House Rabbit Community and Store
What are we about? Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules.
The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
› FORUM › DIET & CARE › Picky hay eaters
Hey everyone!
So I was curious, has anyone ever ordered hay from small pet select and actually had your bun hate it? My two apparently do. Lol They tried it, but I actually had gotten them a bale from a hay hauler in my area and they adore it. Now they won’t touch the small pet select hay.
Anywho not the purpose of my post. My buns do eat their hay, but I’m trying to find ways to encourage them to eat more. Are there any specific methods you guys have found works? They definitely eat most of it out of their litter boxes each day, and sometimes what is poking out of the hay box that I built them overnight. I don’t always catch them munching during the day so I’d just like to encourage more foraging. I have some mountain meadow herbs that I sprinkled over their hay yesterday and that helped.
They aren’t huge pellet eaters either. Most of the time they won’t finish all of their pellets thus far I have noticed. Thanks in advance. ![]()
Sierra Valley Hay is excellent. I currently buy from my local rescue, but I used to get from them.
Ruling out a dental issue or some other medical problem (are they pooping and eating veggies, etc. normally?) is the first step. But since you have two, I’m guessing it’s something else.
Mine don’t eat quite as much hay during the day. They mostly eat hay at night. They also seem to eat more when I top it up with small amounts frequently, so it’s always fresh. They also seem to like it more out of their box than their hay rack, so I use both.
Since they aren’t finishing their pellets, you might be overfeeding pellets, which would also explain not eating very much hay. How much pellets do they get, and how big are your bunnies?
. . . 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.
If you have found your bunnies prefer hay from the local source, for sure continue with that.
What type of hay is it? You might try using different types of hay or mixing a few to encourage munching and see what they like best. For adult bunnies you can try timothy, meadow, orchard, or oat.
If they prefer eating from their boxes, you might try filling the boxes with small amounts frequently, as DanaNM said. Something about sitting in their own poop makes bunnies hungry.
You can also try putting hay in different types of toys, cardboard boxes, etc, to encourage munching.
Thanks for the replies! I’ll try the small amounts and get them some extra hay on the side (orchard and oat). They eat second cutting Timothy hay from a local source. It smells super sweet! They get under 1/4 cup pellets each per day. They weigh 5.5ish lbs a piece. They eat Oxbow essentials. They eat all their veggies typically. They’ll leave the occasional leaf or two and it’s always romaine. Since they have been introduced to cilantro and other greens they crack me up. They’ll tear their salad apart and eat the herbs first, then red lettuce, dandelion greens, and green leaf and lastly romaine.
Thank you for all the suggestions. I’ll grab them some extra hay types and see. I think at the rescue they were eating a 3 hay blend. I can’t get hay from there unless I order because we adopted them from a rescue that’s 4-5 hours away.
Hi Bumpkin, I am going through having this very same issue with my BunBun. I have been wanting to switch her over to Small Pet Select from different hay company that she loves but due to high cost, crushed product, slow shipping speeds and extremely inconsistent quality, especially for the price. I tried SPS in December and my gal would hardly look at it. So I immediately went back to the other company. I have recently been seeing an extreme steady decline in quality of my orders, though from the only hay BunBun will eat, so I just tried an order again with SPS. This time I didn’t have any of the other hay left (at least none worth giving her) so she was extremely hungry and ate it sporadically but definitely not enough for me to not be concerned about her intake. I always order Second Cut Timothy because that seems to be the one she most desires. I just really wish she would eat the SPS bcz the other company is becoming an extreme monetary risk and I cannot afford to lose $30 a month for hay that is only worth sticking in her litter box as filler. Then to also just have to try and order more and pray I get a good batch. My Bun has me over a barrel.
@Muj Mom N Bun Hi there! I’m sorry to hear about your dilemma! That bites. One thing I did in order to find quality hay not far from me is I was able to find a facebook page where people list what kind of hay they are looking for, and what kind of hay they are selling. We live in California and Timothy hay isn’t common at all in my area. I was lucky enough to find a hay hauler who actually agreed to sell me 1 bale at a time to pick up from him. I had to travel to him, but it was worth it. It was $20 for a bale. I don’t know how fast the boys will go through it, but they definitely prefer it to all the other hay options I have laid out in front of them. It smells sweet, it’s softer, doesn’t have pokey ends, and isn’t very dusty.
I don’t know if you can find someone who sells hay, or hauls it in your area, but you might want to check facebook, or your local feed supply if you can. $20 a bale is expensive, but when you compare the amount of hay in a bale which is about 100 lbs to $80 from SPS for 60 lbs and other companies it’s worth it if the quality stays the same and you have a way to store it. Even if my boys don’t go through all of the hay before the quality and value declines, as silly as it is, I just would prefer to go through the hassle of getting them a bale they like, and that makes more sense financially. The size also lets me use more in their litter tray and I’m not as worried about waste.
I did just order the boys a small quantity of oat hay and orchard hay to mix into their timothy hay to encourage them to eat. They aren’t terrible hay eaters, but they just aren’t eating the quantity I would like them to. I’ve had buns who munched more hay in the past, so I’m like come on boys you will munch and keep those poops moving! Lol
Getting a bale is def the most economical and usually the freshest!
But, if that’t not an option for you, and you do want to try ordering, I do highly recommend Sierra Valley Hay (esp if you’re on the west coast). My buns always loved every batch and would eat tons. They have different cuts of timothy and other varieties (orchard, oat, etc).
Oxbow also has 50lb boxes from Dr. Fosters and Smith. I went through them before Sierra. Sierra was better quality, but if you’re on the East coast, shipping is more from Sierra.
. . . 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.
Posted By DanaNM on 6/22/2018 4:13 PM
Getting a bale is def the most economical and usually the freshest!But, if that’t not an option for you, and you do want to try ordering, I do highly recommend Sierra Valley Hay (esp if you’re on the west coast). My buns always loved every batch and would eat tons. They have different cuts of timothy and other varieties (orchard, oat, etc).
Oxbow also has 50lb boxes from Dr. Fosters and Smith. I went through them before Sierra. Sierra was better quality, but if you’re on the East coast, shipping is more from Sierra.
Ooooh! So glad to know their hay is amazing quality! They were going to be who I went with if I couldn’t find someone with a bale! Definitely will keep that in mind. Thanks! ![]()
Thank you all for the advice! I added Oat and Orchard to their Timothy hay, and now they are eating even more hay!
Just to second what everyone else said–my Bun had the same issue, but with Oxbow hay and what has helped me the most is putting out small amounts of hay more frequently. It seems like my rabbit feels it is “fresher” that way and also the more frequent feedings sort of re-interests him in the hay again as opposed to one big amount sitting there all day. Good luck!
If anyone is based in the uk, I would 100% recommend the Timothy hay in Timothyhay.co.uk/
I have 2 very picky eaters, who would not touch anything apart from their readigrass- however since the grass did not do as much for their teeth, we wanted to switch hays. We gave this Timothy hay and they absolutely loved it, choosing it over their readigrass (which they happily and enthusiastically ate for years). This was quite a suprise cause they wouldnt eat other brands of timothy hay like Oxbow. This hay is also cheaper and they have so many 5 star reviews, so definitely worth a try.
› FORUM › DIET & CARE › Picky hay eaters
