Similar topic on wasting hay

[bunnybuns]

My bunnies seem to love pulling out their hay and eating the nice strands, but this has got me into wasting a lot of hay, especially when it comes to Bella. She starts digging at the hay rack and rolls out all of her hay down in a matter of 10 minutes and eventually poops and pees on it so it becomes wet and stinky and undigestible. Mile is somewhat understandable when it comes to picking out the nice strands of hay and only rolls out 1/4 of what Bella rolls down. I think bunnies like hay as beddings so they roll it on the cage floor but i gave a lot of bedding and it’s still happening. My post is identical to a thread made years ago but i wanted to add the peeing/pooping on the hay. Any advice? It’s also costing me more when they do this.

[JosipTheBunny]

Maybe they just like their hay on the grounds? I know one of my buns prefers to eat it from litter box instead of hay rack.
Or maybe you should try a different brand of hay? I have noticed they don’t like all brands the same. Buns can be very picky when it comes to hay. I am lucky that mine aren’t overly picky eaters. Mostly they will eat whatever they are given.

[JosipTheBunny]

Which brand of hay are you getting?

Does is smell nice and fresh of hay? Mine like if their hay is really fragrant.  Also not all hay is the same in texture. 

[bunnybuns]

Bella gets Small Pet Select alfalfa hay and Mile Oxbow organic meadow hay. It smells fresh and it’s not moldy or wet, it’s fragrant. Yeah, but i just don’t like them peeing on it and not eating it afterwards. Even when it isn’t peed on they don’t wanna eat it. I tried the Oxbow brand of alfalfa hay and she doesn’t like it.

[sarahthegemini]

Try different hays. You might find one they find truly irresistible.

[Wick & Fable]

Wick’s two main hay sources are in his litter box, without a rack. I place it on one side, then as the day goes on I push it on one side again to prevent peeing.

In the afternoons, I’ll toss any leftover hay with fresher hay in my haybox, then replace it in the litter box. This way, he’s restimulated to eat hay. At night, I mix in orchard hay to restimulate. Each morning, the litter boxes get a full clean, where the first step is taking any salvageable hay and putting it in the haybox. The haybox has helped a lot with wasting hay.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[joea64]

As today is Panda and Fernando’s first day with me at home, I’m observing their eating habits closely. At the outset, I’ve loaded both their litterbox and the hay rack hanging over it with mixed hay, and so far they’ve both been eating hearty; they’ve also been enjoying two hay-stuffed cardboard rolls that I gave them as a welcome-home present. They’re making a bit of a mess, naturally, with strands of hay and an increasing number of “bunny berries” scattered across the lower level of their bunny condo, but I haven’t observed any pickiness on their parts so far. I guess I’ll have to wait until it’s time to clean out the used litter for the first time to see what parts they’ve relished the most and what parts they’ve turned up their noses at.

@Wick: For today, I spread the hay in a thick layer across the litter substrate (Carefresh), but going forward I may switch to do as you do and put the bulk of the hay at the opposite end from where they do their business to minimize wastage. I don’t want to disturb the buns excessively during their first couple of days, as they need to acquire a sense of safety and security in their new territory, so I’ll have to experiment later on with swapping out hay.

[bunnybuns]

Panda and Fernando will easily adapt with you as a caring owner! What are their breeds, just curios?I will try using your routine/method Wick, thanks a bunch y’all

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’ve been nagging at Sterling lately (he’s totally listening….. ) about all the hay he wastes. I put it in a metal hay ball right above his litter box. So much of it ends up in the litter box and gets trampled and pee/pooped on. Buns are costing me a fortune in Oxbow. About $45 every 3 weeks or so. He also just eats soooo much hay. I I know that’s a good thing but he’s been a real hay guzzler this past week. I’ve refilled his hay about 5 times today!

I’ve tried a hay rack but the same thing ended up happening.

[joea64]

Posted By bunnybuns on 8/20/2017 4:00 PM

Panda and Fernando will easily adapt with you as a caring owner! What are their breeds, just curios?I will try using your routine/method Wick, thanks a bunch y’all

They’re a bonded (spayed and neutered, of course) mother-son pair of Polish rabbits, possibly purebred ones (at least I’m pretty sure Panda is purebred; the father of her kits, including Fernando, is unknown to me and my friends at Friends of Rabbits, but Fernando is a pretty classic-looking REW Polish). Panda is a lovely broken-black-and-white with big black spots around her eyes that gave her her name; another of her kits, Lorna, is almost pure white except for the same eye spots that made people misidentify her as a dwarf Hotot (but she has her mother’s velvety black ears, and authentic Hotots are pure white except for their “eyeliner” black eye-ringing fur).

