Which weeds are safe and healthy for Netherlands Dwarf Rabbits to eat?
Firstly, you have to be sure of which plants are safe to eat. Some plants are poisonous. But don’t let this deter you, if you learn a few plants you will be able to look around and find them quite easily.
Watch out for weeds growing near roads as the pollution settles on the leaves. Do not pick from areas that are sprayed with any pesticides or where animals go to do their business such as next to lamp poles.
Dandelion
Rabbits love Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). They find it very tasty. At times dandelion can turn rabbit wee orange/red – you don’t need to panic if this happens!
Goose Grass
Goose grass (Galium aparine) is very easy to identify because of it feel – it’s sticky. It’s covered in lots of tiny hooks so it will stick to your clothing and bunny fur. It’s got short leaves arranged in a circle around long stalks, small white flowers which turn into round stick balls as seed heads, and if often grows wrapped in and around other plants.
Smooth Sow Thistle
Rabbits can eat prickly thistle (Onopordum acanthium), but for ease of picking I’d recommend the smooth sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) instead. The leaves are a similar shape to dandelion but slightly grayish green (sometimes even purplish as it gets older) and instead of growing low to the ground it grows tall stalks which can be several feet high. The flowers are yellow but smaller than the dandelion and each flower spike has several flowers.
One plant that looks similar but IS NOT safe to feed is wild lettuce (Lactuca serriola), they are easy to tell apart though, wild lettuce has spikes running down the centre of the underside of each leaf, smooth sow thistle is smooth.
Garlic Mustard
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) has quite large heart shapes leaves with jagged edges. The flowers are small and have four white petals each. It also smells Iike garlic.
Dead Stinging Nettle
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is fine for rabbits to eat – they don’t seem to notice the sting. However, it will definitely sting you, so unless you are armed with some very thick gloves don’t go for dead nettle.
