Hay Rack Ideas?

[Paige]

I’ve had my bunny, Peter, for a few weeks now and he will only eat lots of hay if it’s in a hay pile. I’ve tried cardboard boxes and tubes. Also I have been putting them in different places but he won’t eat it. Hay piles are so messy and I just wanted some input on what you guys use. Thanks

[mimimomo]

Personally, I like using empty tissue boxes for hay (Puffs brand boxes have an opening on the edge instead of the Kleenex ones with the clear plastic in the middle, if you know what I mean). My bunnies don’t like to eat out of hay racks either – lazy bunnies! – but the tissue box seems to make the hay more accessible but not too messy, since the box keeps the hay contained.

Good luck! I hope you find something that works!!

[Blue Moon]

I have a thin wooden box with holes cut in the front and screws in the back that are bent backwards to hold it on to the wire of my cage

[Paige]

Thanks for the replies!
I will try the tissue box idea for sure. Anything to keep the hay contained.
A wooden box sounds nice but I have little to none woodshop skills ?
Yes my bunny is quite lazy, he doesn’t like any toys that I give him either?, but that’s a different topic

[Azerane]

I’ve always envisioned a tissue box getting stuck around the head

[sarahthegemini]

Tbh if your bunnies are happy to eat from a pile, I would just continue with that and erm ignore the fact that it’s a bit ‘messy’ My bunnies didn’t like hay racks, the change in their hay consumption was so drastic after putting hay in litter boxes rather than in a rack. You’re better off sticking with what works. 

[mimimomo]

Azerane, my bunnies are both little (less than 3 pounds) so their heads are too small to get stuck in tissue boxes! Still, I think a bunny’s head would have to be huge before they could manage to get it stuck. Imagining a bunny bouncing around with a box on their head is making me laugh

[Boston's Mama]

Mimimomo do you lay it down or upright? Do you have a photo to show your bunnies with it? Just trying to picture it and size wise etc next to my hollands as we don’t have puffs brand here

Do yours pull it out and around the cage?

[Paige]

Hmm that is a good point sarahthrgemini
But since I haven’t had him too long I will not give up too soon ?
In the end I feel like my bun will win anyway
The tissue box is set and my bunny is small as well(his head can fit in a Pringles can comfortably), I’ll check on his hay consumption when i get home home the evening

[kaylyne28]

I use a suet holder for bird food that I bought at the dollar store! it works excellent for smaller amounts of hay! This way when I hang it, it limits the amount of wasted hay. I’ve tried 4 different hay holders/racks now and this is the only one Ellie seems to enjoy. The only downside is that I do have to fill it at least 2x a day to ensure she doesn’t run out. Ellie isn’t usually in her cage so its super easy to poke a hole in her cardboard castle to hang the holder

[mimimomo]

It never occurred to me that different countries have differently shaped tissue boxes! Here’s a picture of my bunnies with their box:

The perspective isn’t very good, but my orange bunny is about the same size as the whole box.

Obviously it doesn’t keep the hay 100% contained, but it’s a little cleaner than just a hay pile! And yes Oakley&Boston’s Mama, my bunnies love dragging it around the cage and chewing on the box itself…it’s about time for me to replace it before it falls apart completely, haha

[Boston's Mama]

When I googled the brand of tissues you mentioned it showed me a square box with opening at top but we don’t have them here – the one in your photo though is what we have here
I just brought from metal shower caddys I’m attaching a wooden lid to them tomorrow so will try that – if it doesn’t go well (ie he won’t eat from it or won’t eat enough ) then I’ll try what you do

[Luna's Mom]

Here is Luna eating from a square tissue box. The pile of hay is just her hay pile, incase she didn’t eat enough from the box. She liked it a lot at first then just quit using it.

[Luna's Mom]

Opps my picture didn’t show up. I will try to figure out how come it didn’t show up!

[Luna's Mom]

[Luna's Mom]

Luna also opened the top up more! I guess she didn’t like the size hole it came with?

[Paige]

Hahaha how funny
Unfortunately Peter didn’t like his own tissue box
Maybe ill just open the whole thing like Luna has shown lol
I’m allergic to hay and I just got sick because the hay is everywhere
Apparently you can get sick from allergies! ?
I will update you guys if I get any solutions

[Boston's Mama]

[Luna's Mom]

That looks really good and sits just at the perfect height for him. He seems to be enjoying his hay too!!

[Boston's Mama]

Yeah it’s working perfect! Attempt number 100000 at finding one that works for this bunny has been a success so far!

We have tried EVERYTHING before this
It’ll sit higher In his new iris pen when I have that set up fully as his new area , but it’s the same underneath as it is in the sides so will mean he can still access from front and sides but also from underneath when the hay is getting low ( not that it will get that low with topping up but I wouldn’t have to worry if it did. Filled right up it would hold 2-3 days worth of hay

[Vienna Blue in France]

That shower doobry looks great OM !
I’ve bought the Ikea bag dispensers for the new condo, as has been suggested by other bunny peeps, but on buying them the holes look veeeeery big, too big ! As if the hay will fall through !