I’m keeping a close eye on their activity these first few days to get a sense of their normal behavior patterns. They’ve been gratifyingly hearty eaters today; I know that many rabbits are stressed out by moving into a new home sometimes to the point of being temporarily thrown off their feed, but happily Panda and Fernando seem to already be settling in well. They’ve been nibbling hay all afternoon, sipping water and pooping actively; I have a current count of 20 or more “bunny berries” scattered over the upper and lower floors of their bunny condo, and I expect they’ve been making good use of their new litterbox as well. I gave them their evening (spring mix) salad about 45 minutes ago and they emptied the bowl with great dispatch, when they are now taking their ease in the late-afternoon sun on the condo’s upper deck. 

[joea64]

Posted By LittlePuffyTail on 8/20/2017 4:13 PM

I’ve been nagging at Sterling lately (he’s totally listening….. ) about all the hay he wastes. I put it in a metal hay ball right above his litter box. So much of it ends up in the litter box and gets trampled and pee/pooped on. Buns are costing me a fortune in Oxbow. About $45 every 3 weeks or so. He also just eats soooo much hay. I I know that’s a good thing but he’s been a real hay guzzler this past week. I’ve refilled his hay about 5 times today!

I’ve tried a hay rack but the same thing ended up happening.

I’m just so glad Friends of Rabbits, from whom I adopted Panda and Fernando, has a sweetheart deal with local hay farmers in Maryland. They sell full bales of mixed hay (timothy, orchard, etc.) for $24, and I was gifted a big green trash bag of mixed hay last weekend which works out to about 1/4 to 1/3 bale of hay, 3 weeks’ to a month’s supply for my two small bunnies. Expect to spend $6 – $8 per refill.

[bunnybuns]

I get Bella 5 packs of alfalfa hay from the small pet select brand and it ends up costing me 40$ a month and Mile i get him 5 to 6 packs of meadow hay from Oxbow which he loveees, and he’s no big difference to Bella’s monthly hay costs, he costs me 38 bucks. 78 a month? Just think about a year?! It’s like 900 dollars!! Bunnies are hella expensive pets and they lovee their hay, mine munch on it all day, and it’s great that they like eating hay, but when they pee on it?! Ehh, not so great. This thing, i found today at my terrace, it was a floor hay rack from Mile’s cage. It’s literally a hay rack which is on the cage’s floor. Since it’s from Mile’s cage and i wanted to put it in Bella’s cage, because the cage proportions are not the same i had to tie a rope and make a notch to two cage bars so it wouldn’t move and fall over when Bella digs at the rack. So i found the solution and it’s great. Bella doesn’t pull out hay, hardly any, a few strands maybe. I now refill her rack 1-2 times daily and not 5 times as i used to. I decided to put it in her cage cause she is a bigger hay waster than Mile, although he does pull out his hay it’s a little hay it’s alright amount, what like 30 strands, compared to Bella is like 200 lol. Oh god, i wrote an essay. Again. The 3rd time.

[Wick & Fable]

Wick’s a Netherland dwarf sorry didn’t see your question!

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[joea64]

I’m expecting to run about $50 – $60 per month on bunny comestibles; like I said, I have access to a really great deal on hay from Friends of Rabbits, but I have got to pay market prices for the spring mix. Good thing the buns only need about 1/4 cup total timothy pellets per day, so that 5-pound bag of Oxbow will last a few months.

[bunnybuns]

Hey guys again.

Bella started digging and pulling out the hay again. I guess that hay rack was temporary. Will cutting the hay In half or something help her not dig as much? I’m just wow – it’s an enormous part of hay that is being wasted. Maybe i should give her little at a time throughout the day, will that be effective?

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By bunnybuns on 8/25/2017 3:53 AM

Hey guys again.

Bella started digging and pulling out the hay again. I guess that hay rack was temporary. Will cutting the hay In half or something help her not dig as much? I’m just wow – it’s an enormous part of hay that is being wasted. Maybe i should give her little at a time throughout the day, will that be effective?

This is what I do. I top up little and often so they always have hay but don’t have huge piles to stomp and pee all over. I’m home all day tho so this is feasible, obviously if I pop out I have to put a larger amount down and just accept that more might be wasted but I’d hate for them to run out. 

[joea64]

Posted By sarahthegemini on 8/25/2017 4:16 AM

Posted By bunnybuns on 8/25/2017 3:53 AM

Hey guys again.

