Bun Economics...

I would like to know ways in which bun owners manage to keep down theoverall costs ofrabbit care (e.g.,food, litter, medical care, etc.).Have you any"trade secrets" that might prove beneficial to other members? Please share them.

Thank you,

Jenk

I only buy 1 large vegetable or 2 small vegetables a week, that usually makes my veg count around £2 a week. I feed grass and dandelion leaves every morning, a huge bunch of them that I pick from the garden. It means I can get away with slightly less veg. Sometimes I also pick grass and put it in a large box and put it in the garden while its sunny. Takes a few days of mixing it around and leaving in the sun, but pretty soon you've got a half grass/half hay mix.

Fran :hearts :brownbunny

We grow our own lettuce and apples so thats cheaper and I feed them any left over [raw obv.] veggies from dinner and any spare in the fridge!

When we have carrots for dinner, or i make a carrot soup, we put all the carrot peelings (washed first) into an 'everfresh' produce bag and wrap it up in the fridge- makes for a few days worth of treats for them and saves on our food waste...

Other than that, I can't really think of anything else. We buy pellets etc in big amounts so that we order it less often and shipping is cheaper- we order a 50lb bag which lasts for nearly 4 months, whereas before ordering the smaller bags we were ordering them almost twice a month which was a lot more expensive...

Our hay is the cheapest thing. We buy it from a feed shop about 15mins drive away, and it's grown locally, about 40mins away. It's a sort of grass/meadow mix, that's always super fresh and has a mix of stemmy and not so stemmy hay, that the buns absolutely love. We buy 3 big bags of that, at £2 a bag, that lasts at least 3 weeks. But every now and then we order a bag of Oxbow Timothy or Orchard grass online (along with their willow toys at the same time, to save shipping) and mix a bit of that in with the regular hay. That way they get variety, but the more expensive hay doesn't get wasted, as they don't eat so much of it.

Other than that we're not that great at watching the pennies when it comes to the bunnies lol- we have to buy the more expensive carrots to get the tops, and I'm always spoiling them ordering them giant cardboard toys etc! :embarrassed:

Food

• 50 pound bag for $15 lasts a really long time for two small buns
• 6 pounds of timothy hay from a farm for about $15 or so
• Fruits and Veggies - they hate them, so I don't bother with these
• Pretty much everything food wise is cheap because they are so small and are picky eaters

Litter

• 40 pound bag of wood stove pellets for $5 for the drop pans...CareFresh for the litter boxes only

Vet Bills

• Only took each bunny in to get neutered which cost $100 each. Been lucky enough not to have any health problems that warranted a vet visit, so no more costs there.

I guess I don't have any trade secrets. Just two small bunnies who don't eat much and haven't gotten sick over the past year.

Little Bay Poo wrote:

[*]Only took each bunny in to get neutered which cost $100 each. Been lucky enough not to have any health problems that warranted a vet visit, so no more costs there.

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Is that the going-rate (in the general U.S.) for neutering a male bun? My gosh! My girls cost $200 each to be spayed. (My parents' dog cost $150 to be spayed., which puts things into perspective.)

Needless to say, I've not succeeded in saving in terms of vet care this past year; I'm looking to be smarter about things from here on out (in all aspects of my bunners' care).

Jenk, the vet that I went to was listed as a "low cost" spay / neuter on the House Rabbit Society website. It's kinda out in the boondocks but seems to be a very reputable office for small animals, horses, cats, dogs, etc. To give you some perspective, here in Fairfax we would have paid close to $300 each for a neuter. Out near the Blue Ridge Mountains it was $100. Well worth the 45 minute drive

Oh and btw the vet office that I went to is called Blue Ridge Veterinary Associates if anyone was interested.

1. Buy large bags of feed that last longer for the 3 bunnies. We go through a lot of hay and that's our biggest expense cause i like Oxbow.

2. Use WoodyPet or Equine Fresh for litter.

3. Do all their nails myself, check over each bunny for bumps, lumps or sores each week.

4. Check poos daily. If anyone has smaller poos than normal we give them extra greens, papaya or whatever works for them.... I keep them in a room where I see them all the time (we just check on Tony a lot in Luke's room) so I notice any behavior or physical changes.

5. Molting = Brushing

6. Teeth check each week for unusual wear.

7. I buy one green for them like cilantro and then give them bits of our veggies over the week.

8. Clover cannot go to a vet due to her being a wild bunny, Bo has been 3 times I think (neuter, scared mama cause of sneezing and weird molting)... Tony healthy and not neutered.

9. Try not to worry a lot. I think they pick up on my worry if I stress out around them and then they act like they are stressed....

Bo is prone to gas so I check him a lot and rub his tummy and put warm towels under him and hold him if I suspect any gas issues....

1) Buy in Bulk! EVERYTHING! Litter, pellets, hay, treats!

2) Toys are only toilet paper rolls, cartons and so on. Other toys only at holidays and clearence.

