Hay question

[Zarcasm]

At the moment, I don't have any rabbits. I've had them in the past (five in total) but it was when I was much younger and quite a while ago, so I never put so much thought into what to feed them and whatnot like I would now. I'm going to be getting two fairly soon though, so I've been looking around trying to make sure I have everything down before they get here.
I keep reading in most places that Timothy hay is the "best" hay for rabbits and it seems like the standard to feed them (And I'm pretty sure that was what we gave them when I was younger). I can only find the little bags of Timothy that are something like $5 for 2lbs. I also have horses, and we feed them Coastal Bermuda hay that I can get in large bales for $7. There's roughly 35x the amount of hay in this for a few dollars extra vs. a bag of timothy. I can't seem to find large bales of timothy hay no matter where I look (I'm in the South, apparently it doesn't grow here), only the overpriced bags sold specifically for rabbits. I can really only find Alfalfa and Coastal Bermuda in large bales (And I've heard alfalfa is no good for adults, which is what I'm likely going to end up with).
So the question is, is timothy really that much better for them? If it's somehow superior, would giving a mix of both timothy (to reduce how quickly I would go through those ridiculously priced little bags) and coastal bermuda be alright?
I plan on giving them pellets plus various vegetables in addition to the hay, if that makes any difference.

Oh and, this is a bit of a smaller question but... is there really any difference between bowls or bottles for water? Is one any better than the other or is it just personal preference? I've been leaning towards bottles just because they seem easier (to me) and that was what I remember always using, but wasn't sure if there's any benefit to one or the other.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

Hi I cant answer the hay question.
But I do know a lot of people buy it by the bail full.

I buy oxbow in a box about 30 pounds for 40 bucks
Its timothy

But on the water bottle or bowl.

They do tend to drink more on the bowl storm does that is for sure.
Storm wont even touch a bottle now if I put both in his cage he will drink out of the bowl.

Thats my experience there will be many more experience owners and such coming to your aid trust me
Oh and welcome did you make a post in the intro section

 

[Zarcasm]

Mrs. PBJ wrote:

Hi I cant answer the hay question.
But I do know a lot of people buy it by the bail full.

I buy oxbow in a box about 30 pounds for 40 bucks
Its timothy

But on the water bottle or bowl.

They do tend to drink more on the bowl storm does that is for sure.
Storm wont even touch a bottle now if I put both in his cage he will drink out of the bowl.

Thats my experience there will be many more experience owners and such coming to your aid trust me
Oh and welcome did you make a post in the intro section

I'm not entirely sure what Oxbow is, I've never heard of it around here. Though 30lbs for $40 still seems sort of silly to me, as the bales I get for $7 are anywhere from 75lbs to 100lbs depending on where you get them. I've never actually seen bales of Timothy around here, so it might just be that it's way more expensive. But I know of some people up north in Canada and WA and they primarily feed Timothy to horses (who go through a lot of it) and I know they would be constantly complaining if they were spending $40 on it so I don't think it's that...? Not sure, unless Oxbow is something special?

No, I didn't make a post in the intro section since it seemed sort of silly with me not currently having any rabbits and all (Though I think I'll be getting them Saturday if everything works out).

Oh and you're really close to me, I just noticed. I'm not too far from Galveston (Between there and Houston).

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

Ok I dont have horses or anything so 40 pounds last me like 6 to 8 months.

Mabye we could meet up one day.

Anyway I know they sell bails out hwy 6
I am not sure about timothy hay but other will chime in soon it may be tomorrow but you will get a great answer.

Ox bow is sold at petsmart.

I buy my from kieth at floppy pets on nasa rd 1 and hwy 146
He has rabbit fish dog cat small animal. He orders me the big 40 pound box when I need it for my rabbit. Cause I cant afford to buy hay every two weeks

PM me and I will give you his info if you would like.

 

[kirbyultra]

Oxbow is a popular brand. They sell a lot of different edibles for rabbits including pellets, hay, treats, care kits...

Timothy that is safe for horses is safe for rabbits (I've been told). If you can get some of that for real cheap then more power to ya! The rest of us have to buy it from these companies at a premium Other types of hay: brome, orchard grass, alfalfa. I've been told alfalfa shouldn't be fed all the time to adult rabbits though. Moderation is fine but the hay they generally should have unlimited access to is timothy.