Bella started digging and pulling out the hay again. I guess that hay rack was temporary. Will cutting the hay In half or something help her not dig as much? I’m just wow – it’s an enormous part of hay that is being wasted. Maybe i should give her little at a time throughout the day, will that be effective?

This is what I do. I top up little and often so they always have hay but don’t have huge piles to stomp and pee all over. I’m home all day tho so this is feasible, obviously if I pop out I have to put a larger amount down and just accept that more might be wasted but I’d hate for them to run out. 

I wish that were feasible for me; what I have to do, basically, is lay down several big handfuls of fresh hay in their litterbox and the hay rack in the morning before I leave for work and hope they don’t waste too much of it, and then again in the evening when I come home. The litterbox always looks piled high with hay, which I suppose is a good thing, but it all depends on how much in the way of good bits my buns find as they forage through. The good news is that, after close to a week, I don’t seem to have made much of a dent in the pile of hay I got from Friends of Rabbits a couple of weeks ago; it should last at this rate for at least a couple more weeks before I need a refill.  And also: when I cleaned up the litterbox last evening and refilled both rack and box with fresh hay, P&F dove right in and started rooting through the new hay with great vim and vigor.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By joea64 on 8/25/2017 7:35 AM

Posted By sarahthegemini on 8/25/2017 4:16 AM

Posted By bunnybuns on 8/25/2017 3:53 AM

Hey guys again.

Bella started digging and pulling out the hay again. I guess that hay rack was temporary. Will cutting the hay In half or something help her not dig as much? I’m just wow – it’s an enormous part of hay that is being wasted. Maybe i should give her little at a time throughout the day, will that be effective?

This is what I do. I top up little and often so they always have hay but don’t have huge piles to stomp and pee all over. I’m home all day tho so this is feasible, obviously if I pop out I have to put a larger amount down and just accept that more might be wasted but I’d hate for them to run out. 

I wish that were feasible for me; what I have to do, basically, is lay down several big handfuls of fresh hay in their litterbox and the hay rack in the morning before I leave for work and hope they don’t waste too much of it, and then again in the evening when I come home. The litterbox always looks piled high with hay, which I suppose is a good thing, but it all depends on how much in the way of good bits my buns find as they forage through. The good news is that, after close to a week, I don’t seem to have made much of a dent in the pile of hay I got from Friends of Rabbits a couple of weeks ago; it should last at this rate for at least a couple more weeks before I need a refill.  And also: when I cleaned up the litterbox last evening and refilled both rack and box with fresh hay, P&F dove right in and started rooting through the new hay with great vim and vigor.

That’s another reason why I top up little and often – it peaks their interest and gets them eating. They’d still munch through a big pile but they definitely get excited when I top them up. They love trying to get into the hay bag 

[joea64]

Revisiting this topic because when I went to give Panda and Fernando their morning hay refresh this AM, I noticed that the level in my hay bin has gone down pretty significantly in 10 days. I think I’ve used at least 1/3 of what I was given several weeks ago, possibly closer to 1/2. I think I still have enough hay to get through to next weekend (the 9th), but I’ve already contacted Friends of Rabbits to see about getting a refill possibly this weekend so I don’t get caught unexpectedly short.

[Wick & Fable]

It sounds like you have a repeated re-fill service for hay? Unsure of what FoR is. If that’s the case, I recommend buying a small bag of hay as back-up each round. It really occurs with all hay, whether it’s delivered or bought, that some batches are better than others, so some will be used up more than others. It’d be good to have a small back-up bag just in case you run lower than expected.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[joea64]

Posted By Wick on 8/30/2017 7:54 AM

It sounds like you have a repeated re-fill service for hay? Unsure of what FoR is. If that’s the case, I recommend buying a small bag of hay as back-up each round. It really occurs with all hay, whether it’s delivered or bought, that some batches are better than others, so some will be used up more than others. It’d be good to have a small back-up bag just in case you run lower than expected.

FoR is my shorthand for Friends of Rabbits (spelled out in my last post), the Washington, DC-area rabbit rescue from whom I got Panda and Fernando. They offer both local bales (and portions of bales) of mixed hay (not sure what all is in it but I’m pretty sure orchard as well as timothy, at least), at $24 for a whole bale – my quote for 1/4 to 1/3 bale, which will likely be my usual refill, is $6 to $8 depending – as well as name-brand hays such as Oxbow, as well as many other kinds of bunny supplies. The best price I have on store-bought hay locally is at Pet Supplies Plus, which sells 8-pound bags of timothy (close to a month’s supply) for $18.

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