3) Don't freak out. I know what a big vet bill can be. So I make sure they really have to go. I also have learned to treat alot of stuff myself.

I grow all my veggies so I don't have to buy em and we buy food in bulk. For hay I had to ask around but we found someone who would give me loose hay from their barn so I get it for free! I have been told some feed stores let you do this to.

Aly!:tongue

In the summer months I grow my own grass hay for fall/winter time, etc. Usually I don't get much more than half a bale, but it's still great! Really helps to cut costs and add more hay to the pile!

I feed my bunnies mostly only carrots, we've just started to get into buying nicer veggies & fruits for them, like parsley, etc. They do get salads sometimes, other than that their main treats are apples, orange, banana, lettuce, grass, etc. and often only a couple times a month, too. A bag of feed for 9 bunnies usually lasts a month or so....and a bale of hay probably two to three months, depending on size.

None of my bunnies have had to go to the vet for any emergencies (although really close with Magic these past couple days as he's gone through/is recovering from Gastric Stasis) We're hoping to get some of the girls spayed this fall/winter, and that will be a couple hundred or so.

Other than that, nothing else in which we really cut down the costs. Our bunnies are pretty cheap, hehe. Maybe costing at least $20 a month, $35-$40 on the months they need a new bag of food, litter, shavings, etc.

Emily

My biggest cost was for hay. Pet supply stores really rip you off on that; the largest bag I could get was around $15 and it only lasted around afortnight orso when we got Sammy I just decided to go buy a full bale of timothy hay for $25 still a little steep as hay goes but much cheaper than buying it already bagged.

I get a large box of hay for $2.
I buy 25 lbs of food for $8
I buy 40 lbs of equine pine for $7
Treats are thinks around the house that my parents buy like craisens, oatmeal, and bananas.
Baby toys from garage sales, toilet paper tubes, and things from the dollar store for toys.
They also get boxes from Sams to rip apart and it has been the best think I have found to keep their hay in.

my secret is having the hubby get a part time j ob,lol!!!!!



I too try to buy in bulk too. I get equine pine from the Tractor supply store for around 7 dollars. Hay i try to get local hay, and veggies well i have no secret there.

I use wood pellets, and sift through the soiled litter, so I only get rid of what is the dirty part - and the intact and good pellets stay in the scooper, so I'm not wasteful. I probably spend at most $10 a month on wood pellets for 5 bunnies.

I usually buy vegetables that are on the sale, good to shop at farm markets. Cheap produce and great quality. Probably my biggest expense, at give or take $30 a month. I feed a lot of vegetables though, since my guys get so little pellets.I don't feed many pellets, so it's usually around $7 a bag that keeps me going a month.

I bag the nice quality loose hay from the feed store, so I get unlimited, cheap hay (can get a wide range too.. bit of alfalfa, timothy, local, bluegrass) for free!

So on average, it costs me for 5 bunnies $50 a month. That's the basics, and what I don't spend buying the expensive stuff, I put towards toys and vet funds.

In addition to buying in bulk, shop at farms or feedstores rather than petshops. You can even find the woodpellets at hardware stores on sale sometimes for less than the feedstore. Sometimes if you have just a couple buns, you can find a neighbor or someone who buys hay by the bail and will sell you just what you need...

Everyones hay is so expensive! The current bag I'm going through now was £3 from the pet shop and I've had it for, say, 2 months? And I'm still only around 1/4 or maybe 1/3 of the way through it.

Fran :hearts :brownbunny

This is a good thread! For litter, I was using the wood stove pellets that were $5 for an I think 40 pound bag, but we think they started irritating Rory after a few months of use so I've been using the expensive Yesterday's News instead. I still have a ton of stove pellets in the entry way because I stocked up last winter. I'm going to try to put a layer of stove pellets in the litter boxes topped off with a layer of Yesterday's News to see if it works for my bunnies.

For hay, a month or so ago we bought a 100 pound bale of timothy! It cost $42 and should be enough to get us through the next several months, maybe even a year :shock: The boys are eating it like crazy though, I thought they ate a lot of hay before...

For pellets, I'm going to order several bags of Oxbow Bunny Basics pellets from Busy Bunny and have them shipped at once so I don't have to pay shipping so often. The owners of Busy Bunny told me that the packages they have don't expire until 2010, so I'll probably order 6 or 8 months worth.

For toys, I do buy the fancy expensive ones, but they also get empty boxes, paper bags and toilet paper rolls!

You know that hay is just dried grass - could I just do that? Like pick lots of grass and leave it to dry out then feed that to them..

That probably sounds stupid but its worth a shot - could I? :?

BabyBunnies wrote:

You know that hay is just dried grass - could I just do that? Like pick lots of grass and leave it to dry out then feed that to them..

That probably sounds stupid but its worth a shot - could I? :?

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YEAH THAT!!! COULD WE?