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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Can cockroaches come with hay?

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    • Quartz
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        I got my bun just over 2 months ago and with him I also bought a large bag of hay from my local shelter.  The shelter said the hay is grown at a nearby farm specifically for the shelter.  It’s pretty nice hay, my rabbit likes it.

        Here’s the problem though, within the first few days of getting the bunny, I noticed a HUGE cockroach in his pen.  It’s an oriental cockroach variety, I’ve looked it up.  Before that, I only had a single cockroach sighting in my bathroom 3 years ago, and there’s an AC vent on the floor there, so it could have climbed out.  Supposedly cockroaches are not a problem in my building where I’ve been for many years, and only accidentally a stray one runs in from the outside and perhaps travels through central AC vents.  Anyway, no cockroach problem, only ever seen a single one in 5 years here, 3 years ago.  

        Then cockroach #2 as soon as I get the bunny.  At first I couldn’t find it as it hid pretty well, but eventually I captured it and took it outside.  It was a female, and I had cleaned everything thoroughly, looked around for any signs of cockroach poop or egg sacks–nothing.  I thought all was well.

        Today, just over a week later, I’m cleaning out my bun’s litter tray (I thoroughly wash it every 2-3 days) and see a baby cockroach sitting there eating his poo.  How did it get there?..  The walls of the tray are quite steep AND I have a top cover border on it which makes it more difficult to reach the inside.  One idea I have is that it came from may that I put into one side of the tray for munching.  Again I’ve just cleaned everything, looked for any signs of cockroach poo or eggs… can’t see anything.  Also looked at the soiled litter as I was tossing it and didn’t see any obvious signs of more cockroaches than that one.

        I’m just very puzzled.  From what I’ve read, an actual infestation comes with visible signs of cockroach habitation, such as distinctive poo bits.  I don’t see any of that anywhere near my bun’s pen or anywhere else.

        Is it possible the bugs came from the local hay?  Has anyone gotten cockroaches in their hay before here?  I’ve just tossed the whole remaining amount of that hay just in case.  Very worried


      • Mikey
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          Getting rid of the hay was a good call. I dont think finding roaches in hay is very common at all, but it could also depend where you live. Its probly not uncommon for bales to be contaminated with bug eggs as they are often not thoroughly checked through before selling or sending off


        • Quartz
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            I’ve just ordered a big bag of Oxbow Timothy hay on-line along with some more bedding. Tossed all the old local hay and cleaned the big bin it was stored in. I’ll continue keeping an eye on the X-Pen and litter tray. At least it’s fairly easy, because my rabbit free-roams, and his X-Pen doesn’t contain much (he’s not really into toys or climbing stuff so far), and it’s easy to spot anything new on light colored sheets that cover the floor there.

            I should add that both of the recent cockroaches were directly in the X-Pen.  The first one that was huge I found was crawling around that area and then sitting and eating my bun’s poo ball (one of like 3 that were outside the litter tray).  The second (baby) was inside the litter tray on top of a pile of poo balls.  So either they gravitated toward that area immediately somehow after coming into my apartment or else they came with something we brought in for the rabbit.  That’s why I was thinking about the hay, as that was the one new thing I got with him a couple of days before I brought him home.  The difficult part about the potential infestation is that they seem to like eating my rabbit’s poo, and I can’t exactly help that part  Since there’s going to be poo in the X-Pen daily, despite my best cleaning efforts.


          • flemishwhite
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              About three miles away is Lomita Feed and Grain.  They sell, among other things, oat hay for a customer base of horse owners.  I’ve been buying oat hay from them for the last 12 years for my rabbits. It’s really fresh hay, somewhat green and smells like fresh hay. No cockroaches.  I think if you have a cockroach problem, you may have to look elsewhere for the problem.  Lets say you buy a bag of potatoes at the grocery store….or even loose potatoes.  Their may be roach eggs on the potatoes.  Actually, every restaurant has a roach problem, buying bulk vegetables, etc, their shipments can have roach eggs.  Once you get them in your house, roach baits and roach sprays will work. 

               


            • Quartz
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                I’m not seeing any more yet (knocking on all the wood), but for reference, which spray do you think would be effective and yet not bad for my rabbit? Are those the neurotoxic kind or something less dangerous?


              • MiNinoJack
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                  I get organic hay from a localish farm and there are dead crickets in it sometimes. I would find them in his cage. Freaked me out at first, but now I know where they come from. No pesticides can mean little critters unfortunately. At least mine are dead though. If be so upset to see live roaches. Ick!


