The Frugal House Rabbit

[LittlePuffyTail]

Times are tough and money is tight right now. As a typical bunny slave I would rather go without than sacrifice any of my bunny expenses. Thought we could start a thread on tips to save money on rabbit expenses.

I will be glad when garden season is upon us so I can grow my own veggies. Hopefully my garden will be much more succesful than last year; not sure what went wrong but everything was being really stubborn. I’m going to start some herbs indoors soon and we are thinking about getting a small greenhouse to replace our baby barn that just fell down (stupid snow ).  I was really excited last night to find $2.49 Romaine and $2.49 Dandelions at the grocery store. All winter Romaine has been $3.99 for the most pathetic sized little head. And I’ve had a really hard time finding herbs for the buns. The bulk herbs usually looked all wilted and gross and I ended up buying the little plastic shell packages which are like 5 times the price for about one day’s serving.

Any tips/ideas for the poor bunny slaves out there?  Doesn’t just have to apply to bunny care. Selling bunny fertilizer???

[Eepster]

Barter fertilizer (aka bunny poop) for veggies from the local organic farmer.

[jerseygirl]

*nods* Yep, this may be your most valuable resource. True bunny gold. Ask around at work who the keen gardeners are. You never know, somebody might be harvesting more produce then they know what to do with. Trade them the veggies for the bunny gold!
Mum was really happy what the bunny gold has done for her potted plants and keeps asking for more. Happily, my parents get a good veggie patch going and I get free bunny food from time to time. I’m terrible at it myself – but bunny poop supply….I can do that!

LPT, are you still thinking to sell your crafts etc?

[Michelle&Lolli]

For me, pellets are the biggest expense. So trying to get Miss Piggy to slow down on the pellets is the way to go for me. I’m also trying to get her to lose weight so cutting down on pellets is twofold.

I have also found that for the price, the tubs of organic baby spring mix that I buy at $6.99 each are best. She gets a variety of lettuces and I don’t have have worry about spending money on lettuce that she may or may not eat. She does fine with leaf and romaine lettuce, but the mix has argula, etc. And romaine and leaf lettuce are averaging at $2.99 a pound right now. Yikes.

Maybe I should sell/trade lolli’s poop. LOL Would I need to grind it down or just leave it as is? When I move out to my dad’s I was just going to dump it out in his field.

[cainan]

I think you should keep the poop mixed with the hay – and even some litter is compostable! This is a fabulous idea

[peppypoo]

Hmm, selling bunny poop seems like an interesting idea. Has anybody done this before? How should it be priced?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Well having 3 bunnies I could definitely get a good supply going. I can’t say I’ve never thought about this before, although it’s mostly been considered to help the environment. I’ve tried gathering some poops in an empty cat litter bucket but they got moldy before it was full. I use Yesterday’s News so I would probably have to separate? I could try putting a layer on top of the YN to catch the poos.

Not sure if anyone would be willing to trade veg for it. I don’t know any veggie farmers personally but maybe I could charge a couple of bucks per bag or something. That would help pay for veggies. Can you just sprinkle whole poos on gardens?

[jerseygirl]

Yes. Rabbit poo is one of the few manures that you don’t have to age or mix with anything. YN can go in the garden too. Put everything out in the sun for a bit and the ammonia in the pee will be sorted.

Peppypoo, I remember Kralspace posting on craigslist offering it up free…just to see if they’d be interest I think. She had people scrambling for it. lol As for selling it I don’t know. Let the market set the price? :p Depends on if your selling it as manure or jewellry….yes, the latter has been done before!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

OMG aren’t the produce prices ridiculous? Between the animals and me I’m spending 50/week minimum on fruits and veggies!! Your in my boat being a veggie! I think meat is cheaper right now *grrr*

I started some home herbs in a cute pot-just to have something fresh that may be renewable. Parsley, cilantro and basil. My boss is going to ‘sit’ them for me while I’m gone. I actually grew them from seed!! *proud* And I can snip some soon to share.

But I’d say money saving…buying horse bales…I still need to do this..and buying the biggest bags available..litter and pellet wise. It’s just better to buy the largest oxbow pellets then buy the smaller more frequently. And they zip up so they stay fresh Litter of course lasts so I buy as big as I can!

The big money saver I need to do is stay out of pet stores and off the internet shopping sites. It’s SO easy to rack up big pet bills. Terrible thing is every store has a pet section and you can just ‘pick this up’ because it’s on sale and end up stocked up…My store finally started carrying oxbow papaya tablets. They’ve NEVER been available to me except online so double the price for shipping…..Guess who has ten bottles of them now…That was 70$ as a ‘money saver’ lol

Maybe we need a ‘stay out of pet stores’ support group? lol

[LoveChaCha]

Dang.. I never realized the price differences for produce! Lettuce has been going up in Washington.. it used to be 1.75, now it is up to 2.75 in some places around me. There are many grocer places around the area I live in. I don’t know what the price is to date, because my dad volunteers and usually asks how Koucha’s veggie supply is.

I used to get a head of romaine and some cilantro for less than $3. So times that by 4 and I spent $12 a month on veggies.

When is the season for growing romaine ? Summer? I’m thinking of maybe growing some romaine in a big pot in my sunroom (rabbit proofed from Koucha) as there is a ton of natural light and I can open the windows during the summer.

I’m not sure what my discount will be when I begin working at the grocery store, but I’m going to be happy that I can grab some new veggie types for Chacha to try.

Perhaps I can use rabbit poop to help grow romaine? O_o

[kralspace]

jersey girls right, I did offer a bag of bunny ‘seasoned’ hay from the litter boxes on a bet from a friend and I had 48 requests within hours…lol

There is a garden group that does a piece in the newspaper each Friday and I emailed them a letter late last fall asking if anyone had a willow tree that I could barter poo for a sack of whips and leaves. I had a lady email me and we exchanged bags one day after work and she’s offered to continue bringing me the cuttings when they trim the tree. Luckily she’s a big believer in organics and doesn’t use pesticides and sprays in their yard. I’ll take her a bag whenever she needs some.

I have another lady from the group I gave a bag to last month and when she starts harvesting I’ll be in for some lettuce and greens!

I’d look around town and see who has a good sized garden and offer a trade. A lot of people down here (me included) like to use hay as a mulch and the advantage of the “bunny” hay is that it has the fertilizer build right in and dispenses some each time you have a good rain or watering.

[Monkeybun]

Can’t wait til I have a garden. With 3 bunnies, thats alot of nice fertilizer for nommy veggies

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