A grasshopper for breakfast?

[LittlePuffyTail]

 

I was sorting through my bunnies’ breakfast hay this morning ( I always sort through it cuz I’m a super paranoid bunny Mom) and good thing I did: I found a big, dried grasshopper squished between a few pieces of hay.

Obviously when dealing with hay this is probably hard for the manufacturer’s to avoid but my question is this: If I wouldn’t have found it, do you think the bun’s would have eaten it?

Okay, I know a bunny would never eat a live grasshopper but it was all dried and crunchy and I know when my bunnies run if there is ever a crumb or something on the carpet, no matter what it is, they gobble it up without even thinking about it.

What do you think? Would this make them sick?

 

 

[osprey]

I doubt your buns would have eaten a bug, but even if they did, I doubt it would harm them.  I would think a bunny in the wild must consume thousands of insects as they forage for food (think about how many aphids alone a rabbit must eat).  I once found a live locust in a bale of hay (ewwww) and I have heard of people finding squished mice in hay bales too (double ewww).

 

[JK]

You know it’s funny you bring this up because just yesterday I read about hay and how it can harbor MITES!  That freaked me out!  Is this really true?  I’ve never seen anything in the hay but I do wonder sometimes if a big tarantula will pop out!  Not really but I do wonder what kind of critters could be in there…ick.

[Sarita]

Yeah, I’ve found dead insects in my hay before and I doubt the buns would eat it either but it couldn’t’ harm them anyway – like Osprey said they probably eat bugs foraging in nature anyway. I’ve never heard of mites but I imagine it could be true – it is after all grass and grown outside :~)

[Beka27]

nice.  now i’m afraid of hay. 

[JK]

Me too!  Gross!  Just what I need to bring mites into the house?  And onto the rabbit?  Why on earth did I need to read THAT!!!!

[babybunsmum]

ick ick ick.  i just scored a hay connection too.  a farmer about a 40 min drive away from me will sell me a 50lb bale of timothy for $4.  great price & worth the drive i figure… even if it turns out to be poor quality its not a big loss.  but gees louise i do NOT want to find dead things in it.  hadn’t thought about that angle.  hmmm…

[Gravehearted]

he he, you guys crack me up
better a grasshopper than a roach!

[JK]

Ok sorry to keep on this subject BUT if there are mites in the hay could I actually see them with the naked eye or a magnifying glass?  I’m gonna have to do a little inspectin! Not so sure I want to keep this hay in my office anymore…bleh.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

OH man!!! I keep my hay in a container on a high shelf, so I usually just reach up and tilt it down and grab some hay…blindly

*shivers*

[wabbitlove]

Wait til you hear this one –

We had rabbits when I was younger, too, and I reached into a big bale of hay to spread some out for the buns, and…

I pulled out a huge, dried up snake!

At first I just thought it was a stick or something, but no.. it was definitely a snake. Sick. That was maybe 15 years ago though, so maybe things have changed since then??

[MarkBun]

I suppose buying store hay helps alleviate this a bit but still don’t worry about your bun eating an insect. They do it in the wild all the time. In fact, saw a documentary on a certain parasite that needs the bun to eat the ant it lives in in order to continue the reproductive cycle (no harm to the bun though, as an fyi).

As for mites – I think you might get away with seeing them with the naked eye but it is hard. You should know though that there are many types of mites that exist around our home on a daily basis that are no threat. There could be some danger of disease from outside mites but I’d imagine it is extremely rare that it would cause your bun to get sick.

[JK]

Thank you for sharing about the SNAKE!!!!!! EEEh gads!  I’m buying the compressed mini bales from Binky so I don’t think anything could be in there being it’s so tight!  At least I’m going to tell myself this! 

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Oh good point Markus…Like we have eyebrow mites! ewww…and they say after two years, your pillow’s weight is fifty percent mites and mite poo…..I’m not thinking about this anymore yuck!

[MarkBun]

Actually, it is only 10% pillow weight of mite and mite poo but still… ick.

[JK]

Oh yeah the ole mites in our mattress stuff too.  Seen too many 60 Minute shows on that one!  OK no more mite talk or I will go insane! I know…I started it.

