Not eating hay, but eating lots of grass?

[Fuzzy_Buns]

My oldest bun is a year-ish old and has not touched hay since she has been outside, however she is eating tons of grass. Today I put my new bun out in the grass and he hasn't touched his hay either.

Is that okay as long as they have plenty of green grass to gnaw on? The grass is not treated with chemicals and has lots of clover, dandelions, etc mixed in. They are drinking water and have shade.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Mmmm dandelion and clover too?! Yum! When I let my two outside for play time they usually just munch on grass, I offer a tiny bit of hay too just in case. But it's ok for them to eat grass and clover and dandelions. When you bring them back in they will eat hay, or if they're outside buns, then I dont know, still offer hay?

 

[Nancy McClelland]

I'd still make sure hay is available, although we use orchard grass for allergy reasons.

 

[Fuzzy_Buns]

I usually buy whatever is on sale by the bale. A few times it's been alfalfa, however it's been orchard hay in the past. Unfortunately it's kinda scarce in our area right now and expensive.

 

[JBun]

Grass hay is just dried grass, so it shouldn't be a problem if your older rabbit is used to eating the fresh grass. But with your new rabbit, the sudden introduction of lots of fresh grass and greens, can sometimes cause digestive upset and mushy poop. So it's best to gradually get him used to eating fresh greens. Just let him eat a little bit each day, then monitor his poops each day. If they stay the normal round poop pellets, for a couple days, then you can gradually increase the time he's out, and amount that he eats. If you've already been letting him eat lots of grass for a few days now, and his poops are still normal, then he's ok to just keep eating it. But anytime your rabbits have soft poop, that indicates a digestive problem, so you will want to keep an eye out for that.

 

[Fuzzy_Buns]

Yeah he's been out for over 24 hours and it's normal. My older bun never had that issue.