Bell peppers are healthy veggies with great flavor that does wonders in salads and many recipes. It's equally full of many healthy nutrients which seems like a good veggie for bunnies.
But you need to be sure about this first. So, can rabbits eat bell peppers?
Of course! Bell peppers are a good veggie snack for rabbits. But rabbits can only eat these treats in moderation.
This is because of the high sugar and calcium content. Bell peppers are healthy for rabbits because they contain many nutrients.
They include vitamins C, A B-6, and E, magnesium, potassium, etc. which are important for your rabbit’s well-being.
In addition, bell peppers are also known as sweet peppers. They are tasty and crispy, which is why rabbits love them!
It's clear now that bell peppers are healthy treats to feed your bunny. Still, it's equally important to know what part of bell peppers to feed your rabbit.
That being said, keep reading below as we discuss this next.
RECOMMEND READING: COMPLETE RABBIT CARE GUIDE!
The flesh, which is the main part of bell peppers, is what you should feed your rabbit. This is the inner part of the bell pepper as well as the safest part to feed bunnies.
In addition, bell peppers have many other parts including the leaves, stem, skin, core, and seeds. But are they also safe for rabbits to eat? Let’s find out next!
Feel free to serve bell peppers with the skin. Similar to the flesh, bell pepper skin is safe for rabbits to eat.
But since it’s the outer covering of bell peppers, it’s more exposed to dirt and chemicals. So make sure to wash bell peppers very well before serving them to your bunny.
Although bell pepper seeds and core aren’t toxic to rabbits, it would be better to ignore them. The seed and cores lack nutrients and rabbits can’t digest them easily.
They're tough and can choke your bunny. Hence, you should take out the core and seeds from bell peppers before you feed them to your rabbit.
It’s a bad idea! Bell pepper stems aren’t toxic but are hard to chew and digest for rabbits. These can cause choking hazards for rabbits.
What’s more, it’s tough enough to cause blockages in your rabbit's gut. Hence, to be on the safe side, feed bell peppers to rabbits without their stems.
Yes! Red bell peppers are equally suitable for bunnies. However, this color contains the most sugar.
Hence, you need to feed red bell peppers to rabbits in small amounts. Rabbits should have them as treats and never as a main meal.
Wash peppers properly and remove the seeds and the stalk. Preparing them is easy and similar to what you might do to any other pepper.
Rabbits can also eat orange bell peppers. It’s safe for them to eat when you serve them in moderate amounts.
That’s right! Orange bell peppers have high sugar content next to red bell peppers. Hence, it's risky to feed them too many orange bell peppers.
Above all, orange bell peppers are packed with healthy vitamins and minerals that rabbits need to stay healthy. What’s more, this orange variety has a good flavor and many rabbits enjoy it.
Rabbits can eat yellow bell peppers as long as the stems and seeds are removed. This pepper is sweeter than the green but is less sweet the red bell pepper.
As with other varieties, you should offer yellow bell peppers to rabbits as a snack only.
Absolutely! Rabbits can eat green bell peppers. Green bell peppers are the kinds that have been harvested earlier, in their growth.
This, in turn, makes their taste slightly bitterer.
They have the lowest sugar content, which makes them safer for rabbits to eat than all other bell pepper varieties.
This doesn’t mean you should freely give so much of it to rabbits. Rabbits should have green peppers only as treats too.
These peppers have more calcium in them than other varieties. So stick to feeding only small amounts to bunnies.
Funny enough, most bunnies do not like green peppers at all because it’s less tasty.
Jalapeño peppers are a type of chili pepper which means they're very hot peppers. Rabbit's digestive system does not process very spicy foods.
Hence, feeding your rabbit Jalapenos or any other chili can create serious issues for them. That being said, avoid this pepper and other chilies.
Bell peppers are packed with healthy vitamins and minerals. Here’s a table showing the nutritional information about bell peppers, particularly the red variety.