(I would put it horizontally of course….)

I’ll try it, but I’m not convinced my hay is big enough to stay put. But at 1,50 euros each, I got to try it !!  lol

Picking up some readigrass at the weekend so maybe that will fit in !! 

[Paige]

Wow it looks so nice for $3 USD?
Ah but IKEA is very far from my house, I think the gas would cost more than the hay rack ?
Congrats on your new condo I guess lol

[Paige]

Oakley and Boston’s Mama I’m glad that works for you! I will see if I can get one…

[Boston's Mama]

It’s just a shower caddy and the top is just pine cut to fit and two holes drilled in it so I can cable tie it on as a lid

I measured the bar spacing and it’s 1″ which is working perfect for being wide enough it’s not too hard that he gives up but not wide enough he can make a huge mess

[Chelsea]

Posted By sarahthegemini on 3/12/2017 4:53 PM

Tbh if your bunnies are happy to eat from a pile, I would just continue with that and erm ignore the fact that it’s a bit ‘messy’ My bunnies didn’t like hay racks, the change in their hay consumption was so drastic after putting hay in litter boxes rather than in a rack. You’re better off sticking with what works. 

This is Silas 100%. He refuses to pee or poop on any surface but a layer of hay, and he’s completely uninterested in hay racks. The problem is, I really need to do a better job of tracking how much hay he is eating, and when it’s a just in a heap on one end of the litter box that’s tricky. He also likes to pull hay from his “eating” pile and use it to cover his droppings kitty style. Which is amusing (and nice aesthetically), but also makes it hard to track how much hay he’s eating, how much he’s pooping, or what his poop looks like. We just brought him home from a 3 day stay at the bunny hospital so this is very much a priority for me right now.

Anyone else dealt with this issue? Any suggestions? He doesn’t have a cage and is free roaming.

[vanessa]

Chelsea, all my bunnies prefer to eat from their eating pile in their litter box, and they also want a layer of hay to poop/pee on. If I let Avalon/Morgana’s hay in their litter box run low – they will poop and pee on the floor. Once they have eaten the hay from the litter box, they start eating hay from the hay rack. I have never seen Guin use her hay rack – so I use it as hay storage. But she does eat her treat hay (with mango/carrot bits/alfalfa) from a hay feeder that I bought from Etsy.com. https://www.etsy.com/listing/176171801/bunny-rabbit-hay-feeder?ref=related-1 It’s $44, a bit pricey, but hey – so is Christmas! I agree it makes it hard to track how much hay they are eating. It’s easy with Morgana and Avalon because they eat everything that has not been peed on, and then they dig into the hay rack. With Guin, not so easy. So no real solution here – just eympathy!

[vanessa]

I also put treat hay in a bowl on the floor for to try to encourage Lancelot to eat hay, but Guin eats that. So I can roughly add up the mount she ate from the bowl, the hole she ate into the hay feeder box, but I have a hard time estimating what she ate from the litter box, since she and Lancelot both trample/pee in there.

[vanessa]

Sorry for the multiple posts – I guess one way I know that she eats her size in hay, is by estimating over a week or two. As I change the litterbox, I always look at the hay I’m throwing out compared to what I put in. Since I change her litter box every second day, and top it up on the non-change days, if I’m throwing out more hay than I put in, she’s not eating it. If throw out the same amount and I topped it up, she ate the amount that I topped up. If I throw away less (like with Avalon and Morgana), then she is a hay eating superstar.

[Chelsea]

Ooh, thank you, I like that etsy link! There are all kinds of other cool ideas on there too. Thank you! I might try to make one, or just buy one.

[jerseygirl]

Paige, is it a pile in his litterbox he prefers at the moment? Or elsewhere in his habitat?

I try hay racks now and then but generally the buns like it plonked in their litterboxes where they can forage through it. I use grates too, so it provides some cushioning for their feet.
Others that have hay allergies have found that handling the hay with gloves and a face mask helps. Also, shaking of excess dust outside, with mask on of course. Do you buy hay that comes in a plastic bag, cardboard box or other? Bagged hay can break down faster and be more dusty, which can make allergies worse.

An idea: What about putting portions of hay in a brown paper lunch bag and giving it to him like that? In his box or not. If you’d divided up all the hay into portions like this, you won’t have to touch it each time you give him more. If that makes a difference…Is it just the smell etc that sets of allergies?

[jerseygirl]

Chelsea, Vanessa, could you put a layer of straw over their litter then the hay on one side? So they use the straw to toilet on instead?

They could take to eating the straw also but that’s fine. 

[Luna's Mom]

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=48510 I found this tutorial online looking for diy grated bunny litter boxes. I am going to try this with Luna and see if it will work. She will eat hay from a hay rack, just not enough. She likes it just thrown down in a pile. The only issue is she poos where ever she sits and eats. Although the last three days she has been doing really good putting it all in her box. She has always used her box until I started putting her hay in a pile to see if she would eat it better like that. She only poos like that when she eats hay. She eats her veggies on a little rug on the 2nd floor of her house and she eats her pellets in her cotton tail cottage and never leaves any poo in those places.

