hay is the ban of my life at the moment with three rabbits in three seperate cages! I found that I switched to an oaten hay and it does not clogg the vaccum like the grass hay did if that helps

Monkey likes her hay in her litter box. She arranges it just so when i put it int here, its funny. I find it easier to just pick up larger stray pieces rather than try to vacuum them up. Doesnt clog it that way I save the vacuum for the little bits that arent as easy to pick up.

I’ve recently tried attaching rack to side of litterbox…think I’ll get bigger box and hang rack on the inside. I have vinyl down so sweep the bunny area generally – then vacuum when I need too. Saves the vac a bit. But yeah…the hay issue is a tricky one.

I’ve pretty much given up and crawl around on my hands and knees to pick it all up. The guinea pigs are way messier than my buns tho!

Posted By Lintini on 10/26/2009 01:44 AM
I’ve pretty much given up and crawl around on my hands and knees to pick it all up.

that’s the way, Lintini! Well, there is always the aviary for the messier piggies… — what flooring does it have??

The only vacuum cleaner that can deal with hay is really the heavy-duty Shop-Vac which I want very much. I do not like carpeting, it reacts like velcro when it comes into contact with hay. For now, I have my rabbit condo in the basement where I, like Jersey, can sweep. I love the fact that now I can just toss their hay on the floor of their condo without having to worry about the mess.

No member here has ever completely solved the hay mess problem, I think. There are many clean hay solutions but I have found invariably that they lead to diminished hay consumption. Rabbits love to have their hay delivered in a messy way, I believe.

I feel your pain. I actually have one of those pet store cages attached to an xpen. All hay stays in the pet store cage and it keeps it amazingly well contained.

But that’s not a very helpful response! Haha. Maybe get a big litterbox and put it only in the litter box?

Also, I keep the bulk of my hay in a big plastic bin kept in the garage, but I have a little plastic bin kept in a closet with enough hay to last 4-7 days. I can take the little bin right over to his hay rack without leaving a trail all over the house.

ETA: I also sweep up all hay rather than vacuuming. I have a little mini-broom just for sweeping up hay and bunny fur.

I’m sure my solution to the mess isn’t ideal at all. I don’t even like it. I can’t crawl around on the floor, heck I can’t even kneel. (I hurt my knee at work.) I’ve decided that when the vacuum finally gives up I’m just getting a shop vac. I give Freya her hay in a little corner litterbox that attaches to the side of her condo so she can’t throw the container around. Instead she throws her hay around. I swear she’s messier than a 2 year old, at least toddlers can be coerced into picking up after themselves. Anyway, for me it comes down to my convenience and if that means a new vacuum I’m not going to complain.

Every day I try, as lintini does, to pick up all the hay by hand- this keeps things looking fairly clean and for the bits that stay in the carpet I use a sticky roller thing that is used to get hair off clothes.

You lint roll your hay fines? That’s clean!

The only vacuum cleaner that can deal with hay is really the heavy-duty Shop-Vac which I want very much

I wouldn’t suggest it I have the biggest heavy duty one, and just the way they are designed the hay still gets stuck in it

If someone comes up with a hay rack that cuts mess down completely AND allows bun easy access- I swear I will kiss them!! (<<Is that a threat? LOL )

Posted By Petzy on 10/26/2009 08:42 AM

Posted By Lintini on 10/26/2009 01:44 AM
I’ve pretty much given up and crawl around on my hands and knees to pick it all up.

Yep, that’s what I do too. I have clogged our sweeper once…lol! I just pick it all up by hand. I need a hay-maid or something, but I love the bunnies so I don’t mind! 

I don’t seem to have too much of a problem.. I store Arduina’s food and hay in a big plastic tub right next to her cage. I have a basket of hay inside her cage right wedged between her hide-a-way and her litter box. At the bottom of the basket I have a fairly large rock which prevents her from throwing it around (you know how buns never eat the hay at the bottom anyway). I just always keep the rock covered with hay. Arduina will chew on the basket, but hey they cost less than a dollar. I also put hay in her litter box, she can eat the hay in the basket from in the litter box as well as out of the litter box, seems to work well for her. Oh and a trick to get buns to eat their timothy hay: sprinkle or mix in a pinch of alfalfa hay, Arduina loooves that and it will get her to eat the T-hay. Her willow ball made quite a mess in the open room, so I put that in an extra large litter box to keep all the pieces together.

I also have a shop vac to clean the hardwood floors since my S.O. was in charge of buying a vacuum cleaner (the first one he picked out didn’t work, the roomba). So yes, I vacuum the entire house with a shop vac once every week to every other week (followed by mopping). I guess the really large pieces I’ll pick up and throw back in her litter box.

Yeah, like some others… my vacuum just isn’t cutting it with the hay. I did something to it… now it overheats and just stops working after 5 minutes of regular use (not on hay). I pick up the big pieces by hand and use a small battery powered vacuum (the Shark – it’s purple… may have seen it on infomercials, or the other big Shark product, the steam mop) to get the small bits. I really don’t like the Shark vacuum I have. It’s too wimpy for much actual cleaning – I doubt it cleans very deep in the carpet, and I have to plug it in to charge it every so often, which is actually more annoying than dragging a cord around behind a normal corded vacuum because I forget to charge it and then can’t vacuum when I want to (I go on crazy cleaning kicks about once a week around midnight or 1 am… my downstairs and next door neighbors must hate me!) Anyway, that being said, the Shark vacuum is GREAT on those little bits of hay (definitely not the big ones though). Does MUCH better than my big vacuum at picking those pieces up, surprisingly. So I was going to return it, but the fact that it works on the small bits of hay has absolutely sold me on an otherwise useless piece of junk Oh the things we do for our buns!

Ugh yes hay.   I have a shop vac I vac my whole house with.    When I go to get them hay I take a litterbox and sit it inside the hay container and scoop hay into it.  then I sit it on top the office chair as I cover the hay container.  By the time I go to pic up the litterbox from the chair the small pieces of hay fall over the edge onto the chair.   That is after some hay fell out as I lifted the litterbox to put it on the chair.

Then I carry it back to Ruby’s cage.   Cottons well I can’t get the litterbox thru his door so instead of lifting the cage off the pan I get his other litter box and repeat  the above steps having the same spillage problem.  When I put the hay from the one litterbox into the one in his cage it manages to fall upon the floor in front of his door.  

Rarely do I sweep the big pieces of hay up.  But it helps and I dont’ have to take the attachment off the vacuum and shove a stick into it to get the clog out as often.    Hay racks   pfffff  even bigger mess getting it in there    So basically I vacuum 2x a week.

We kind of got used to having hay in 3 spots on the floor.   

OH and Ruby  gosh she is messy.  I have a big plastic box to put her smaller  litterbox in and she still gets it all over the floor.  Thats long hair for you.

The Hay Buffet is REALLY good because there isn’t any transport, and Bean can have as much as he wants without it going stale.

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