There are plenty of hay farmers that sell online and they do ship at reasonable prices. The farms closer to wherever you are will have cheaper shipping I find. It was literally the difference between reasonable and outrageously priced, because shipping on 50 lbs of something is hefty.

My Kirby used to have a water bottle, but he likes the heavy ceramic bowl better.

 

[Zarcasm]

kirbyultra wrote:

Oxbow is a popular brand. They sell a lot of different edibles for rabbits including pellets, hay, treats, care kits...

Timothy that is safe for horses is safe for rabbits (I've been told). If you can get some of that for real cheap then more power to ya! The rest of us have to buy it from these companies at a premium Other types of hay: brome, orchard grass, alfalfa. I've been told alfalfa shouldn't be fed all the time to adult rabbits though. Moderation is fine but the hay they generally should have unlimited access to is timothy.

There are plenty of hay farmers that sell online and they do ship at reasonable prices. The farms closer to wherever you are will have cheaper shipping I find. It was literally the difference between reasonable and outrageously priced, because shipping on 50 lbs of something is hefty.

My Kirby used to have a water bottle, but he likes the heavy ceramic bowl better.

Problem is, I can't find Timothy for horses. I looked a while back before the whole getting another rabbit came about, since it's supposedly better for horses, but can find nowhere here that sells it in bales. What I CAN find easily is Coastal Bermuda, which no one seems to ever say anything about feeding to rabbits. If I could actually find timothy here I wouldn't really be worrying or having to ask these questions, but unfortunately Texas is stupid and doesn't grow Timothy, apparently. :B

I don't really need to ship hay considering a 75lb bale alone would last me ages for two rabbits and every time I've looked into shipping hay it's pretty ridiculous to do unless you're buying it by the ton (Which I don't, I can store hay in the barn, but not that much).
I was more just trying to see if I could possibly feed coastal bermuda since I already always have that for the horses/goat/etc. and it's very cheap (for two little rabbits, anyway) and easy to obtain around here.

The only thing I've heard bad about bowls is they tend to get a lot of waste/etc. in the bowls, so I wasn't really sure. I always used the bottles in the past, but I didn't put much thought into it then. I suppose I could always put both in there and just let them use whichever.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

If you go to the shop I am telling you about and if your between houston and galveston. Your near that shop.

He has bowls that connect to the cage so they cant get there but in it.
Its plastic but works well for storm.


I have found the higher the better. Storm can drink out of it fine but cant get his rump in their.

I would do a search for the hay in the forum search ingine also there will be halp but most are not on this late at night.

I really dont know enough to help you I will call the feed store I use some times and see what they sell.

 

[Pipp]

Any grass hay is fine, it only makes a marginal difference if it's timothy.

I honestly think somebody who wrote a bunny article looked at a hay chart and picked the lowest protein/highest fibre -- timothy -- and deemed it the ultimate rabbit food. But honestly, the differences are marginal. Bales of horse hay are far preferable to pet shop bags or even shipped bales of timothy. Just keep the alfalfa content down (under 10%).

The best bet is a mix of grass hays -- different varieties, different cuts, etc -- to keep them interested. With bales you can give them more than they can eat (although they seem to be bottomless pits with the stuff!) and let them forage, so they will pick out the good bits. (Unfortunately they consider alfalfa good bits). :biggrin2:

sas :bunnydance:

 

[Zarcasm]

Mrs. PBJ wrote:

If you go to the shop I am telling you about and if your between houston and galveston. Your near that shop.

He has bowls that connect to the cage so they cant get there but in it.
Its plastic but works well for storm.


I have found the higher the better. Storm can drink out of it fine but cant get his rump in their.

I would do a search for the hay in the forum search ingine also there will be halp but most are not on this late at night.

I really dont know enough to help you I will call the feed store I use some times and see what they sell.

I'm underage so I can't really drive far. I'm limited in where I can go, mostly to the feed/pet stores and whatnot we have around.

I think I used to have two bowls similar to that for my dog at one point when we had to keep him in a kennel. They're not very big, but they clip on to the cage with a little screw thing and have a special sliding part that lets you slip them off the little mounted base so you can take them out and clean them relatively easily. I just got them at Petsmart one day. I don't use them for the dog anymore, so I might dig those out and see how that works. If they're too small I know Petsmart also sells ones for larger dogs that are essentially the same too. I didn't think about those, thanks.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=1843&forum_id=1&highlight=Coastal+bermuda

There a lot of beating around the brush but this is the best answer I can find it seems it is pretty normal for us texans to feed.

