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I love my pet bunny and I love to spoil him with occasional treats. Below I’ve collected a list of my Holland Lop’s favorite snacks. All of these are zero effort and require little to no preparation, which means these bunny treats are not only a treat for Snoop (our Holland Lop’s Name), but they are a treat for us too because they are so easy!
But first, let’s talk about giving treats to your pet bunny.
Should You Give Treats To Your Pet Rabbit?
Pet bunnies can regularly have treats as part of a healthy rabbit diet, as long as the treats offered are lower sugar choices. Low sugar treats are fine daily, but high sugar treats should be limited to just once or twice a week, and even them limited to very small serving sizes.
Keep in mind, just like any other animal, your bunny shouldn’t have any more than a few treats per-day. Too many treats will not only make your rabbit fat and unhealthy but might spoil him so that he won’t eat his regular diet of hay and pellets.
We’re going to start this article with the higher sugar treats so you can really understand these higher-risk rabbit treats. Later on in this article, I’ll give you a list of low-sugar rabbit treats that our bunnies love.
Can Sugary Treats Give Your Bunny Diabetes?
While true diabetes (called Diabetes Mellitus) is rare in rabbits, obese rabbits who exhibit the symptoms of diabetes are very common. Symptoms of diabetes in rabbits include Excessive Thirst, Excessive Urination, Excessive Eating, and Lethargy.
A high sugar diet causes rabbits to become obese and exhibit symptoms of diabetes and in rare cases it even cause diabetes mellitus (true diabetes) where the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin. In both cases, it is likely that your rabbit veterinarian will suggest that you feed a healthier rabbit diet that includes limiting sugary treats. [Source]
Treats should be just that…a treat.
Make your bunny’s treats a special occasion that both you and your cute bunny will look forward to.
The Best Pet Rabbit Treats – The List Of Sweet Rabbit Treats
Homemade rabbit treats don’t have to take hours to make, there are already fruits that are perfect if you want to give your bunny a treat. Treats are an amazing way to train your bunny or reward them (for whatever reason).
Below is a list of my pet rabbit’s favorite sweet treats which I offer to him only once a week or less. Usually, I reserve these super bunny treats for special occasions, such as going to the vet or training sessions.
1. Apples
Like all rabbits, my pet Holland Lop (named Snoop) LOVES apples. You can give them fresh slices of apples, or cut them up and dry them if you want to store for longer.
We have a food dehydrator that I use to dry slices of apples for my pet rabbit. It just takes me a few minutes to slice the apples and put them in the dehydrator overnight.
In the morning I have a month’s supply of my bunny’s favorite treat!
P.S. Some people worry about their rabbit eating apple seeds. We had the same worry, so we did a lot of research and wrote an article for our website about rabbits eating apple seeds.
2. Frozen Mango
We live in the midwest, so we don’t have fresh mango, but we do keep frozen mango in the freezer for smoothies.
Every once in a while I share a chuck with Snoopy!
He LOVES mango especially in the summer when it’s really hot.
3. Strawberries
Similar to mango’s he gets frozen strawberries more often than fresh.
I can say with certainty that the wild rabbits love the strawberry’s in our garden! Snoop does enjoy the occasional fresh strawberry though 🙂
4. Blueberries
We have a chocolate lab that we train with treats, one day I was wondering what I could use to train my rabbit?
Then I realized that blueberries were the perfect shape and size! Snoop loves them, even though he’s not a very food driven bunny.
5. Bananas
Bananas are an AMAZING fruit to give to your bunny, they love them every time. I think the reason rabbits love this so much, is because it’s the highest sugar treat on this list (more on that later in this article).
This is certainly a treat to offer in moderation!
If you wanted to do more than just give them some banana, you could mix mashed banana with oats and make simple bunny rabbit cookies.
6. Blackberries
Blackberries are a good option if you want to give your rabbit a special treat.
Your bunny rabbit will LOVE a fresh juicy blackberry
7. Cherries
Are another great treat. We have a cherry tree, and when they’re in season we collect them.
The nice things about bunnies are they don’t care about how pretty the cherries are, so Snoop gets the not so pretty ones that didn’t make the cut.
