Rabbit Hay

Hello!

I have a black Dutch rabbit. I live in Columbia, MO, and usually get my rabbit hay from St. Louis, MO, at the St. Louis House Rabbit Society and buy in bulk. I typically get him first cut hay. But I've been busy with the holiday season and have not been able to get hay from the House Rabbit Society.

My question: what hay is safe to buy from a pet-store? I've never bought hay from a pet-store (I know, ridiculous but I try to support local organizations) but I just need something to hold my bunbun over for about a week when I can drive to St. Louis to buy more hay.

I've tried to look to see if there were any posts regarding this issue and did not find any... so if there is one and you can reference that then I can just check that out. Thank you and I appreciate your help!

Taylor & Lucas

Any good quality(horse quality, never been wet, no mold, no noxious weeds) grass hay is fine for rabbits. If you want pet store hay, Oxbow is good, the other brands are probably fine too. Timothy is the most common one used, but orchard, meadow, etc can be given as well. Grain hays like oat can sometimes cause digestive problems for some rabbits because of the oats in the hay, but some rabbits are fine with it and really like it.

If you want to buy in bulk and you have a farm store nearby that sells grass hay, you could get a bale there. You would just need to ask which kind of grass hay they sell. Most will have timothy and something like an orchard grass. Though if you get hay from the farm store, you will want to make sure the bale has been stored in a dry place and there are no black spots on the outside of the bale. When you get it home you'll want to open it up to check for dampness, a sour smell, white/black spots, and/or whitish dust. All indications of the bale having been wet and become moldy. Also check for weeds and excess dust/dirt. If you decide on pet store hay instead, it's good to check the pet store hay too just in case. I've heard of some people getting a bad batch on occasion. Moldy hay is very dangerous to give to rabbits, so you always want to check your hay and know what signs of good and bad hay to look for.

I tried a new hay that's fantastic. It's from Small Pet Select. It's a family owned hay farm. They will even mix varieties of hay so you can find your buns fav. They also send a photo of their family and the story of how they got into this idea of mailing hay to small pet owners. The hay is much fresher than what I got from the local shops. Great stuff!

rokin14 said:

Hello!

I have a black Dutch rabbit. I live in Columbia, MO, and usually get my rabbit hay from St. Louis, MO, at the St. Louis House Rabbit Society and buy in bulk. I typically get him first cut hay. But I've been busy with the holiday season and have not been able to get hay from the House Rabbit Society.

My question: what hay is safe to buy from a pet-store? I've never bought hay from a pet-store (I know, ridiculous but I try to support local organizations) but I just need something to hold my bunbun over for about a week when I can drive to St. Louis to buy more hay.

I've tried to look to see if there were any posts regarding this issue and did not find any... so if there is one and you can reference that then I can just check that out. Thank you and I appreciate your help!

Taylor & Lucas

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Hi! I get my hay from tractor supply. It's DuMor timothy hay, and it's abt $6 or $7 for 3lbs. Idk how big your town is or if you have a tractor supply, but my students will even buy it from walmart. It'll be ok until you can get to St. Louis.

i get the Timothy Grass from Tractor Supply Co, approx 50 lbs compressed wrapped in a green plastic package for about $16.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...-timothy-grab-go-compressed-bale?cm_vc=-10005

This has all been incredibly helpful! I appreciate the links and information, especially regarding to check the hay for mold/wetness.. etc. I usually take for granted that the Rabbit House Society chooses great hay and that I don't need to check. Thank you again everyone! Maybe, I can find a local place here in Columbia to support!

Whiterabbitrage said:

I tried a new hay that's fantastic. It's from Small Pet Select. It's a family owned hay farm. They will even mix varieties of hay so you can find your buns fav. They also send a photo of their family and the story of how they got into this idea of mailing hay to small pet owners. The hay is much fresher than what I got from the local shops. Great stuff!

Click to expand...

This times a million!

I didn't mention SPS because I though the OP wanted to pick up hay within a day, and SPS takes around 3-4 days to arrive (here in Michigan, at least).

You can also set up reoccuring shipments with SPS (e.g., ship x pounds of y hay every z weeks).

Be careful if you try their fancy orchard medley hay with clover. My doe INHALES it and won't touch any "low class" "regular" hay like timothy anymore