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Forum DIET & CARE Hay cubes?

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    • Levy
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        Hello,

        We just got our 2 year old bun a few weeks ago and are feeding grass hay (my father has a horse and lets us just take a few flakes) but the land lord has been complaining about “hay everywhere” though we use a hay rack, and keep the hay in a bag that we rotate to keep from molding. I know hay cubes aren’t the best because of the shorter fiber strands, but if it becomes a big enough issue here would that be okay to switch to? I already feed the high fiber bunny food (kaytee pellets) and I give veggies everyday. 

        Also some tips on keeping the hay contained? I just sweep it up everyday but some people are nuts. I’ve tried putting it in cardboard tubs, the hay rack, but bunnies are going to make a mess if they want to haha.

         

        Thanks for any input! The hope is that when we move (in a few months) we’ll just switch back to normal hay again.


      • Bam
        Moderator
        16836 posts Send Private Message

          Hay cubes are not optimal as you know, but they could at least be a partial substitute for now, if your landlord is making trouble for you. You could perhaps hand feed some normal hay and have hay cubes available at all times. Many bunnies eat what they’re hand fed more readily.
          It’s not certain that a bunny will eat hay cubes though. Mine wouldn’t. So buy a small pack first in case they disapprove.


        • LittlePuffyTail
          Moderator
          18092 posts Send Private Message

            My buns wouldn’t eat hay cubes when I tried them.

            And if you can find a way to keep hay contained, please let me know. It’s a constant struggle keeping my whole upstairs clean. It just spreads all over.


          • Bam
            Moderator
            16836 posts Send Private Message

              My guess is whoever invents a method or device for keeping hay contained would become a very wealthy person. Possibly win a Nobel prize too. My whole life is full of hay.


            • HereComesTheBun
              Participant
              107 posts Send Private Message

                That’s so frustrating about your landlord! I have found that the bagged hay you can get in pet stores is slightly less messy than fresh farm hay, since the strands are a little shorter. I stress “slightly,” though.

                I also wanted to add that if you do end up using hay cubes, make sure you don’t get ones with added alfalfa. Kaytee, for example, has a Timothy hay cube that also contains a small portion of alfalfa, and I believe other companies add alfalfa, as well. While it sounds like it is a matter of personal preference, my rabbit loves them. I give him a few each week to supplement his loose hay, and he chews and nudges it all over his condo. They’re not mess free, since they produce a lot of dust when they break apart, but they are much less messy than hay.


              • Levy
                Participant
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                  Thanks for the responses^^
                  He actually doesn’t like the pet store hay now, that’s what he was getting before we got him, switched him to the horse hay since that’s what we had and it has some dandelions and clover in it so i figured he’d like it, well now he just throws the petstore hay out of his way, and if that’s all we offer he won’t touch it. Picky sucker (though when my dad switched our horse to this hay she started ignoring the other hay too).
                  He nibbles the hay cubes, I’m pretty sure I got the ones with no alfalfa since i remember thinking about it (will double check) but as of right now he’s still getting normal hay and i’m still sweeping.
                  He’s even taken up grabbing hay through the cage if he can reach the bag or any i’ve swept from the floor if there isn’t that “perfect piece” in his hay rack… bunny logic
                  i did try smearing a bit of banana (that’s his absolute FAVORITE treat) on the hay cube and he was munching it until the banana taste was gone, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see =/


                • Troubledbunnymom
                  Participant
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                    Hay cubes are considered treat so don’t overdo it. You can just put one area with the hay that way they won’t make much of a mess. My room is full of hay that when someone enters it they say it smells like grass. Lols.


                  • BunsAndDolls
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                      I found that my boy made a MUCH bigger mess when I put his hay in a hanging rack…he just pulled it all out and it got all over the place. I have much better luck with a plastic tub. I have his litterbox and a pile of hay in a flat plastic box (the under the bed kind) and he’s much neater. It gives him room to dig around in it a little bit, without getting it all over the house. I just fluff it up and freshen it every day and he loves it.


                    • Hazel
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                        I guess I just got lucky, but I gotta say, I have no problems with stray hay. I keep it in a rack above his litter box, which is in a hutch. Maybe the hutch keeps it more contained, but really, I hardly ever find hay outside of the litter box.

                        Except this one time…

                        Luckily that turned out to be a fluke.


                      • Troubledbunnymom
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                          Hazel Why is the water inside the litter box? Just curious.


                        • Hazel
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                            Just in case he makes a mess with it, sometimes he steps in his water. So if he spills anything it gets soaked up by the litter and doesn’t make a mess elsewhere. And he seems to like having it nearby while eating his hay. I used to have his food bowl in there too, but feeding him that way caused some behavioral issues so now we use a treat ball.


                          • Troubledbunnymom
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                              Thank you for the answer Hazel, I was really puzzled by the picture. Now I understand.


                            • Levy
                              Participant
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                                That picture is adorable!
                                I found out last night that if i put a handful of hay shoved in a cardboard tub and don’t put new hay in the hay rack (there’s hay in it just not “the freshest hay that mum can possibly give me out of the magic bag”) he eats all the hay from the tub and leaves almost none on the floor of his cage. This may become the solution and I may just stop using the rack and just throw the hay cubes in it or something.
                                Also just a quick side note, is it possible to give a bunny too high fiber? The food is like 32% so I was just curious


                              • Sr. Melangell
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                                  Hay cubes are great, Olly loves them, he has one for his tea before bed, so I put it in his bowl in his cage, he doesn’t like loose hay it makes him sneeze and me, but they can break up and you can vac it up without clogging your hoover.


                                • Sr. Melangell
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                                    LittlePuffyTail, if you get a goat he will gladly clean up the hay for you.

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                                Forum DIET & CARE Hay cubes?