[vanessa]

I could put straw first, but im not sure what the purpose would be. Guin wont eat trampled hay, and i use the hay racks/feeders so they always have clean hay, in addition to what i top up on non change-days.

[vanessa]

I could put straw first, but im not sure what the purpose would be. Guin wont eat trampled hay, and i use the hay racks/feeders so they always have clean hay, in addition to what i top up on non change-days.

[Chelsea]

I can see the logic of straw first with our situation given that he literally doesn’t touch the hay rack we have currently. Using straw on top of the litter might make him more likely to eat hay out of the rack since he wouldn’t want to eat the straw. I wonder if that would work. It definitely might be worth a try especially if I can come up with another use for a bale of straw in case it doesn’t work out.

Vanessa, do you think it would be possible for your bunny to get their head or shoulders stuck in that etsy one? The grate style would solve that problem, but it is more expensive and comes with a smaller litter box than we currently use. Making a wire one like Luna’s mom posted would definitely be cheaper although less visually attractive.

Much to ponder! Thank you so much for the ideas.

[vanessa]

OK that makes sense. Guin is a big girl – 9.6 pounds. No way she’ll get her head stuck. I use that hay feeder, the mini one with the one hole, and this one https://www.etsy.com/listing/248921267/xl-easy-entry-hay-feeder-litter-pan?ref=related-5 (low entry for Lancelot and Guin, and another one with the regular height entry for Avalon and Morgana).

[Paige]

Thank you for all the replies!
I have been quite busy this past week, so I haven’t been able to post often sadly.
To jerseygirl
He had a corner litter box (because it had a grate on it(he is a long haired so the grate prevented his waste from getting on him))so I put his hay in a large pile in the middle of his cage. But he started peeing everywhere! So I gave him a larger litter box and put the stalky hay over his litter(so he doesn’t sit in waste) and his hay in the litter box. He has stopped peeing everywhere thankfully. But now the problem is that he gets his hay dirty. I had Peter on store bought hay for a few weeks and I reacted greatly to that, so now I buy orchard grass that comes in a cardboard box and my allergies are tolerable now. ? I have allergies to pollen and I don’t know which parts of the hay transfers it, but definitely the dust. I rubbed some of the orchard grass on my arm and I didn’t get any hives! ?
And I will look up those links very soon, thank you all again ☺

[Paige]

Thanks Luna s mom for the diy
Might make that…

[Luna's Mom]

We have the ones from Etsy with the dowels instead of the open holes and in our experience it is a very nice hay rack except for Luna does not eat enough hay from it. No fault of the hay rack. So I was going to order the open hole and try that. In the mean time I did get the light grid from Lowe’s because I could go right to the store and get it and try it. With the grid and having hay right in her box, her hay consumption has doubled at least and so have her poos. The only reason I didn’t like hay in the box before was because I didn’t like it getting mixed in with the litter and her trying to pick out the good pieces. Now the grid keeps most of the hay on top, a little falls through but for the most part it stays on top. If she keeps eating hay good I think I am going to get the xlarge litter box like the one she has to give her some more room. She has the large right now and I liked that you can buy snap on rims because she was digging in her litter and the rim keeps it from going all over. That’s just our experience!

[Chelsea]

I would love to hear your report on the open holes vs. dowels! For now, I moved our current hay rack to laying on it’s side inside the front of his x-large litterbox where I used to just make a mound. I put just a thin layer of hay on top of the litter, and I’m checking it twice a day and covering up his poops for him so I can tell how much there is before he covers it himself. Eventually I would like to get one of those etsy ones, but I’m going to try and make this work for now.

[vanessa]

Avalon and Morgana use the hay rack with the dowels, and they ignore the one with the holes. Guin uses the one with the holes, and mostly ignores the one with the dowels. Each bunny is different.

[vanessa]

This is Avalon and Morgana’s hay setup. They have eaten much of the hay in the litter box, all the way down to the plastic. They are tidy about where they pee. They only pee/poop on the half closest to the food bowl. Although the poops get scattered as they dash in and out of the box. They both use the hay rack with the dowels. Neither use the hay feeder with the holes, so it is more of a hay storage box. Avalon (white bunny) is eating pellets from the twin food table. 

Thsi is Lancelot/Guin’s litterbox (one of them). It is low-rise for Lancelot. They rarely use the hay feeder with teh dowels. Guin eats fresh hay from the box. Today is liter change day, and she hasn’t eaten this hay since it is trampled. They have the same food dish as Avalon/Morgana. 

This is the 2nd of their 3 litter boxes. Guin uses this litter box and eats hay from it. Lancelot can’t get into it anymore. The small hay feeder with the hole is one of Guins favorite feeders. You can see the hole she ate into the hay. The dish in the middle has timothy compressed cubes, and timothy/alfalfa compressed cubes. I dont’ give these to Avalon/Morgana because they are already great hay eaters. They are for Lancelot. 

Guin’s other favorite hay feeder.

[Author]

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