Been trying to save up to get her spayed but it's hard with low income and expenses. Was hoping to get her spayed before she hit a year old
if you haven't already, I recommend calling around to shelters, rabbit rescues and rabbit sanctuaries in your area to see if any of them can recommend a vet that does low-cost rabbit spays. also, a lot of shelters do low-cost spay/neuter days - most are just for cats/dogs, but occasionally you'll find one that does bunnies as well. if you really search around, you might luck out and find someone rabbit-savvy who will do her spay for as little as $80-100.
I've been meaning to ask this too...where do you guys get your hay? Besides feed stores because I heard buying a bale of hay is cheap but not good quality..?
Right now I'm buying the 48 oz bags of timothy hay from WalMart, which isn't too bad but I'd like a cheaper alternative that isn't bad quality
Feed store hay can be good or bad, it just depends on your feed store. You are looking for a high quality horse hay, that is weed free and hasn't ever gotten wet. If the outside of the bale is a little sunbleached, that's ok, you want the grass on the inside of the bale to look nice and green. The best thing to do is to call the feed stores near you and ask them what kind of hay they have and what quality it is. They may even let you take a handful as a sample to make sure your rabbit likes it before you buy a whole bale.
If you don't want to go the feed store route and want to order online, Imbrium has picky hay eaters, and she just recently ordered some hay and she says her rabbits love it. So here's the link for that.
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f40/sierra-valley-hay-72426/
yeah, most feed stores will let you grab a little sample of each of their hays free of charge so that your bunny can taste-test them before you commit to a bale. while it can vary from one feed store to the next, as a general rule, feed store hay is usually a bit fresher than pet store/walmart stuff.
the sierra valley hay is significantly pricier than feed store hay for the simple fact that it gets shipped to you and that adds a lot to the cost... however, it is the freshest, greenest hay I've ever seen!
I've tried EVERY grass hay oxbow makes, kaytee timothy and feed-store coastal and the only grass hay my bunnies would even consider eating was oxbow oat (which was half oats, therefore a HUGE pain in the butt for me since I have to pick all the oats out). even that, they didn't eat a whole lot of... making my attempts to transition them off of alfalfa quite painful.
with the sierra valley hay, my super-picky eaters are suddenly eating MOUNDS of hay every day! I frequently catch them nibbling at their breakfast pellets 8+ hours later when they used to inhale the entire 1/4c serving within an hour or so.
their customer service is really good, too - I ordered two more boxes today since their prices are going up a bit soon due to increased shipping costs... I asked if I could either buy a small sample each of three of their hays I haven't tried yet or get small samples in lieu of the 5 extra lbs you get for buying two boxes and the guy said he'd be happy to give me samples for free in addition to the extra 5 lbs. they're also quick to answer any questions you might have (I asked a few about their oat hay before ordering it).
btw, if you opt to buy a bale from a feed store and are interested in bale bags to store it in, I got mine here -
http://www.tackwholesale.com/bale-bags-c-11.html ... shipping is *insanely* fast (mine arrived in about two days with the cheapest shipping option) and the bags are high quality. I went with two of the 1/2 bale bags so that they'd be easier to move around and I could stack them to take up less space. if you bring the bags with you to the feed store, they'll usually split the bale in half for you and put it in the bags free of charge - SO much easier than trying to wrangle a full 80lb or w/e bale out of a car/into your home yourself!