Hay

My eight-month old rabbit refuses to eat Timothy hay. Every now and then, I will watch her slurp a piece or two up. Does anyone have any recommendations? Do your rabbits like other types of hay, or should I go to a farm and see if they have Timothy hay that has just been picked instead of the pet store stuff that may have been sitting on the shelves for a while? Maybe, she would eat the really fresh stuff....

I would definitely recommend going to a farm to get some hay. It is so much cheaper than pet stores and your rabbits may like it better. I procrastinated getting hay from a farm for about a year, but am so glad I made the change. I looked on Craigslist list, but then remembered that there is an apple farm down the road from me that has rabbits and goats so I contacted them about buying a bale of hay.

This may sound like a dumb question, but how much does a small bale of hay typically cost, and how much hay per ounce or pound comes with it? I just don't want to buy so much that it goes bad before she eats it all. I read online that the really fresh hay has those little fuzzy things on the end of the hay. She loves those.

I pay $7 for a 45 pound bale. I store it in a big cardboard box in my garage. I have three bunnies and it lasts me about 6 months, but one of my rabbits doesn't eat as much as the other two. I would say it would be good for up to a year as long as it doesn't get moldy.

That sounds like a wonderful idea, AND it seems so much less expensive to buy a bale instead of going to a pet store and payH for a little bag. How do you keep the hay fresh the whole time though? Do you put it inside a garbage bag and tie it?

How do I find out where fresh hay is sold? Are there web sites where farms are listed?

Do yours eat orchard grass or meadow hay or oat hay or Bermuda grass or any of those other varieties from the pet stores? I am thinking that maybe Trixie would prefer the flavor of other types of hay. No clue with her.

Until I started getting a steep vet student discount from Oxbow, I would buy my hay at a feed store. The ones near me will sell hay either by the bale or by the trashbag. I could usually get a trash bag full for $5-$10 which is nice if you don't have space to store a full bale. Some of the rabbit rescues in our area also sell bags of hay. They buy bales and split them into bags with about 10 lbs each for around $10 so you might consider finding a rescue near you.

If you buy a bale, store it in a clean, dry location. Wet hay quickly turns to moldy hay which is dangerous. Keep in mind that they only cut hay one season a year, so it should be "fresh" easily for a full year. Don't seal it up in an airtight bag, it's good to let it breathe a bit.

My rabbits eat orchard, timothy, meadow and a blend of oat/wheat/barley on a regular basis. We don't really have bermuda grass here.

You can google for "feed stores" since they usually sell hay by the bale. That is how I get mine.

I also wanted to ask how many pellets you feed Trixie. Now that she is an adult, have you cut back on her pellet amount as recommended? Overfeeding of pellets can also cause bunnies to ignore hay.

I just give her a few small pinches of pellets a day.

Thanks Missy for the advice. Maybe she would like the hay from the feed store. could be worth trying

One thing you could try is to go to the feed store and ask for the sweeps under the hay bales. My local farm store let me have this when I told them that I wasn't sure if the bun would take to it and I didn't want to purchase a whole bale to find out she wouldn't. Now I just take a small grocery bag when I go and skim the clean hay under the bales. I still feed ours small pet select Timothy, but I give them some of this horse hay for a nice change.

Is that hay usually softer? I noticed that she tends to prefer the softer texture hay over some types that are much crunchier

Yes it is and its very aromatic. They have different cuts, but I buy 2nd cutting. It seems expensive, but a 10 lb box last me almost 6 mos. with two buns. I stuff it into TP tubes to help conserve and keep it from getting soiled. I do also get them sweeps from the farm supply to give them variety. Here's a pic of the small pet select timothy hay (2nd cut). I wish you could smell it!

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That looks like amazing hay. I bet Trixie would LOVE that. She seems to like softer hays that are very aromatic. Her nose goes a hundred miles an hour when she likes her food