[babybunsmum]

lol… you can file that under ‘what you don’t know won’t hurt you!’ i am anyways… along with the fact that dry roasted bugs end up in ground coffee.  bah!  my parents got some fancy gourmet beans in a gift basket & in the bag was a dry roasted, baby finger long roach.  *shivers*  when my dad showed it to me i ran away screaming.  he got a big kick out of this of course.  men.  ::eyes roll:: 

i think that it’s pretty normal to unknowingly eat bugs (both rabbits & humans).  i went to a lecture about a raw vegan diet – no i’m not raw vegan… maybe someday i’ll give up potatoe chips – and it was mentioned that when meat is eliminated from your diet, bugs are a natural source for vitamin B12.  i thought this was pretty dang gross until she mentioned that, in her opinion, eating vast amounts of fresh organic greens provides a healthy amount which aren’t even visible to the naked eye.  no harm no foul.

food for thought?  haha

[JK]

And…one time I bought some fresh salmon from Whole Foods (a very upscale market here) and as I was eating it there was this huge worm between the skin and the meat! That about did me in.  Didn’t eat salmon for a very long time!

[Deleted User]

Come home from a hard days work…..sit down to catch up with everyone in Binkydom and have some dinner. Now I am itchy and nauseous.

I love you guys!

[skunklionshow]

Eeeeyyyyyhhhh!  Binky can you confirm that there won’t be any dead things in the mini bales?  That might be a great additional selling point…"We don’t have dead things in our hay!"

I doubt my buns would eat any bugs they could see…they’re waaay too picky!  However, the cats insist on eating every bug they see.  I once went through a period when mice would get into the house, on the second floor w/ 5 cats.  Anyway, I was very mouse squeeemish, but I couldn’t handle the cats eating a mouse, even in their house.  I’d usually intervene and trap & release or scare the crap out of the cat & mouse.  Crazy…on a side note, when I dealt w/ cat worms, I couldn’t scoop the litterbox for a long time, litterbox phobia, now I’m going to have hay phobia.

[JK]

Join the hay phobia club!! We have had quite a day today on these boards.  Can you tell not much work has been accomplished?

[Scarlet_Rose]

Ugh I am so glad I ate first. Not. I’ve found dried up worms in hay before and a June Beetle. When the farmer goes out and bales the hay with the machine it sucks up everything on the ground and so it ends up in the hay, including but not limited to cow dung or other….less appealing things mentioned earlier.  If you spend a bit more on a bale of good hay, it won’t have that stuff in it.  Often hay is a "dry" crop, meaning they don’t irrigate the field with it and it doesn’t grow real dense and so more "things" end up in the hay.  With a better quality hay, it had more access to water to grow and was denser and thicker and less "things" end up in the bales.  Of course the cutting can make a difference too, but not always as with if they make it a "row" crop, seed germination etc.

As for the mites, I throw my pillows in the dryer on high heat with a dryer sheet for 15-20 minutes to kill germs, aerate the pillow, eliminate mites and freshen it up with the scent of the dryer sheet (I like the Bounce chamomile & lemon verbena scent). I do not put them in the washer, I don’t like lumpy pillows.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Ewww…look what I started.

While we are talking about gross and mice, I was at my horse’s barn yesterday and the barn cat was eating a huge rat!!! I’ve seen cats eat mice but this was huge!! I am all shivers just thinking about it. I was grooming my horse and he just plopped down beside my tack box and started noshing on this giant rat. It usually takes a lot to gross me out but I had to go to the other end of the barn to not lose my lunch. shudderr

[Scarlet_Rose]

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! O.K. Now THAT is GROSS!!

[JK]

Cow dung in the hay????????? Binky Bunny rescue us!!! Is this all true??????  Not in your hay I hope!

[Scarlet_Rose]

I’m not Binky Bunny, but yes, it is true! However, Binky Bunny hay does not have this stuff in it, it’s awesome. I do not not know the supplier/farmer but they have some nice hay and Binky Bunny is very strict about quality control and it goes back if it is not up to snuff.

Oh I must add I have only had it occur in large 50 lb bales of hay purchased from feed stores and farmers, not the smaller stuff sold in pet stores.

[JK]

Good good good – just what I want to hear! Thank you, Scarlet Rose!

