I just give them a box/home to hide in in their condo and go about sucking things up. They are scared for a little but but I often have one or the other soon come out and try to give the vacuum rabbitude.

How about tape rollers, Sarah? Or even just a roll of duct tape? Wrap a few strips around your hand and voila! Instant hay collector, nice and quiet!

I just use those lint roller things to pick up the hay off the floor. I can’t use a vacuum without evacuating not only bunnies, but cat as well. He has to be peeled off the ceiling if you start up the vacuum in here.

I know the rollers are expensive, but they really help and I also use those Swiffer cloths as well in between vacuumings. Anything with static cling…hell, GYM SOCKS! lolz…. ^_^

Honestly I just kick them out of the area I’m cleaning and use a gate to keep them out of the way (they’ll come running back and try to fight the vaccum if able) It’s a pain but neccesary…

have you looked at bissel vacuums? you could use them on the carpet and then sweep up in the cage…at least for in between vacuums. Or the shark, its a vacuum but fairly small like the bissel and its not as loud as regular vacuums.

My dyson is awesome about picking up hay.  It sometimes gets suck but the dysons come apart so easily in so many places that it’s really easy for us to remove any stuck hay.  It’s fairly quiet..not the quietest thing in the world, but it’s quieter then some. 

I also use a little hand broom for daily pick ups.  But I use stick on tile for the base of her pen.  Maybe get a roll of some linoleum and put that underneath to catch the hay?  Then the vacuum might just be needed like once a week for the major pick ups.  That’s what I do here.

Our bunny flooring is linoleum so we just sweep it clean, but the rest of the room they’re in is carpet and needs to be vacuumed frequently (ie every day). We’ve got a Roomba that we run almost every day and it doesn’t seem to bother them. We can run it when they’re out and in the room and they just ignore it and will sometimes just sit there and let it bump into them. I’m not sure what they think it is but they don’t seem to be scared of it at all.
– Annette

I have a little broom and dust pan that I sometimes use to sweep up all of the poops and dump them in the box. Not noisy at all, though the bunny boys are not afraid of much of anything and they like to “help”. It takes three times as long that way but they’re just too darn cute to shoo away.

i have a shark handvac that i like (when i remember to put the filer basket back in!) it has a long sucky tube, great for corners and individual poo sucking, and a vaccuum attachment with the little rolling bar. both work well. i like the vaccuum attachment because i drag it over the rug and it really pulls up the fur that settles on the carpet. i do pick up any large amount of hay first, but it can handle occasioansl strands.

Since her cage is in your bedroom and is your living area (as opposed to parents who might not like the look of this idea)- why don’t you put some plastic down on the floor- and then you can sweep up the hay and hair- thus eliminating the need to vacuum so much.

The picture I attached is the only pic I can find that shows the plastic under Cotton’s cage.  It is sold on a huge roll- probably about 4 feet wide at Joann Fabrics.  They sometimes have different colors- pink tinted, purple tinted and they have all different thickness of clear.  It is strong, flexible, easy to cut, inexpensive and hay and fur vaccum right off.  Until I figured out to put a large area of this down around her cage I was really strugging to get the hay out of the carpet- I tried a shop vac and our Dyson vacuum- but it was time consuming and almost impossible.

Now even though the whole room is not covered- about a foot or so around the perimeter of her NIC pen is- 95% of the hay mess is on the plastic.  Clean up is so much easier- night and day difference.  I went about a month after I got Cotton until I got the plastic underneath and it took me over and hour to vacuum that one room the hay mess was so stuck in the carpet- and I had to keep unclogging the vacuum- no matter which one I used (shop vac or dyson).  I also use the plastic under our cats litterboxes to protect the floor.

So now for clean up- I sweep- get almost all the mess- and then vacuum to get the rest of the stray hairs and hay.  Less stress for bunny- less vacuuming- although Cotton seems unaffected by vacuum.  And no more unclogging the hay from the vacuum- which while Dyson vacuums are really nice- I don’t want to ruin a $400 vacuum from bunny maintenance.

