You need to follow a particular diet for the rabbits to keep them healthy. Pellets have the essential nutrients that help in maintaining the health of the rabbit. Here comes the question – how long can I feed pellet food to the rabbit before they expire?
Rabbit pellet food also has an expiry date. In general, pellets can last for around six months until they cross the expiry date. You can check this expiration date on the back of the pellet packet. It is not dangerous to feed the expired pellets to the rabbit only if they look neat without any molds. But the nutrients in the food will decrease with time.
In general, the pellet food will expire in about six months, but many times, they last longer than that period. There are plenty of methods you can use to keep them healthy for more time! Let’s get into other details of the pellet expiration and the rabbit’s diet.
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Do Pellet Food Expire?
In simple words, of course, the rabbit pellet food also expires. But you can feed your rabbit even after they expire.
In general, pellets can last for around six months. Below you can find the information from a famous rabbit committee. “You should not keep the pellet food after six months since the buying date. If you store them for more than six months, they will lose the nutrients.” Source
The above case is beneficial. Providing the pellets to the rabbit before six months will give them plenty of nutrients. But offering the pellet food even after six months is also better.
“You can give the pellet food that you have been storing for more than six months. They are not dangerous, but there is no nutritional value because they become stale.” Source
From this information source, you can know that six months is not always the expiry date.
“Many brands manufacture pellets from time to time. Due to this, every pellet bag has a different expiry date.” Source
Due to the manufacturing time and place, some pellets are very different than others. A popular rule is that there should be a six months expiry date from the time of packaging.
It is better to depend on your logic and a bit of common sense if you want to feed the pellets that cross the expiry date. If the pellet food is seven months old, it is good to give them to your furry pet. But it is not recommended to offer the pellets that are staying in the same cabinet for a few years. Never feed the expired pellets that have molds in them to the rabbit.
How To Make The Pellets Last Longer
You can try specific methods to keep your pellets fresh for a long time.
In general, you should store the pellet food in a dry and cool area. Make sure to keep it in an airtight container. This method lets the pellets stay fresh as long as possible without the natural causes. If you follow this method, you can retain and increase the expiry time of the pellet food.
It is an instinct for everyone to keep something in the freezer to store it for a long time. So, many people will think that it is easy to maintain pellets by freezing them. But here is a sudden surprise, the rabbit specialists say not to freeze the pellet food!
“It is a bad idea to freeze the pellets for extending their expiry time. When you put the pellet food to freeze, it will get in contact with moisture during its thawing procedure. Besides this, the varying temperatures will result in the growth of molds in the pellets. Sometimes, you can also find excess mycotoxins.” Source
One of the primary reasons why the pellets will expire faster is the moisture. Hence freezing the pellet food is not the best idea to keep them fresh for a long time.
What do Rabbit Pellets contain?
Until now, you have seen the storing of the rabbit pellets. Now it is time to see what are ingredients they use! Here is a list of the nine common ingredients you can see in the pellet food for rabbits.
- Different types of hay and grass
- Vegetable protein meals
- Wheat
- Animal or vegetable oil
- Maize
- Salt
- Sorghum
- Limestone
- Lucerne crumbles
- Bran and pollard
- Choline chlorine
From the above list, it is evident that the pellets have plenty of ingredients and other foods. It is a bit surprising to the rabbit owners who are new to the pellet food. Here comes another question – how much and when should I give pellets to the rabbits.
What Food Should I Give To The Rabbit?
Nutrients
Rabbits need to eat some essential nutrients to live and to be active and healthy. Here is brief information from the Pet Food Manufacturers Association. “The pet rabbit needs to eat a fiber-rich diet. Rabbits can also consume calcium from their food at a certain level.” Source
It is necessary to include plenty of fiber and calcium in the long-term diet of the rabbits. Every online outlet or website says that it is crucial. Rabbits face difficulty digesting food. You can make it easy for them by increasing the fiber levels in their diet.
Rabbits can not get their calcium, so you have to include particular food in their diet. Both fiber and calcium are the primary ingredients in the list of pellets.
Where Can I Get The Nutrients
Here is a content-rich YouTube video where rabbit specialists and dieticians talk about what food to give rabbits daily.
As per many specialists and websites, the outline is that the primary foods for a rabbit are hay (grass), veggies, and pellets. Out of these three, it is crucial to feed hay and one-quarter cup of pellet food daily to the rabbits.
All these foods have plenty of fiber-rich nutrients and calcium as well. From the above information, it is evident that the nutrients are necessary for your furry pet.
How Long The Pellet Food Will Last If Rabbits Eat It Daily
I want to give you a bit of information depending on my experience! I was always curious about how long the 10-pound pellet packet will last if my rabbit eats daily one-quarter of a cup.
As per the information by one of the famous animal food websites, “One pound of pellet food equals three cups.” Source
From the above source, in one 10-pound packet, there are around thirty cups of pellet food. If you feed one-quarter of a cup daily to your rabbit, the bag can last for about a hundred and twenty (120) days. This 120 day period accounts for up to four months, and it means you have extra two months before it can expire.
You do not have to worry about the expiry date if you feed your rabbit every day from the 10-pound pellet bag! I hope this data can be helpful for you in determining how much to buy and give the rabbit. It is crucial to offer essential nutrients to the rabbit from different kinds of foods.