Thats a link to a post.
If I could store bulk I would start buying it but living in a apartment not possible
It does not seem to be much worse and its cheap

yeah the same thing I just promote kieth all I can really he is a good friend and he is a little mom and pop store.

He is like a father to me.

 

[Pipp]

Here's the Library listings...

Hay: All About it

Here's an interesting post about packaged and regular hay...

Nutritional breakdown of Hays
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=27425&forum_id=48

And here's my favourite hay article, from Purdue... (for horses, but same goes for rabbits).

http://www.agry.purdue.edu/Ext/forages/publications/ID-190.htm

Here's a chart that was on my computer... it's in the Library somewhere, but it's a bit of a mess right now. :rollseyes:

The last three content rows are protein, fiber and calcium... but keep in mind these levels can change from field to field and cut to cut much less region to region.

Alfalfa hay -- 90 -- 1800* -- 15.3* -- 27.0* -- 1.4*
Barley hay -- 87 -- 1790 -- 7.6 -- 24.0 -- .2
Barley straw -- 91 -- 1580 -- 4.0 -- 38.0 -- .3
Bermuda grass hay -- 92 -- 1656* -- 11* -- 27.6* -- .4*
Clover hay red -- 88 -- 1760* -- 17.3* -- 21.8* -- 1.3*
Clover hay white -- 92 -- 2024* -- 21.4* -- 20.9* -- 1.8*
Lespedeza hay -- 92 -- 1290* -- 12.7* -- 28.1* -- .9*
Oat hay -- 88 -- 2000 -- 7.3* -- 29.5* -- .3
Oat straw -- 92 -- 1640 -- 4.1 -- 37.0 -- .3
Orchard grass hay -- 89 -- 1829 -- 9.8* -- 30.0* -- .3
Prairie hay -- 92 -- 1670 -- 5.3 -- 31.0 -- --
Ryegrass hay -- 86 -- 2070 -- 7.4 -- 26.0 -- .5
Sudan grass hay -- 91 -- 1860 -- 7.3 -- 33.0 -- .5
Timothy hay -- 89 -- 2010 -- 6.3* -- 30.2* --
Wheat hay -- 88 -- 1870 -- 7.4 -- 25.0 -- .2
Wheat straw -- 89 -- 1340 -- 3.2 -- 37.0 -- .2


sas :bunnydance:

 

[Boz]

I can't help you with the hay question but I can help with the water bottle/bowl one!

I used to use water bottles but I switched when my rabbit Marley seemed to always be chewing and pulling on the water bottle nozzle to get the water out faster (she's a big 12 lbs French Lop!). They are more work, needing to be freshly filled daily but I find my rabbits like bowls better then a bottle. I think it's really a personal preference.

Also, Welcome to RO!

 

[Zarcasm]

Pipp wrote:

Any grass hay is fine, it only makes a marginal difference if it's timothy.

I honestly think somebody who wrote a bunny article looked at a hay chart and picked the lowest protein/highest fibre -- timothy -- and deemed it the ultimate rabbit food. But honestly, the differences are marginal. Bales of horse hay are far preferable to pet shop bags or even shipped bales of timothy. Just keep the alfalfa content down (under 10%).

The best bet is a mix of grass hays -- different varieties, different cuts, etc -- to keep them interested. With bales you can give them more than they can eat (although they seem to be bottomless pits with the stuff!) and let them forage, so they will pick out the good bits. (Unfortunately they consider alfalfa good bits). :biggrin2:

sas :bunnydance:

Thankyou! I was trying to find if Timothy was really all that superior to Coastal Bermuda (Which I think just has a bit more protein?), but so far no one seemed to be able to tell me if it was really all THAT different just "Feed Timothy". We don't really feed alfalfa to the horses so we don't really keep it around and probably wouldn't be giving it to the rabbits unless I bought one of the bags just for every so often (a bale would probably sit there for a year, lol). I can occasionally find Orchard Grass hay, but not too often. One of the local feedstores occasionally orders it but they don't keep it around regularly, so it's not something I could constantly keep.
But yeah, with me usually having Coastal Bermuda around and being able to get it for cheap I can pretty much stuff the pen full of more than two rabbits probably need without it being an issue, where it would quickly get somewhat expensive with those tiny bags of timothy.
Thanks for the help.