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OMG, Katnip, that is the most ADORABLE picture I have seen yet! ^_^ Doesn’t the box just say it all?
Hadn’t thought of using something like visqueen underneath where the bunnies are. Now THAT is a great idea! ^_^

Hmmm…perhaps a large diggy box filled with hay instead of all over the bed? Goodness I could never do that, I’d be up all night sneezing! ^_^

Or perhaps you could lay the plastic on the bed first? But then bunny would be wondering why the ground beneath her feet is crinkling? 0_o

What kind of hay do you use currently, Sarah? Is it really dusty or mostly firm?

Yeah, that’s the rub, the hay is their most precious foodstuff, yet it has to be the messiest! >.<

I REALLY have to try that Oxbow. But I have to phone the company because I have a P.O. Box and they won’t take an order like that on the website.

My bunnies must be immune to the vacuum. Overtime they have just gotten used to it. Every once in awhile when it gets stuck on something and revs up, they bolt to their hidey boxes, but for the most part they just sit and veg and watch the vacuum clean up their space. I actually have to scoot them out of the way.

I use an upright shopvac that is attached to the side of a cabinet with an extra long hose to reach every corner of the bunny room. If it’s still rather dusty, I usually run the floor shark over it.

Ooo…BB You have one of those “modern homes” that has the vacuum firmly ensconced into the walls and all you have to do is move the hose? (My mum-in-law had a house like that.)
Someday they must come up with a silent vacuum. My poor pets simply can’t stand the noise. And hair dryers too. Pippi was thumping up a storm because I was using the hair dryer today. >.<

Oh, no. Not modern at all. Our home was built in the 1920’s and the shopvac was attached to the side of a cabinet by my husband. Just one shopvac screwed into the side of one cabinet in the bunnyroom. I WISH I had that vacuum in the wall thing. Sorry my post was so misleading. Just a plain ‘ol noisy shopvac I’m afraid.

Hmm… I use a cordless Shark sweeper for big hay clean-ups in between vacuuming – it gets the big pieces, but not really the dust. But unlike most vacs, it’s cordless, much quieter, and doesn’t get clogged or use bags. I think it’s perfect for just cleaning up large hay messes.

I have the shark too! I ordered it off of the infomerical. My mom and I both got one, 69.99. I don’t know if the commercial is still around but… that thing has done great, its very quiet compared to ecomonmy sized vacs, which cost an arm and a leg. They work great on carpet and hard floor, there are 3 different settings.

http://www.sharkvac.com/productDisplay.aspx?CatID=IfXusjgp2gc%3d&LompID=18055&SiteID=58347

Cotton does not seem to mind the vacuum at all either.  I think that if you are calm and not anxious when vacuuming when you first get your bunny- that probably helps the bunny not to be scared.  My husband usually vacuums and I am positively sure that he would not transmit anxiety of scaring the bun with the vacuum- as it probably would not even cross his mind.  He loves all of our pets- but he does not empathasize with them like I do.  Cotton also has a dominant personality which probably helps with her not fearing the vacuum.  She actually prefers me to vacuum as opposed to using my hands to “clean” her cage.  She has grunted/growled at me using my hands- but never at the vacuum.

If I were to express concern that the bunny might be scared by the vacuum- his reply would be “She will deal with it.”   And I think pets are very good at sensing our emotions and if we think they should be scared and that makes us nervous- then they will be nervous.

I am not trying to say that anyone is causing their bunnies fear of the vacuum- I am just recommending to try to make sure  you do not transmit your anxiety to the bunny.

OH, I forgot to mention. I think part of the reason my bunnies don’t mind the vacuum so much is that I used to feed them a pellet snack with some treats while I was vacuuming to distract them. That, over time, I think became the trick because they realized that the vacuum wasn’t bothering them, AND they got something tasty.

OK wait, this Shark Vaccum can take on hay?!?!?!?!?

*blinks*…

My Shark vacuum can take on an entire hay bale!!! I’m absolutely in love with it… I think it might be my most prized possession…