Cool! Thanks for sharing that find!

Luckily, I live in Wisconsin, America’s dairy land, so we have tons of cows, and tons of hay. However, my bunny doesn’t really like the pasture grass hay I got for him. Well, or the special oat hay I bought for him off a special bunny website…hmmm, I’m going to try the 6-in-1 from here and see how that goes. However, at this point I am gathering quite the hay collection!  Ha ha.

What an interesting find! I think that would be especially helpful for people in California. Fortunately, now that I am in North Dallas, I just have to go a bit further North before hitting farmland

You know what, it’s weird, I have to be fussy about the kind of hay I buy because I’m seriously allergic to timothy hay, but not the other kind? Any one else have this trouble??

YES! I’m allergic to the timothy hay also. I sneeze and my hands break out in welts. I have to use gloves when handling it. I don’t have any problems with other types of hay, but my buns seem to love timothy the best. My allergies seem to be worse with the flakes and bales, and not so bad with the store brought timothy. I can handle Oxbow brand without too much trouble.

Timothy makes me sneeze (and my throat itch) and I get welts too if I handle it and any of it even grazes my skin. A bad thing?? No, because now my fiance has permanent hay duty

I am terribly allergic to Timothy Hay as well – and it started up during a 3-week stint at riding camp when I was a kid.

Some things I do to minimize contact:

1)  Use a hay feeder – mine is a cardboard box zip-tied onto the outside of the NIC condo.  I load about a week’s worth of hay through the top, then close it.  She pulls the hay out through the NIC grid.  I set it above her littlerbox so the extra mostly falls in there.  I also immediatly wash my hands and arms after this.

2)  The hay itself is in a rubbermaid tub with the top a little loose.  I have a HEPA filter in that room.  If I buy more than fits in the tub, it stays up atop the cabinets in it’s original box and I only take it down to refill the tub, which is less than once a month.

3)  I have a Roomba which I use a couple of times a week in that room.  I then dump the dirt cup and shak the filter into the toilet so there are not stray dust flating up from the trash can.  I also run the HEPA filter when the Roomba is going.

4)  I wash the dirt cup and filters regularly.  The dirt cup washes by hand and the filter can go in the top rack of the dishwasher.

I knew this was going to be an issue when I decided I wanted a Rabbit, so I thought long and hard about how to make it happen.

What a good idea to dump the Roomba dust in the toilet…I just bought a Roomba a couple days ago and I looooooove having one. Because of all the buns in the house we vacuum once a day, er, well, now ROOMBA vacuums once a day which makes our lives much easier!

Say, does the Roomba pick up hay?

It has some issues with the larger woody stems but they sweep up well enough – this is mostly for the hay-dust and fluff.

You do have to empty the dirt-cup often because it can get clogged with bunny-fur and lose suction.  But I’ve had Pepper for just over a year and aside from the occasional hives from refilling the hay and not washing well/fast enough, I’ve had no problems.

Cool! I’ve wondered about that.

what’s a roomba! Seriously, don’t get me started on any new gadgets for the rabbits – what with that and the cage cubes I’ll be bankrupt!!

It’s a robot that cleans your floors unattended.  Oh yes they can be pricey. 

Here is the Roomba web site:

iRobot Corporation

I have to say that the Dirt Dog looks like it will pick up the larger pieces of hay and such since it is made for the garage and outdoor patios.

You don’t need the fancy-schamcy ones that schedule and stuff – I got my plain old Roomba Red for $65 on E-bay.  It’s been a godsend for me and my allergies.

oo i always figured the hay would kill the poor roomba, glad to hear it’s working!!

so the roomba will wake me up, clean my house, and scedual my appointments, nice!

Hee – I got the kind that doesn’t schedule – mostly because I have to remember to pick things up before I start it, or it will burn itself out trying to suck up shoes starting with the laces!

I don’t know about the Dirt Dog, but the "regular" Roombas may or may not pick up large clumps of hay.  They are quite good at picking up fine dirt, droppings, hair, and so forth.  So it is a nice thing to have with pets.

Something to watch for on Roombas is that they aren’t really built to last.  We ran ours about once a day on the living room where the bunnies are, until the battery died.  We haven’t gotten around to replacing the dead battery.  But we’ve had to have the entire unit replaced because it just gave out.  Fortunately they shipped us a new one without charge, but when it’s out of warranty that can get expensive.  Also, it’s impossible to keep the moving parts and the electronics free of the dust it picks up, and it’s not easy to clean those areas, which means that sooner or later the Roomba will fail.