 

[tonyshuman]

I just want to mention that my guys won't eat Bermuda hay. I also find that it's too stringy (ie not as coarse) compared to other grass hays, so it's not as good at moving stuff through the GI. Could you find grass hay mix for horses?

 

[Zarcasm]

tonyshuman wrote:

I just want to mention that my guys won't eat Bermuda hay. I also find that it's too stringy (ie not as coarse) compared to other grass hays, so it's not as good at moving stuff through the GI. Could you find grass hay mix for horses?

The only stuff I can regularly find here is alfalfa and coastal bermuda. We get large round bales that are just a mix to put out in the pasture, but these are really tough and hard, so I wouldn't feel very comfortable giving it to rabbits. I'm not entirely sure what is in the mix (I asked once, don't remember now).
As I mentioned earlier, I can occasionally find Orchard Grass hay but it's somewhat rare that the feed store near here gets it in.

 

[naturestee]

Just to add my two cents, any grass hay is fine. Timothy is popular because it's widely available as horse hay in the Midwest and seems to be the only one puposefully planted in my area. Either it's timothy hay, or it's mixed grass hay.

As long as your rabbits eat it, it's ok. Some are picky. As far as thin vs. thick strands my guys like bluegrass ok, which is a big component of mixed bales around here. Now that stuff is thin! I'm like Pipp, where I like to feed more than one grass hay if possible, so do get other types if you can. Sometimes I buy the little bags of special variety hays in the store as a treat, although mainly for hay treats I just get timothy cubes. You might be able to buy other varieties off local farmers- check the classified ads especially during hay season. Some are willling to sell just a 40 lb bale or two to pet owners if you want something different. That's how I get my hay as the feed stores up here don't evercarry it.

A lot of times,baled hay is nicer and fresher than pet store stuff anyway, since it hasn't been sitting in a plastic bag in a warehouse and then shipped around the country.

 

[Zarcasm]

naturestee wrote:

Just to add my two cents, any grass hay is fine. Timothy is popular because it's widely available as horse hay in the Midwest and seems to be the only one puposefully planted in my area. Either it's timothy hay, or it's mixed grass hay.

As long as your rabbits eat it, it's ok. Some are picky. As far as thin vs. thick strands my guys like bluegrass ok, which is a big component of mixed bales around here. Now that stuff is thin! I'm like Pipp, where I like to feed more than one grass hay if possible, so do get other types if you can. Sometimes I buy the little bags of special variety hays in the store as a treat, although mainly for hay treats I just get timothy cubes. You might be able to buy other varieties off local farmers- check the classified ads especially during hay season. Some are willling to sell just a 40 lb bale or two to pet owners if you want something different. That's how I get my hay as the feed stores up here don't evercarry it.

A lot of times,baled hay is nicer and fresher than pet store stuff anyway, since it hasn't been sitting in a plastic bag in a warehouse and then shipped around the country.

Yeah, I've had Bluestem grass (Not sure if this is the same as Bluegrass) as well, I believe that's either what the big 1,000lb round bales are or at least partially (I remember the guy saying something about Blue).
I don't really know what mine will and won't eat, since I don't have them yet, but I can't imagine they'll be too picky considering the place they're coming from.

 

[tonyshuman]

Yeah, if they've grown up with berumda grass, then no problem. People who have horses are very particular about their hay, usually, so they're a good source for any kind of grass hay you can find.

 

[Zarcasm]

tonyshuman wrote:

Yeah, if they've grown up with berumda grass, then no problem. People who have horses are very particular about their hay, usually, so they're a good source for any kind of grass hay you can find.

Yeah, I can be weird about the hay. This stuff we recently got is awesome. It's a really nice color and smells wonderful, very strong, nice smell. I think I might eat some. xD
I'm not even sure if right now the rabbits I'm going to get get any hay. With where they're coming from, it would not surprise me in the slightest.

 

[Pipp]

My guys tastes change from bale to bale. They don't like the local grass hay much, they prefer timothy, but it's a crap shoot whether they'll like the 1st or 2nd cut best. (They really didn't like the soft third cut).

Sometimes they pull out the brown bits first, sometimes the green ones.

They loved some batches of orchard and bluegrass, but not others. But guaranteed if whatever I have is the only hay around, they'll be gobbling it up once they realize that.

They're such opportunists.

You'll have to post the story of how you got these rabbits...


sas :bunnydance: