Storing hay in a studio apartment?!

[LeelooLion]

Hi all! New to BB here. I have a Lionhead named Leeloo, I have some pictures of her in my profile.

So… I live in a studio apartment just under 600 sq. ft. Leeloo gets her little corner; her habitat is a big, newish dog crate I got for only $25 on Craigslist. I like having a dog crate because it folds up if I ever need to do any transporting, and I don’t necessarily agree with having wire-bottomed cages.

Anyway…

The hard part about living in a dinky area is making sure the place is tidy all the time. My main problem is storing hay. I bought a 2 lb. bag of Oxbow Timothy hay; it’s currently in one of my kitchen cupboards in a cardboard box. Does anyone have a more creative idea than this? My boyfriend is also slightly allergic to hay, so it needs to be somewhat contained while still getting airflow.

Also, since I have a dog crate (Petmate brand), I’m wondering if there are any hay racks that will fit nicely in dog crates? I know they’re made to fit in actual rabbit cages. I keep it in a food dish for her right now. She’s only 2 1/2 months old, so she’s slooowly becoming hormonal and rearranging her cage, to my horror, and flipping over her food dish and the like. lol.

Thanks for any suggestions!!

[Monkeybun]

I saw somewhere someone had it stored in a cute laundry hamper type thing with a lid… If you only have small amounts of hay, you can find baskets with lids that would work too. They look like normal household items, and have airflow

[MoveDiagonally]

Welcome! Leeloo is adorable.

I store my hay in a plastic storage bin and it keeps everything pretty well contained.

Edit: I drilled holes in my bin for air flow. They’re small enough that hay doesn’t fall out but enough of them that the hay can breathe. 

[Nonvieta]

The important thing is making just your hay is getting lots of air and circulation…unlike food, you don’t really want to keep it in the plastic bag it come in!  There are so many possibilities for storing hay….cardboard boxes (wouldn’t need to be very big if for two lbs of hay!) are simple, if not the mostly beautiful solution.  I personally like to keep my hay accessible to my bunnies when they are out playing (jsut in case they decide I haven’t given them enough….which of course they never think I have!).  Since you have such a small space, something more appealing, like a converted hamper or cloth bag might work.  Could you keep the storage receptacle (whatever it ends up being) on top of her cage?  That way you could utilize the cage foot print as much as possible!

On a side note…make sure you allow some room for growth for your hay….don’t get a tiny container expecting it to never need to be bigger!  I started out with a little box for my two pound bags of hay and eventually realized this wasn’t enough!  As my bunny grew (and he’s not very big!)  I realized that a 2lb bag only lasted….MAYBE a week.  Partially because Kaytee hay is kind of on the coarse side and my bun was wasting a lot of it by being picky.  I realised it was MUUUCH cheaper to buy a better quality of hay (first oxbow, which is usually sold in most petstores) which had bigger bags and he ate more of it (and trust me, you want to encourage your bun to eat as much hay as possible!!) and later from a local MA farm that specialises in hay for small animals.  Nowadays I live in a small apartment but I buy a 15lb box of hay from the farm and it feeds my two bunnies for a good few months!  And because it’s such fresh, good quality hay, they eat almost every piece.  And I only did this because I did the math per oz of hay and it is far, far cheaper than any brand in store.

Not saying you should buy a 15 pound box, of course, but be ready to store a bit more than two pounds (or have to buy hay on at least a weekly basis).  I think the laundry hampers you can buy at stores like target are great….they are usually made of cloth and have a bag inside so there is lots of airflow!  And for a little apartment they are going to look nicer than a big cardboard box (but those work nice too!). 

[Nonvieta]

I almost forgot!

As for hay clean-up and allergy management….your best friend, if you can afford it, would be a compact shop-vac!  Online (such as at amazon) you can get a powerful little 1 or 2 gallon shop-vac for $45 or less.  These make cleaning hay SO much easier…and are a big help in managing allergies because they are so efficient at picking up loose hay and fur when shedding!  The little ones take up very little space too.

[Suivezmoi]

I got something similar to this from Petsmart: Pet Food Container
They do say that it is airtight, but I leave the lid of mine cracked to make sure there is some ventilation.

 As for the allergies, my boyfriend was horribly allergic to Timothy Hay. So bad, he said the rabbit couldn’t stay unless I found an alternative.  I have been using Orchard grass (and will sometimes mix in some Oat Hay), and the allergy issues have stopped completely. When I get the new bags of hay, I will empty them into the container outside and make sure any dust has settled before I bring them in. Also, when I am getting hay out to feed, I try and shake it out a little inside the container with the lid as closed as it will get with my hand in it, to try and keep the dust in.

A few websites have mentioned that timothy hay is a pretty big allergen for most people, and that some of the other hays may not pose as much of a problem. I have asthma, and haven’t been bothered one bit since I’ve switched hay types.

[Samantha1357]

for the allergies…get an air purifier, youll be amazed how much hay dust it collects! I wouldnt be able to have my 5 buns if it werent for that purifier

[BinkyBuster]

I bought a giant plastic container from Wal-Mart and drilled holes in it. I also don’t leave the lid fully on so more air can get in. It won’t fit a whole bale but was good once I had gone through some of it. (I know you said you don’t have a bale but you might in the future.)

My house mate is allergic to my rabbit and an air purifier has helped her out a ton. I suggest that

I bought a hay rack from the binky bunny store. The one that just looks like a little trough, I think it’s made out of wicker(?) Buster absolutely destroyed the front of his so the hay falls all over his cage but he seems to like it that way… and all over my stuff. You get used to it

As for them flipping over their dishes – Buster is neutered and still does that. After his greens he always plays with his bowl… so for his pellets and water I got him these:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752724&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInCA%2FNo
Work like a charm! You can find them in the dog section at Petsmart. Good luck

[Mrs.HoneyBun]

I have my bun in a XL crate and I found a awesome hay rack at Petsmart. Im at work now but I can take a pic of it soon. My bun likes to flip her food bowl everytime I give it to her, so recently ive been putting her pellets in it. I really need to get another one. They are flippin great!

[Mrs.HoneyBun]

Instead of a pic … here is the link

http://m.petsmart.com/mt/www.petsmart.com/cart/index.jsp?un_jtt_redirect

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