Hey GraceandFlopsie!

When you say your bun isn’t eating much hay, is he eating his pellets/veggies?  Assuming he is still eating other stuff, how much pellets/veggies are you giving him?  Sometimes, if you make pellets available all the time or give a high quantity, bunnies will eat less of the hay to make room for the bad stuff 🙂

But in regards to your question, there are a few things that maybe might help.  For example, I found changing the hay often (a few times a day), or even just adding a little bit of new hay every few hours, can encourage buns to inspect the hay and eat some more.  I also found that stuffing the hay in toilet rolls or in egg cartons can be kind of fun for them as well!  Lastly, are you only providing one brand/type of hay (I assume timothy if it’s an adult)?  Sometimes, adding in a little bit of orchard hay can entice them to munch, or even just having different brands of timothy hay can do the same.  I’ve found that some of my foster buns have been really picky hay eaters, and they will pick out only the “soft” hay or only the short pieces of hay rather than the big ones.  If your bun is searching through the hay a lot but only eating small amounts of hay, they may have a specific kind they like and then you can look to buy that hay or even cut the hay to make smaller pieces if the bun likes that more.  It can be a little bit of trial and error, but hopefully this might give you an idea or two 🙂

At a year old you can reduce his pellets. He is likely filling up on those so he isn’t interested in his hay (and if he grew up eating only pellets he might not really know any other way). I would start by checking the recommendation for his weight on the pellet package, and then maybe double that for the day. Then start slowly reducing it and make sure his hay consumption picks up before you get him on the correct ration.

In adult bunnies the pellets serve more as a multivitamin, as they are done growing and should get most of their nutrition from their hay.

If his hay consumption doesn’t pick up, be sure not to starve him and get his teeth checked by a vet. If he has never had hay really then he might have some molar spurs that are painful and further prevent hay eating.