Refusing to eat hay.

I recently acquired a pair of American Sable rabbits. They came from some fairly bad conditions.. Their old diet consisted of a big tray of pellets and leftover rolls and whatnot from their previous owners dinner. They've never seen hay in their lives (estimated about 6 months old). In 20some years of owning rabbits, I've never met one who flat out refused to even taste test the hay.. They're in good health but I know they need a more varried diet (I'm working on introducing veggies.) and plenty of hay.. But not sure how to get them to even taste the hay.

Any tips would be appreciated. It's timothy hay if that makes a difference. It's what I had left when my last rabbit died suddenly.

A varied diet is nice but not necessary...many rabbits do fine on pellets; however, the leftovers and rolls are a definite no. If you want them to acquire a taste for hay you'll need to try different types of hays and grasses until you find one they might like. I've found that rabbits who don't care for hay tend to like grasses, like orchard grass.

A common problem with rabbits! Bunnies love to eat and nibble on things, and will always choose tastier things than hay given the chance. Here are some tips to get your rabbits to eat hay

Cutting down on pellets will encourage them to snack on hay. They only need an eggcup size portion of pellets per day. Try feeding pellets for breakfast and just provide hay throughout the day. WARNING: Slowly reduce the amount of pellets you give them - if they're not used to eating hay then suddenly taking away their main food source could be dangerous.

Try them on various hays. Try asking for sample packs so you don't have to buy a big bag each time.

Mix tasty bits in with their hay encouraging them to forage in there, such as grass and herbs.

Stuff toilet roll tubes with hay to make fun games for them

Put hay everywhere they go so they can't get away from it!

Rabbits like to eat hay while they're going to the toilet, so put a pile of hay in their litter tray.

Grass is also good for rabbits' teeth and tummies so give them grass while you're weaning them onto hay!

Readigrass is dried grass, good for rabbit teeth and can help wean them onto hay textures. It is high in calcium so only give a small handful per day, try mixing in with hay.

Wave hay in their face and tap it on their mouths - it will annoy them enough to bite it and this eventually turns into them eating it!

Lightly spray pineapple juice on some hay and let it dry, they'll like the sweet taste.

Different rabbits like different hays so take notes and once they start eating hay, try ones that have previously been 'dismissed' by them as they may like them now they have a taste for hay!