Some people worry about rabbits choking on pits, this is something to remember, but I’ve never seen a rabbit die after eating a cherry.
8. Grapes
Grapes are similar to blueberries, as you can use them to train your bunny if they’re a little larger.
They would work perfectly for a Havana mix, dutch, or any other medium to large rabbits.
9. Pears
Pears are a great fruit for your bunny! We have a wild pear tree and both rabbits like the fruit off of it.
They both also prefer fresh pear though. Snoop can devourer half a pear in 5 minuets
10. Raspberries
Raspberries are a little more health-conscious, out of this list they have the least sugar.
In my experience, my bunny still likes raspberries, but he would much rather have bananas or apple crisps.
So Which Is My Rabbits Favorite Treat?
My bunny’s favorite treats are apples.
I regularly dry apple slices in our dehydrator to make bunny treats. One of the great things about pet rabbits is that they are very forgiving about how dry their apple slices are. Snoop doesn’t care if they are a little drier or a little moister, he loves them all!
If I leave the dried bunny treats container open, he’ll dig through the rest of the treats to find his apple crisps.
Just like me and you, some of my bunny rabbits’ favorite treats are pretty sugary and we should try to help them moderate their sugar intake.
Sugar Content Of These Fruit Bunny Treat
As we talked about before, just like humans, bunnies can get diabetes if they regularly eat too much sugar. I did the research and made the table below so you know how much sugar you are giving your bunny.
Keep in mind that the table below is designed to let you know the relative amount of sugar in each bunny treat. The numbers in the chart are for one cup of each fruit, and that’s WAY TOO MUCH fruit for a bunny as a treat.
I normally give Snoop just one or two pieces of fruit for a treat, and that translates into just one tablespoon of fruit, or maybe two tablespoons on a special occasion. That means that normally my pet bunny gets just 1/16 of a cup of fruit as a treat.
| Fruit | Grams of sugar per cup |
|---|---|
| Mango | 23 |
| Apple | 13 |
| Strawberries | 7 |
| Blueberries | 15 |
| Banana | 28 |
| Blackberries | 7 |
| Cherries | 13 |
| Grapes | 15 |
| Pear | 14 |
| Raspberries | 5 |
After my research, I discovered that bananas have the most sugar, (28 grams per cup) and raspberries have the least (5 grams per cup).
The Best Low Sugar Rabbit Treats
While rabbits love sweet treats, they also love some savory treats, and you’re going to be shocked about how cheap and easy these bunny treats are.
Every morning we give my rabbit weeds from the garden and yard, and every morning he’s standing up in his house anxiously waiting for his morning treat.
His morning pile of weeds is about half the size of him, and he LOVES them.
Garden weeds are less of a treat and more of a part of his normal diet but don’t tell him that. He begs for weeds just as much, if not more, than he does dry apple slices, but that might be because getting his morning weeds has become a family ritual that everyone enjoys.
If you’re struggling with the idea of giving your bunny weeds as treats, I encourage you to read our article about the ideal diet for rabbits. In it, we talk about a daily bunny salad…we’ll this is that daily salad but we just get it from the garden instead of buying it at the store.
Some of my rabbit’s favorites weed treats:
- Cloves
- Doc
- Wild lettuce
- Dandelions
- Chives
There is one caveat about feeding your rabbit weeds from your garden or yard, and it’s an important one. You must not feed your rabbit any greens that have been sprayed with chemicals. Rabbits have very fragile digestive systems, and their inability to vomit makes them extremely susceptible to poisoning. Be very careful.
P.S. Be just as careful with store-bought greens.
Conclusion – Should You Give Your Bunny Treats?
Yes, you should give your sweet bunny treats, but not very often.
Treats are most definitely NOT something that’s required to keep your bunny healthy, but they are something that both add to your bunny’s quality of life and are useful for you.
As I mentioned earlier, treats are a great way to train your rabbit. With time and patience, your bunny will soon learn that when he does certain wanted behaviors, he sometimes gets rewarded with his favorite treats.
Just as importantly, treats can help you form a stronger connection with your bunny.
~ Marley
My bunny is about to celebrate his 2nd birthday this month. He has a problem with digesting sugar, but I really want to treat him something delicious for his birthday. Do you have any suggestions?