[Deleted User]

Oh thanks Ladies … I’m eating my lunch!  EErrrrrrrrrr now its in the bin lol.

I have found a living grasshopper and daddy long legs in my hay … I don’t mind those things … I just flicked them out.

Anything else I would freak out, especially red backs!

But then again my bale of hay is outside and I fill my plastic tug up every few days.  However, I put my gloves on in case of coming across any nasties.

Dawn xx

[Scarlet_Rose]

You’re welcome! : )

Dawn – I know I felt my dinner flip flopping in my stomach. Blah. O.K. sorry to ask a dumb question, what is a red back? I just know I’m going to be sorry for asking…

[Deleted User]

Oh Rosebud  … its a spider … very deadly here and can be life threatening to small animals and children/elderly with their bite and can cause nausea, sweating etc and other symptoms in adults if bitten.  Extremely poisonous.  Urgent medical attention should be sought if bitten.

They are easily identifiable as they have a bright red spot on their backs … the females are the bigger ones.  They generally kill the male red back after they have mated with them … Nice HEY!

Now I have probably frightened you to death … however, they only reside in Australia.

Dawn xx

[Scarlet_Rose]

Eeeeek I hate spiders!!! No it’s O.K. Dawn, thanks for the concern, I was just curious and am learning more about Australia. We do have a few venomous spiders here too like the black widow and brown recluse. Ooo those mating habits must be heck on the population huh? LOL the praying mantis has the same habit as well as the black widow (hence the name).

[MooBunnay]

Hahaha – oh my goodness – I think every gross thing possible has been covered in this one I would just like to say – to help with the fears of hay bales – that I have been buying baled hay for the past two years and the most interesting thing that I have found in it is a rock (and a stick here and there). And I’ve been buying it from a feed store!

[babybunsmum]

phew ::wipes forehead::  i’m still debating to go pickup that 50lb bale for $4.  think i’ll go get it & do my own quality control inspection (with big rubber gloves & long tongs on the front porch) before i store it in my house.  won’t the neighbors love watching that!  oh well.  i’m already the crazy pet lady who talks to her dog & brings a harnessed rabbit onto the porch in the summer.

[JK]

Oh do let us know what you "find"! And get the magnifying glass out too for those mites…

[skunklionshow]

I can’t imagine my cat eating a rat!  The thing that really freaked me out about the mice is….the tail hanging out of her mouth wiggling around.  It took me a while to get over that picture in my head.  It took me a while to look at my cat w/o freaking.   I believe OZ has the most number of poison creatures in the world.  I believe I read that in National Geographic as a kid.  PS I was actually bit by a brown recluse…on my head.  It took my immune system years to recover (LOOOONG STORY)!

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m sooooo glad we don’t have poisonous spiders or bugs in the Maritimes, just really gross ones…

[Lisa_43]

My cats are always bringing in the house geckos and it drives me nut, the poor thing they keep playing with them and if I see them I get the poor things and let them go out the front door.

I lived in the bush for 3 years and I have seen some pretty gross things there.

[JK]

Yeah Australia has some mighty scary critters!  We went about 4 yrs ago and the kids were terrified of the golden orbs and Sidney funnel spiders!  Better not see those in your hay!

[BinkyBunny]

Ewww! Okay, now I’m itchy all over. Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond – been out of town.

Knowltons – There are certain beetles and mites that can live in hay, but rest assured that the hay we sell takes the most extreme measures in prevention of pest infestation – check out the details the bale descriptions in the store. Hays are brought directly from the field to our supplier’s sealed air conditioned facilities to insure  its freshness and to ainsure it isn’t exposed pests. It isn’t stored in barns which can make it more susceptible to all types of pest infestations. Then I get it and it is placed in a sealed cool storage room – I only buy enough for a month’s worth of sales before I have to restock – this is to insure its freshness too, so that none of the hay that I sell has been sitting around for too long.

Personally, I have yet to see any pests in hay – hope I never will.  ICK!!

EDITED: Corrected crazy late night grammar mishaps!

[JK]

Good! I think your hay is awesome and looks very clean and well packaged. One of the reasons I have switched to yours is because of the way it is processed and handled! Thanks!

[Author]

Messages