Is my rabbit eating wood stove pellets?

[marzipan]

Jack has been in his litter box making an extremely enthusiastic meal of his hay for the past half hour or so. I’m not sure if I just haven’t noticed him do this before or if he is unusually excited about his hay tonight. In any case, I noticed some crunching sounds that seemed crunchier than hay, and when I went to check on him it looked like he was digging up the hay in the litter box to get the wood stove pellets below (in an area where he doesn’t typically pee, so they weren’t disintegrated yet). 

I looked up some threads that suggested this was sort of normal, but that it could be an issue if he eats too many and they expand. The problem is that I was honestly not sure if he was really eating the pellets or just trying to get some particular strand of hay that was caught in them. Well, I’m pretty sure some of that crunching was pellets, but it was just difficult to see what exactly was getting in his mouth. 

I piled in some extra hay and left him alone for while, but I kept hearing crunching and got worried, so I went over there, got him out of the litter, dumped the whole thing and replaced it with just newspaper + hay. Now that he clearly only has hay, things still sound a little crunchy… I don’t know if I’m just overly worried or what, so I guess I’m just wondering if anyone else has actually had a real problem with their rabbit getting sick on wood stove pellets? I’d certainly rather have them in there to soak everything up and keep the hay fresh.

(Bear with me please, it’s the first night I happen to be alone with Jack, and I might be a little over-protective!)

[LBJ10]

Did you actually see him with the pellets in his mouth? Or did you just hear crunching? Just so you know, my buns are very loud when they eat. Even when they eat veggies, it’s crazy how much I can hear it.

[marzipan]

No, I didn’t really see them in his mouth, but generally I can’t see specifically what he’s chewing unless it’s a leafy green hanging out of his mouth as he chews…

…like he’s doing right now, while looking at me innocently from across the room, even though when I came to the living room he bounded over to me, out of his cage . Thank goodness I had the baby gates up for him overnight or he might have met me in bed. Now I’m left to wonder if I didn’t hook the one trigger clip all the way across, or if he got it open himself :/

[LBJ10]

Maybe he’s just a loud chewer?

[BunnyBrigade]

If you’re worried that he ate some. Just keep an eye on him to make sure he’s still popping/peeing and eating all right. He should be okay and may be just a loud eater like LBJ is suggesting. If you’re really worried that he’ll do this again, BinkyBunny sells grates that you put in the litter box to separate the pellets from the hay. They’re really awesome. You can even custom order one to fit your litter box. The grate will make it so that he no longer has access to the pellets.

[marzipan]

I have seen those litter screens in the store. I actually have some 1/4″ galvanized mesh hardware cloth, which is what it looks like the store’s screen is made of, so I was considering making one myself. However, I’m not sure what to use around the edges to keep the sharp bits from being exposed. Do the BinkyBunny store screens use a black tape or is it a piece of plastic or something?

[LBJ10]

Yes, a screen would be fine to use if you’re worried. If you make one yourself, you can grind the sharp edged down.

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