hay management in cage

[windryder201]

Hello everyone,

I'm wondering if any ideas for me. I free-feed hay to my bunnies (two) and I end up wasting a LOT of hay. They don't eat all their hay before they decide "oh, I've stepped on this bit too much/whatever" and don't eat it. I've tried just leaving it to make them change their minds (now or in the future) but they just end up chewing on everything else EXCEPT their "spoiled" hay (I don't believe they are urinating/defecating directly on it) so I go ahead and feed them.

I've tried using the little hay boxes, but they seem to really struggle with them even if I cut bars out of the hay boxes so it's easier to pull the hay out. I think I might go back to trying to use them.

i'm going through WAY more hay than they are eating, it makes their cage particularly messy (I have two cages, but they preferentially stay together in the larger one) and It makes such a nice little mat for the bedding underneath it to get GROSS

On the bedding front, i'm seriously contemplating just getting a bunch of newspaper to line it with...that'd be so much cheaper in the end, and SO much easier to clean...

Anyway, any ideas?

 

[OneTwoThree]

I'm pretty sure thats just a fact of life with hay
My buns are pretty good with their hay though, I stick the hay in a box and then stick their litter boxes in that box, it keeps it pretty contained.

There's always a little waste that Samson digs though and into her litter box, but I figure thats hay she wouldn't eat anyway.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

If they are wasting more than they are eating, perhaps decrease the amount you are giving them?

I used to give my rabbits hay 2x daily, once in the AM and once in the PM. They usually had enough to last until the next feeding, but they wasted a LOT of it. I buy hay by the bales - was feeding 15+ rabbits at the time, and they were wasting about a flakes worth a week. Now I only give them a handful of hay at nighttime, and we have decreased the amount of wasted hay by a large amount.

Perhaps if you just offered hay in the AM and hay in the PM - just enough for them to eat, not waste - then they won't waste it.

Emily

 

[LaylaLop]

I have hay free-feed and put it in a sifting cat litter box so the dust falls through. I regularly go and fluff it back up and mix in some fresh hay, then she seems to eat more of the "old" stuff. Maybe try something like that, or give less at a time?

 

[LakeCondo]

Yes, mixing the old in with some new usually fools them.

 

[windryder201]

okay, Thanks for the idea folks. I'm thinking I might put their hay in a low-sided box to contain it, feed a little less, and mix new stuff with the old.


I've just been hesitant to let them run out of hay since my horse HATES running out of her hay. She gets super bored and stressed. So it's a habit to compulsively keep hay available