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Forum HABITATS AND TOYS Hay Storage/Feeding/Less Mess Solutions?

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    • KytKattin
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        I have been combing through some of the old posts of this topic, which has given me some good ideas, but a lot of them are older now, and I’m sure you wonderful people have come up with even better solutions (or at least can post about something I might have missed that works well).

        First, hay storage. What do you keep your hay in? I plan on buying a whole bale, as it is the most cost effective for me and I don’t know anyone local to split a bale with. I am thinking a plastic Rubbermaid storage container would be the best option for me, as it will be stored in a garage that is not nearly as water tight as it could be (*le sigh*). I have looked into hay bags for full sized bales, but not only are they just as or more expensive than a Rubbermaid, they also won’t do anything when my garage floods. So people who buy full bales, what is your hay storage solution?

        Next is hay that little bunny can access. Now, I am currently renting a house from my parents (which is weird, but it works), and my mom HATES hay. Like, with a passion. So while I don’t mind it so much, when she comes to visit (which won’t be often as we are a few hours away) everything must be in perfect order. Not a hay out of place if you will. I already clean like crazy before she comes, but it would be nice if the hay was just well contained to begin with. It sort of will be. I will have a sort of “cage-ception” thing going on. Eclipse’s cage consists of a old “All Living Things” cage bottom, which is where she is fed. It does not have the wire top part to it, and she has actually chewed it down in the front so it is easy for her to hop in and out. This is where she will receive hay, which means as long as the hay can only be pulled out of whatever I put it in from the front, hay should (in theory) stay in the old cage bottom. The second layer of defense is the ex-pen, which will have linoleum that wraps up at least 6 inches on the edges, keeping all stray poops, accidental pees, and that gosh darn hay further contained, while also protecting my fake hardwood floors.

        The best idea I have seen for a front only dispensing hay rack is also one that does not need to be loaded every day. In fact, it looks as though it could be loaded fairly infrequently. Are there any problems with this method? I rather like the idea for vacations as well, so that no one would need to worry about handling the hay during our time away. I have had people babysit my former rabbit and came home to hay throughout the house. Bleh. Otherwise we only do overnight trips, in which we leave out a frozen dinner for the cat, and the rabbit would be fine as well, especially with a huge hay supply. But I digress… Below is the link to the hay bin that I am thinking of trying. Has anyone tried similar? Is the lid a bonus or should I get a bin without one so the hay can breathe? Thank you for any and all input! 


      • Beka27
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          I have one of those cheapy plastic CD storage boxes clipped to the xpen over the litter box. The hay can only be reached from inside the litter box, so something like that might help? I’m on my phone right now, so I can’t post a picture, but I’ll try to do that later from my laptop…

          For in the house hay storage, I use an open top cardboard box. I can just pull out what I need.

          As far as the bale storage, a large Rubbermaid container is a good idea!


        • NewBunnyOwner123
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            The only issue I see with the Rubbermaid storage is lack of air flow and then mold hmmm I buy a 25 pound box of hay and just keep it in the box as I’m using it up. How big are full bales?


          • Sarita
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              I just use cardboard boxes for my hay – cheap and they work well – maybe find a pallet or something to keep the boxes off the floor.


            • Beka27
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                Sorry… Should have mentioned… If you do the Rubbermaid box, you’d have to drill some holes for air flow asking the top. Although putting it up in pallets is a good idea too!


              • KytKattin
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                  Hmm… What if I just left the top off of the Rubbermaid? The water comes in under a door because for some reason our garage is about an inch under the patio in the back, so it just comes right in. Sand bags have helped, but we still get water. Since the garage roof works as it should, could I just leave the top off so it gets enough air?

                  NewBunnyOwner123: a bale is pretty big. All I know is that they weigh between 70 and 100+ lbs. I used to have horses and I hated moving them every 3-4 days when I needed to pull a new one down from the stack.

                  I’ll have to think about using a pallet/see if I can find one!

                  I forgot to mention that I do work in this garage, using a sandblaster in a cabinet to etch glass. In order to get the hay as far away from my work space as possible (to avoid potential contamination), it needs to be by where the water can in theory come under the door. Even with the top off it should be fine though, as it is literally at the opposite corner and the danger is in breathing in the particles.

                  What do you use inside to give hay to your rabbits?


                • LongEaredLions
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                    I store my hay in two 60 gal trash cans.
                    if your bunny isn’t a chewer, a very clean way to offer hay is a hay bag. I don’t see them used often for rabbits, but I use them for my piggies and I am sure it would work fine.
                    http://www.guineapigmarket.com/resize/Shared/fleece/POP-pink-v2-1.jpg?lr=t&bw=350


                  • KytKattin
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                      I did consider that LongEaredLions, but she is the chewiest chewer on the planet unfortunately. If it exists, she can and will chew it. For a less chewy bunny though, I think they would be a great idea!

                      I think I will go look at trash bins and just cut a couple of holes near the bottom on the front. Once she chews away too much of the plastic I will simply put a NIC grid in to keep the hay in for a little while longer. Thank goodness she won’t be in my bedroom anymore. That girl will chew all night!


                    • JackRabbit
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                        For big hay storage, I do like the others and keep it in a cardboard box which lives in my storage room.  Each weekend I sort out enough hay for the week and put that in cardboard paper boxes (the kind that a case of copy paper comes in with a lid) and that lives in the bunnies’ room.

                        For hay feeders, I looked everywhere for the perfect one.  Anything with an open or gridded back ends up with hay all over the floor behind the feeder. 

                        Kieko has two hay feeders in her condo.  The bunny bales feeder (comes in wooden and metal – we have both) is nice and we top it off every evening for her.   It came with a grid for the front opening but it made it hard to get any hay so my husband made a wooden a grid shaped like a double H to make it easier to get to the hay but not allow it to all be pulled out.  The rack type feeder holds more hay, but it’s too skinny at the bottom forthe hay to drop down as its eaten.  The crossbars are also spaced pretty close, but Kieko has a narrow face and is able to get to it OK.  No problem with hay going out the back, but she can pull some into her litter pan.

                        Marlee uses the metal version (she’s a chewer and the wood isn’t very thick) of the bunny bales feeder right now, but I have to top it off 2x each day.  Moshi isn’t so much a chewer but he’s a hay eating machine.  My husband took ideas from a few different feeders and made this one for Moshi.  He’s (hopefully!) going to make another for Marlee this weekend.  Hold enough hay to last Moshi more than a day (miracle!) and in spite of the larger openings, Moshi doesn’t pull hay out into his litterbox.  The back is enclosed so no hay goes out there.  Here’s Moshi’s feeder:

                        We go through close to 20 lbs of hay per month for 3 small bunnies (I’d guess half of that is eaten by Moshi alone!)

                        There are some really nice feeders on Etsy as well (recommended by another BBer).  I’m considering one from there as well for our play area.


                      • JackRabbit
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                          The hay in the litterbox is actually me dropping hay while trying to crawl into Moshi’s cage holding handfuls of hay to put in the feeder. (If you knew me, you’d be asking, “So who gets you get out of the cage after the hay feeder is full?”!!)

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                      Forum HABITATS AND TOYS Hay Storage/Feeding/Less Mess Solutions?