They just won’t meadow hay.

[serena.jayne]

I have two lionhead x rex bunnies, between 2-3 months old (the person I got them from didnt know the exact D.O.B) and I’ve had them for around 6 weeks. The previous owners didn’t tell us anything about their eating habits, what food they were even currently being fed etc and no changeover food. So basically, they won’t eat meadow hay, which is a bit of a problem because that’s what I can afford. They’ll eat a tiny bit, and then leave it. I’ve tried at least 3 different brands of meadow hay. I even bought the burgess timothy hay herbage stuff to mix in with the meadow hay, and they’re just picking the burgess out and leaving the meadow. I can’t afford to have them only eat the timothy herbage, at £3 (around five dollars) per 500g bag. I have no problem with buying a couple bags to mix in with a 2kg bag of meadow, but there’s no way they could live off just the herbage. It’s way to expensive. I’ve tried everything to make them eat the meadow hay, I’ve mixed some of their much loved pellets in with it, didn’t work. I’ve tried completely taking away their pellets for a few days, didn’t work. (I only give them a very small amount of pellets anyway). At this point I’m willing to just pick grass myself and dry it out for them to eat. Please can somebody give me more ideas? I’m so stressed out because of this, i know how vital hay is.

[Bam]

Young bunnies may appreciate alfalfa hay if you can get that, it’s healthy for young buns but not for adult ones. You don’t happen to live anywhere near where there are horse-stables? Horses eat lots of hay and certainly not at 3 pounds per 500 g. Perhaps you could ask to buy some hay in a place like that? The same kind of hay that horses eat is fine for bunnies.
I only give mine meadow hay, it’s what’s available here except for those really small, expensive bags you mention, but Timothy hay was never a success with my buns anyway. I had to try so many hays before I found one they would accept. It is organic and has some foliage in it, which apparently is to their liking.
Hay toppers (dried dandelion etc) may sometimes entice bunnies to eat more, and I find serving small wads of hay several times a day also helps. It’s like they don’t want “old” hay.

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