picky hay eaters!

[graysonbun]

Hi all, I’m curious to know, how much hay do your buns waste in their litter box? i’ve been buying small pet select 2nd cut timothy in bulk for a while now, but it seems to me they are choosing not to eat a large portion of it. I bought a bag of oxbow timothy last night to try and the hay smelled great and had a fresh green color, so I put it in their boxes overnight and they seem to have enjoyed it, but there is still some on the litter, is this normal? I’m trying to find a hay that will work for both of them, it seems like they prefer the softer pieces over the hard stalky ones, does anyone have any advice or hay brands to try? I live in the usa if that would change your answers!! Also, what other types can they have full time besides timothy? I’ve seen some info about orchard grass being softer so that could be an option? thanks in advance for replies!!

[sarahthegemini]

Any grass hay is fine for them to have 24/7 so oat, orchard and meadow are all good choices My rabbits get Oxbow orchard, Oxbow timothy and Burns green oat hay. Some does get wasted but not a lot. I think a bit of waste is inevitable especially when it’s going in the litter box as some does get soiled on and of course they have to reject some pieces for reasons unknown to man My rabbits do the majority of their hay eating overnight and don’t eat huge amounts during the day so I just put smaller amounts throughout the day but big piles overnight.

How often are you topping up? Some bunnies can get in the habit of wasting a lot because they know they’re going to get fresh hay which is always better than hay that has been sat out for say, 2 hours lol. I know with my two, they will eat the seed heads from timothy first and then go back and eat the rest and with orchard, they’ll eat all of it apart from the brown strands which thankfully there isn’t a lot of.

Orchard is definitely softer, I’d recommend it

[graysonbun]

thanks for the quick reply sarah!

We do a really big refill in the morning, around 6:30 am & another big one at night around 10pm. with the timothy i’m feeding from small pet select, there is a substantial amount in the litter box after the night. It seems they really only eat the seed heads and a few softer peices but when cleaning out their boxes it seems like i’m throwing away a big amount, I don’t care too much about the waste (this sounds horrible oops), as you get a good deal buying in bulk, but I want to make sure they’re getting enough of it to eat!! I don’t think the topping off is an issue, but it may be!! I think i’ll order a smaller bag of oxbow orchard today and give it a try! If it works out I’ll try to mix it in with the SPS timothy as I still have quite a bit left from my last order lol. Also, another question, do you think it’s better to order in smaller amounts to keep the freshness level up? I have to order online unless i want to spend $14 on a 40 oz bag of oxbow, so I’m just wondering if I should order a few larger bags instead of the largest box shipment they have on drfostersandsmith? I just always found that with the bigger boxes i’ve ordered from SPS, the quality seems to have gone down. not a bash at the company just an observation that I think many other companies deal with as well when sending out 50-60 lb boxes lol!! anyway, in your opinion, is it better to order lots of smaller amounts or one large amount? I’ll ofcourse be trying out the orchard in a smaller amount first!! thanks again for all the help!!!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By olliebun on 3/03/2018 8:01 AM

thanks for the quick reply sarah!

We do a really big refill in the morning, around 6:30 am & another big one at night around 10pm. with the timothy i’m feeding from small pet select, there is a substantial amount in the litter box after the night. It seems they really only eat the seed heads and a few softer peices but when cleaning out their boxes it seems like i’m throwing away a big amount, I don’t care too much about the waste (this sounds horrible oops), as you get a good deal buying in bulk, but I want to make sure they’re getting enough of it to eat!! I don’t think the topping off is an issue, but it may be!! I think i’ll order a smaller bag of oxbow orchard today and give it a try! If it works out I’ll try to mix it in with the SPS timothy as I still have quite a bit left from my last order lol. Also, another question, do you think it’s better to order in smaller amounts to keep the freshness level up? I have to order online unless i want to spend $14 on a 40 oz bag of oxbow, so I’m just wondering if I should order a few larger bags instead of the largest box shipment they have on drfostersandsmith? I just always found that with the bigger boxes i’ve ordered from SPS, the quality seems to have gone down. not a bash at the company just an observation that I think many other companies deal with as well when sending out 50-60 lb boxes lol!! anyway, in your opinion, is it better to order lots of smaller amounts or one large amount? I’ll ofcourse be trying out the orchard in a smaller amount first!! thanks again for all the help!!!

I don’t think the topping up is an issue then. I wondered if you were topping up every few hours or something as that would make them think “ooh fresh hay is just around the corner, we don’t need to eat this ‘old’ stuff!” But that’s not the case

I order Oxbow in bulk largely because it works out soooo much cheaper per kg. I’m in the UK and can get 11kg of orchard or timothy for just under £60. I’m actually still working through my first big box of orchard and my first big box of timothy as it lasts quite a few months. I think in terms of freshness, so long as you can get through it within 6-8 months I don’t think it’d be a problem. I’d save even more money if I bought the 22kg boxes of each but I know I’d never get through them quick enough. But two 11kg boxes is cheap enough and I can get through it. I’m about 2/3 of the way through the orchard and my rabbits are just as crazy for it as they were at the start. With Oxbow, the boxes are far better than the bags in my experience. The strands are so much longer in the boxes. 

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