits for the first time.

Steps for feeding Asparagus for rabbits

1. Buy good ripe watermelon for rabbits. 
2. Wash carefully to remove chemicals & remove the unwanted pesticides.
3. Cut watermelon into pieces so that they are easy to eat.
4. Remove all-black seeds you can find in the pieces.
5. Green skin and white skin rind are also good for rabbits. But offer them a small amount at first and gradually increase the amount of rind.

If you want to feed watermelon rind for rabbits, my recommendation is to give organic watermelons. Most of the time they apply various chemicals for watermelon rind. If we do not wash these carefully it can lead to serious digestive issues.

 For bunnies, avoid feeding them with watermelon. Watermelon contains more water and can cause digestive issues for bunnies. For Grown-up rabbits, it’s good nutritious food. Recommended for feeding them with 1 tablespoon per 2 pounds of body weight. Feed them watermelons as an occasional treat once per week, it’s totally fine.

How Often Can A Rabbit Eat Watermelon?

It’s better to give properly prepared watermelons once per week. But remember watermelon contains sugar also. You need to keep in mind not provide to many sweet foods in the rabbit’s diet. Variations are the key to keep good health in rabbits.

If we give sweets too often to rabbits, they will try to refuse other foods. They think they will always get sweet stuff like watermelon.

Can Rabbits Eat Watermelon Seeds?

For rabbits, watermelon seeds can be dangerous. We must take precautions!! Remove all the seeds from the watermelon portions that we are going to feed rabbits. Even if they are white or black, they can get stuck in the rabbit’s food pipe. Don’t take any risk by feeding seeds for rabbits.

Can Rabbits Eat Watermelon Rinds?

Watermelon rinds are good for rabbits. The rind contains fiber & it contains less amount of sugar. But make sure to serve them with the proper size of watermelon portions. It’s really good if you can find organic watermelons. If not, make sure to wash it carefully. 

For rabbits, it’s good for chewing tough foods like watermelon rind. Eating tough foods lead to healthy teeth in the rabbit. 

Can Rabbits Eat Watermelon Leaves?

Watermelon leaves & stems are quite safe to eat. But those are not the best foods for rabbits.

Can Bunnies Eat Watermelon?

Definitely, No. We can’t give watermelons to baby rabbits. Baby rabbits have a more sensitive digestive system. It’s unhealthy to give food and vegetables to baby rabbits. They should have a specific diet plan. Including hay, Water & appropriate rabbit foods.

Can We Provide Watermelon Juice for Rabbits?

Definitely NO. Watermelon juice has high sugar content. This can lead to serious health issues in your rabbits. High sugar levels in rabbits’ bodies can cause an overgrowth of bacteria in the gut & the digestive system will eventually shut down. Do not feed juice for rabbits!!!!!

Risk Of Overfeeding Watermelon To Rabbits

There is some risk of overfeeding watermelon to rabbits. Watermelon has high sugar content; it can lead to fatal health problems. High sugar levels in rabbits’ bodies can cause an overgrowth of bacteria in the gut & the digestive system will eventually shut down.

Because of high sugar, it can increase weight. This is called obesity risk in rabbits. Weight gain in rabbits mainly causes due to eating too much food and lack of exercise.

Overfeeding watermelon can lead to diarrhea. Rabbits have sensitive digestive systems. For baby rabbits, they have an even more sensitive digestive system. 

Watermelon seeds can get stuck in the rabbit’s food pipe. Make sure to remove all the seeds before serving them watermelons.

Best Common Healthy Diet To Feed Your Rabbit

We need to feed our rabbits according to the correct diet plan. This is the most important part as rabbit owners should feed rabbits in a correct and time-scheduled plan. We need to carefully pick the right food for rabbits. Some rabbits have different kinds of flavors. It’s up to us to find those and look after them. 

This will help you to make a good diet plan for rabbits

• Good Quality Grass Hay – (I recommend Timothy hay is the most popular/good all-around unlimited offer to your rabbits. Orchard grass, meadow fescues are also good for rabbits. Hay is the main food supply. Hay will help your rabbits to stay healthy and strong and maintain a healthy digestive system.
• Fresh Water – Ensure rabbits have clean, freshwater 24/7. Water bows are most commonly used to supply water for rabbits.
• Provide Good Quality Leafy Greens – Provide them with 5-6 varieties of safe washed green vegetables, weeds, herbs daily (arugula, basil, kale, cabbage, etc). Try to introduce new greens with small portions
• Treats & Fresh Fruits – For the safety of rabbits only provide 1 -2 tablespoons per day. Feed carrots, apples, blueberries, etc.
• Provide Good Quality Pellets – Is good to have a small number of healthy pellets daily. There are too many products out there, keep it in your mind to supply quality and healthy foods for rabbits.

(source -.https://www.rspca.org.uk/)

Summary

Rabbits can eat watermelon. Watermelon contains essential vitamins, fiber, minerals & antioxidants for rabbits. For grown-up rabbits, it’s a good nutritious food. Recommended for feeding them with 1 tablespoon per 2 pounds of body weight. Feed them watermelons as an occasional treat once per week, it’s totally fine.

Don’t overfeed them. Because of high sugar content, it can lead to illnesses. Such as diarrhea & obesity risks. It’s better to give properly prepared watermelons once per week. I think this article covers all the things you need to know before feeding watermelons to your rabbits.

Thank you!!!

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