Pickest bunny ever….promise

[Manders]

Here is my delimma. My bunny is very very picky when it comes to her hay. I have been getting hay called Peter’s meadow mix from petsmart and been blending it with Kaytee timothy hay. Well all she does with that is eat the meadow and dig into the timothy till it’s dust. Well I have noticed recently that the meadow mix has been having mold spots and that has not made me happy. Iam looking for a diffrent hay that has a mix and was looking at the meadow mix on binky buuny and have planned to get that but iam wondering if i should even keep offering the timothy and if I stop will the meadow mix be enough nutrition?

What do you guys feed if you have a picky bunny?

Oh an how do you store the bales?

[Ana]

Bales should be stored in a dry place– preferrably in the packaging they came in. I’ve been looking at laundry bins at Target, that have ventilation. You want to keep it dry and airy.

My bunny would not eat hay the first two days I had her, until I got Brome. I added the two together, and now she eats them both like crazy. Maybe she was shy, or maybe she needed some variation. I’ve read rabbits like a mixture. If it helps, I use Kaytee Timothy hay, and she doesn’t seem to like it at as much as the Oxbow Brome. Maybe brand matters? Try a variety, but I thought Timothy should be a constant? Kinda new to bunnies…

[Beka27]

definitely try to offer timothy, but maybe try a different brand. i use the oxbow timothy and they love it. the BB hay is very, very nice too. the most important thing is that she gets a grass hay. i have had bad luck with petstore brands too, so i stopped using them altogether. once i switched to Oxbow, hay consumption skyrocketed.

i take the hay out of the plastic completely. i store it in my dining room on an end table in a large cardboard box. the bottom is taped up, but the top flaps are just closed. this way there is enough air to keep it fresh. avoid airtight plastic containers, or leave the lid off a little bit to allow air to circulate.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I just keep mine in a laundry type bin, that has no holes on the side and it’s always been fine. Keep offering the timothy and also note that there are four different cuts of timothy so you can try to look for 2nd cut timothy (I believe that’s the bunnies favorite)

[JK]

Honestly I would keep with the timothy hay.  I had to switch over to orchard hay when I sent Edson to the bunny sitter because she was allergic to timothy hay and now it’s tough getting him back on that. I may be insane but I am thinking the orchard hay has made Mr. E’s poops stink!  Never had that with the timothy.  Maybe it’s because there is supposedly more sugar in orchard grass.  That’s what the vet told me but we all think she’s nuts! Binky Bunny has wonderful hay!  It’s pesticide free and kept inside a storage unit to keep out critters. Mold is very bad as buns could get very sick from that.  Make sure to not store it in garbage bags or plastic bags.  I use a big brown cardboard box so that it can breathe and it’s alway perfect.

[Manders]

Thanks for all the great responses. I really like the cardboard box idea. I will keep trying with the timothy hay. Think ill get the timothy bale with the meadow bale and hope she goes for it. I forgot to mention she is all about the Kaytee timothy cubes so she still gets some timothy. Why she eats the cubes but not the actually hay Ill never know. Thanks again, you guys are great.

[Manders]

Ok so my purchase of the binkybunny hay arrived. I feed CoJack the timothy first and she started eating it  and the willow basket (destroying really). I gave her a flake of the meadow mix with the timothy and she ate both, so hopefully she likes this hay and sticks with it. But I have noticed her eating the cubes more then the actual hay, but I dont think her hay consumption is where it should be at. I replace three cubes every three to four days, and two flakes of hay every seven to eight days. Does anyone else have a bunny that just like cubes better?

[Sarita]

I’m not sure the cubes are really adequate either as far as hay consumption but maybe more as a chew toy. Most of my rabbits don’t like the cubes so I cannot help you with that. Really the regular hay is better. When you say flakes are you talking about the Binky Bunny hay? They are pretty small so if you are just doing 2 flakes every 7 to 8 days it doesn’t sound like much to me either.

[Manders]

Yes I was talking about the binky bunny hay. I was worried the cubes wouldnt be enough either but I dont know what to do. She will pick at the loose hay every once in a while but she just loves the cubes. Maybe Iam just being to over paranoid. Knock on wood I havent had any health issues since Ive had her. In fact the vet said she couldnt get any healthier, and she has been like this from the beginning. Iam running out of options in hay to try.

[Sarita]

How much of the hay would she eat if you took the cubes away? Have you tried that?

At least she is eating some hay – I just find that all you can do is try and not stress about it. Some rabbits are just more voracious eaters all around than others.

[Manders]

I thought about taking them away but hem Iam worried she wont get hay at all and then I am asking for problems. lol all I know is she gets what she wants from me Iam an easy push over when it comes to her licking my  nose.

[Sarita]

Yep, I know how that is

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

The only bun I have who will touch cubes is Rupert, and I am pretty sure it’s because he was fed those as his only hay at the HS; He loves them and scoffs them right down. Maybe try giving them less often as a treat (like twice a week) and seeing if she starts eating more hay?

[skunklionshow]

Both Leo and Jessica were not big hay eaters.  I feel like I really had to “condition” them to hay.  To do this, I had to really limit the amounts and times of feedings of pellets & veggies.  They have access to hay all the time, so initially I had to ignore their sad eyes when their veggies were all eaten and they wanted more.  Instead I kind of forced the hay on them, but not offering the more tasty veggies.  I only use BB hay.  I really liked the Bunny Blend.  I used it as my only hay.  Neither of mine liked the Timothy hay at all.  Since the bunny blend is no longer available I follow Binky’s recommendation of Orchard & Brome.  It has been successful. 

When my little beasts wouldn’t eat their hay, my vet told me to worry more about getting some kind of regular hay into them.  He prefered that it was any hay…even though he really didn’t want me to do Alfalfa.  You might have to condition them to the loose hay rather than the hay cubes.  You might have to cut back on the cubes as a treat when they eat their regular hay.

[Manders]

I think i have a break through. She is really digging into her loose hay. I decided that once she ate the hay cubes she wouldnt get anymore. There has been some heated stares and lots of thumps but she gave in and started munching on her loose hay this morning as well as leaving her presents outside the litter boxes as well. I wish someone had explained to me how vindictive rabbits can be lol

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