Hay?

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BunnyLover13

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I give my 2 bunnies hay when ever they run out of it but they don't seem to eat it. It's first-cut and mainly Timothy hay. Does anyne know why this might be?
thanks
 
How much pellets and veggies and treats do they get? If they're filling up on other stuff, they may not eat their hay.

Also where do you get your hay? How old is it? Store-bought hay tends to be older and not as tasty as the fresher stuff from a feed store or farmer.

Also, some bunnies just don't like timothy hay. There are other varieties out there like meadow hay, bermuda, brome, oat grass, etc. Try something else and see if they like it. :)

Hope that helps!

Rue
 
They get 6 onces for breakfast and dinner. they don't get treats very often, mabye an apple evry 2 days and I don't normally give them lettuce or salad. (should I start to?)the hay's i think bout a year ld or so because they share it with our cousins horses. I'm pretty sure they buy it from a local farmer. I'll try some of the different types of hay as soon as I can get my hands on some too. Thanks sooo much. :)
 
I would gradually start to give them lettuce (romaine is probably the best). I give Cheeto one cup a day, although some might think that this is not enough. He doesn't eat his hay if I give him too much lettuce.
Try Oat Grass hay. Cheeto LOVES it. He wasn't too partial to timothy, so I tried oat grass, and he went wild. Now, he doesn't seem to know the difference.
Just remember that pellets aren't the most important part of their diet. If you have to give them less pellets so they'll eat veggies and hay, it's not going to hurt them.
=)

 
I agree with Rue, im on my last bag of Kaytee timothy because I bought half a bale from a nearby horse stall? I don't know, they give riding lessons and sell horses hehe, and he devoured it! Now he wont touch the bagged stuff and I am now using it as litter :p.
But if you don't have access to a feed store, I heard Oxbow is pretty good bagged hay, they have it at petsmart I think. Good luck!
 
Just want to note that if you're having issues with eating hay, its not a good idea to substitute with salads. Well varied salads can take the place of pellets, but rabbits must have hay to avoid stasis.
 
OneTwoThree wrote:
Just want to note that if you're having issues with eating hay, its not a good idea to substitute with salads. Well varied salads can take the place of pellets, but rabbits must have hay to avoid stasis.
Click to expand...

This isn't entirely true. Rabbits need fibre (especially long stems) to avoid stasis. Hay is the cheapest and easiest way to feed rabbits that fibre, but some rabbits simply won't touch hay. In which case, salads can be a good substitute, but it's important to feed large quantity and a healthy variety to keep your rabbit healthy. Fresh grass can also substitute for hay, but you're gonna need a lot of it!

Horse hay is excellent hay and most bunnies love it. So I don't think the hay is the problem. I suspect the problem is they're getting too much pellets. You said they get 6 ounces (2/3 C?) for breakfast and dinner. Is that 6 ounces two times per day? And is that per rabbit or for the two of them? Even if it's 6 ounces two times per day for the two of them, that's probably double what they need. Most bunnies don't need more than 1/4-1/3 C of pellets each per day. (I believe the rule of them is 1/4 C per 5 lbs of rabbit.) Try cutting them back and see if their hay consumption goes up. ;)

Hope that helps!

Rue
 
Ya I give them 6 onces in the morning and at night. And that's for both of them. but is that 1/4 cups for a small, medium, or large bunny. Because my bunnies are palimino but my girl's quite a bit bigger then my boy. So should I give them 4onces instead of 6, twice a day? So that would be 2 onces each, i'd be only cutting it back 1 ince for each of them...is that right? It doesn't seem like enough pellets to me but then again I really don't know. Skittles weighs 4 pounds and Snickers weighs 7 pounds so how many ounces of pellets should I give them both together? Do you know? Would that be 4 onces and a bit?
Thanks
 
I usually measure my pellets in cups, not ounces. But the rule of thumb is 1/4 C per 5 lbs of rabbit. So if you have a rabbit that weighs 5 lbs, you give them 1/4 cup of pellets per day. 1/4 C is 2 ounces (since there's 8 ounces in a cup).

You've got 11 lbs of rabbit combined, so I say feed them 4 ounces (1/2 C) of pellets per day. You can split it into two 2 ounce feedings if you prefer (I do the same with Gus).

It may seem like a small amount of pellets, but their diet should consist mostly of hay and veggies anyway. The pellets are just for the vitamins and other nutrients they wouldn't get in a strictly hay/veggie diet.

Hope that helps!

Rue
 
O.K thanks I'll start doing that tomorrow for there breakfast.
Thanks for all the help
 
I've found that my two have preferences on certain brands of (bagged/store-bought) hay. I was buying Kaytee hay but found they were just spreading it around for the most part (like the kid who doesn't want to eat his peas, and spreads it about the plate to make it look like he's eaten some). So I tried different brands, and for a while didn't have a whole lot of success. But then one day I happened to pick up a brand of hay called "Nature's Promise, Western Timothy Hay" by Zupreem, and the two of them just scarf it down. They absolutely love it, so now that's what I try to provide for them all of the time. If you can find this brand in your local store (PetSmart sells it here) give it a try and see if it makes a difference. :)
 
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