Note: Per 100g serving
Fiber - 2.1 g
Calories - 31 Kcal
Sugar - 4.2 g
Carbs - 6.03 g
Protein - 0.89 g
Fats - 0.3 g
Vitamin C - 127.7 mg
Vitamin A - 157 μg
Vitamin B-6 - 0.291 mg
Vitamin E - 1.58 mg
Vitamin K - 4.9 μg
Calcium - 7 mg
Potassium - 211 mg
Magnesium - 12 mg
Folate - 46 μg
Above all, bell pepper treats make a great addition to your rabbit’s diet due to their nutritional value. These peppers are loaded with nutrients that offer several health benefits to a rabbit.
Fiber - Dietary fiber helps to keep your rabbit’s digestive system in good condition. It also promotes smooth regular bowel movements and prevents digestive issues.
Vitamin A - Improved eye health and decreased risks of various ill effects.
Folate (Vitamin B9) – Folate enhances the production of red blood cells in your rabbit’s body. This vitamin also helps convert glucose to energy. It boosts fertility in bunnies.
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) – Vitamin B6 helps regulate rabbit metabolites. It is beneficial for digestive function and good health.
Magnesium – This nutrient helps to prevent and as well treat bladder sludge in bunnies.
Potassium – This nutrient is essential for your rabbit’s health. It equally helps to reduce stress and improve sleep quality in rabbits.
Understand that you don’t just feed bell peppers to rabbits that way. It’s very important that you prepare them before serving them to your bunny.
This is to eliminate any risks of bell peppers on your rabbit’s health. To ensure you do it right, follow the few steps below:
Avoid leftovers or rotten bell peppers for rabbits. If you have ones growing in your garden, they’re the best peppers to use.
These parts include green art like the stem and leaves. Additionally, you should remove the core and seeds.
This is necessary to eliminate dirt, debris, pesticides, etc. hygiene is important when it concerns what your bunny eats.
Slice the bell pepper into bite-size pieces so your rabbit can eat them easily.
Serve your bunny the sliced fresh bell peppers. Serve bell peppers in a bowl mixed with other healthy veggies.
Take Note:
Remove the leftovers from your rabbit eating area once you know your bunny is done eating. If the leftover bell peppers stay for long, they can develop bacteria and start to rot.
Certainly, these leftovers aren’t what you want your bunny to put in its mouth.
Even though bell peppers may be beneficial to rabbits, they can still have negative effects when you don’t feed them the right way. Bell peppers contain so much sugar, especially the red varieties.
And if your rabbit eats too many bell peppers, it might experience digestive issues due to excess sugar. These issues could be bloating, diarrhea, etc.
In addition to this, overfeeding bell peppers to rabbits increases the risk of them getting excess calcium. This is not good for bunnies and can lead to urinary problems like kidney and bladder stones.
Rabbits should have a handful of bell peppers per serving. However, you shouldn’t rush the feeding. Introduce bell peppers to rabbits slowly.
This is to prevent them from reacting to it just like how most rabbits do to new foods. Start with smaller sizes, and if your rabbit shows no negative reaction, then feel free to give them a bigger yet moderate amount.
Not at all! Serve bell peppers to rabbits, not more than twice a week, especially the red, orange, and yellow varieties. They are high in sugar so your rabbits should not eat them too often.
Furthermore, your bunny can have green bell peppers more often than the other varieties. But still, you don’t have to feed them green bell peppers every day.
These bell peppers have more calcium content than other varieties. So you should also be careful about your rabbits getting too much calcium.
Of course, you won’t feed bell peppers to rabbits every day. Try swapping the treats your bunny gets from time to time.
And to do this, you would need to use other healthy veggies just as bell peppers. See some of these healthy bell pepper alternatives below:
Celery
Tomato
Carrot
Brussel sprouts
Cabbage
Lettuce
Beet greens
Cilantro
Cucumber
To sum up, rabbits can eat bell peppers (sweet peppers) but only in moderation. These veggies cannot be a main part of your rabbit’s diet.
Regardless, your rabbits will still benefit a lot from eating bell peppers as treats. These peppers contain many healthy nutrients including vitamins C, A, B6, folate, among many.
Remember, you should properly prepare bell peppers before feeding them to rabbits. Follow the steps in this article to make sure you’re doing it right.
Preferably, serve this treat with lots of hay and green leaves. For more information about a rabbit's diet, refer to this guide!