                • LBJ10
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                    Cockroaches in hay? Yes, it’s possible. They didn’t come from outside though since a hay field is not an ideal habitat. The area where the hay was stored before being shipped out was likely infested.


                  • Quartz
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                      I am just stumped!

                      So it’s been TWO WEEKS now since I last saw a baby cockroach in my bun’s litter. I fully clean or spot clean it daily, and I inspect it carefully every day for any signs of bug activity. I’ve swapped to using Oxbow Eco-Straw pellets since last week and I got a mesh poop screen from binkybunny store. So seeing bugs should be easy. Nothing yesterday, nothing day before. Today: a baby “nymph” cockroach sitting in the tray among the litter pellets.

                      GAAH! WHERE do they come from?

                      I just don’t understand.

                      So far these are the only common threads connecting cockroaches to my apartment:

                      – They appeared immediately after I got the rabbit. I’ve had a cat here before for over a month while cat sitting with some food out–no signs of cockroaches.I’ve lived in this apartment for 5 full years, and cockroaches have not been a problem/visible.

                      – They are exclusively seen in my bun’s X-Pen
                      – Two baby cockroaches were inside his litter pen (which gets washed regularly and emptied completely), and one big one was eating a ball of my bun’s poo that escaped the pen
                      – Things that get added to the pen: Hay, bedding

                      So I’m back to thinking that it’s hay. I have tossed the remaining shelter hay and now I’m on a new big bag of Oxbow Timothy Hay. Although there’s still other hay I have in small bags–it’s all Oxbow stuff (one small bag of Oat mix hay, one small bag of organic meadow mix, and one remaining big bag of Orchard grass). I thought I’d see something like cockroach eggs while taking bunches of hay from bags, but maybe I’ve overlooked some.

                      This is driving me crazy, and I saw wish I could figure out where the buggers are coming from so I could fix it!


                    • Benthebunny
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                        Maybe its not the hay. Since there was some in the litter box, would they be in the litter?


                      • Quartz
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                          Can’t be litter

                          I’m using entirely new litter now since last week: got a lot of small bags of Oxbow Eco-Straw pellets that arrived last week. Before, I was using the old kind of Carefresh Natural + shredded white paper underneath. I’m re-cleaning my whole apartment again, looking for any signs of cockroaches coming from anywhere else. Don’t see anything at all indicating them so far. I think if there’s an infestation in the apartment, I should be seeing more somewhere? Some kind of signs of a source? Like cockroaches in other locations or trails of cockroach poop or something

                          It could well have been a stray oriental cockroach that roamed in (the first huge one I mentioned) and since it was a female, it laid eggs. And I’m seeing baby #2. So may have been a localized occurrence, which I’m now trying to control. That seems more likely.


                        • Quartz
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                            Well , I guess they might be coming from elsewhere after all Have scheduled an exterminator to come in and check out the situation before it gets out of hand

                            In the meantime I’ve done a lot of reading, and it seems like garlic’s good for repelling mosquitoes while rabbits don’t like it, and also catnip is apparently excellent, according to university research even more powerful than DEET for cockroaches.  I got a huge tub of catnip from a nearby pet store and have sprinkled it everywhere I think there might be a path for cockroaches.  Also sprinkled it over the bedding pellets under the poop mesh!  Much healthier alternatives for my bun.


                          • LBJ10
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                              I’m sure that bunny poop is nice and tasty roach food! It never hurts to get an exterminator, just be sure to take precautions so your bunny isn’t exposed to anything harmful.


                            • Quartz
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                                Sad update: it looks like my actual building has an infestation. That’s where my bugs came from

                                On the plus side, I’ve done a whole lot of cleaning and sealing any and all cracks in the walls and pipes, and reading about how to get rid of my kind of cockroaches. I’ve ordered food grade diatomaceous earth to kill them, which should be safe for my bun and deadly for the bugs. So bad news but also I feel like I’ve made a lot of positive progress. And on the plus side, I don’t need to worry about hay.


                              • Benthebunny
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                                  Gah! Cockroaches are so annoying! I hope everything works out.


                                • LBJ10
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                                    Yes, diatomaceous earth is bunny-safe. Just make sure your bunny doesn’t come into direct contact with the powder so it could be accidentally inhaled. The fine particles can cause respiratory problems.

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                                Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Can cockroaches come with hay?