What hay rack do you use?

[BinkyBuster]

 Hey guys,

You may have seen that I recently posted about hay… I’ve just been buying pet store hay before I can buy a bale, and man it’s expensive! This made me realize how much hay I waste by throwing it straight into his litter box (it gets fully dumped every 3 days.)

I’m just wondering what type of hay racks everybody uses? Or how you made your own? I was at Petsmart and the one they have looks quite small and doesn’t look easy to get hay out of. It’s a little wooden one… I’d prefer to get something that holds more / is more accessible to hay.

Any suggestions / photos would be great! Thanks 

[Eucalyptus]

 Every 3 days? Hah, we dumped it everyday before we got a better solution. This is the hay “dispenser” that I use:

I bought it on etsy, but I don’t believe it’s available at the moment. However, there are smaller variations posted right now. I would highly recommend buying something online or making something, the pet store racks are very small and overpriced for their size. This was pricey, but it’s handcrafted from a bunny shelter and the money was a donation, which I didn’t mind. This works well, but Java still digs out a lot of the hay at times, so there’s still some waste – but much less than before.

You can also go to a hardware store and buy hanging wire “shelves” and then use zipties to hold it a certain way against the enclosure. This is what we did before we got this. Java really didn’t like having to look up or anything to get hay, and it severely cut his hay consumption back. Lazy or not, we didn’t want to risk him not eating hay because he normally has an enormous appetite for hay.

Hope this helps!

[BinkyBuster]

Oh wow, really? I would go through SO much litter! Buster is generally really clean and doesn’t ‘go’ anywhere near his hay (he has a giant litter box). It isn’t too bad by the third morning, with some tidying in between

I was thinking the pet store racks looked really small too! Buster doesn’t eat THAT much hay, but I like him to have the opportunity if he had a hungry day or something. I quite like the look of that, and I had never heard of that place! Worth taking a look at, thanks I’ve been thinking I need to get inventive, but I just need a little inspiration!

[Caroline22]

 I think this is what I have?

http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10006650&N=&Nao=120&Ntt=wire

I bought it in store though in the kitchen section. I like it because she can either stand and put her paws up and eat or she can pull it out of the front/sides. It had two little holes that I could use to zip tie it to the sides of my cage. She does pull hay out of it, so sometimes it’s wasted, but not a ton. 

 

[Amys Animals]

I have the same thing Eucalyptus has only I bought mine from a rescue. I am fixing it because the bunnies can get in it and use it as a bathroom. I am adding a grid to the inside so they can’t get in. It’s a great hay dispenser, though. I also have shower rack things that I use that I got from Home Goods.

[Eepster]

 I used a $2.99 ”Bygel” wire basket from Ikea.  I hung it from a dowel inserted into the grid of Porky’s condo over his litter box.  I took out the little tray that it comes with and use it in our kitchen.  http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90072648/

 

[Beka27]

I use a one dollar “cd storage” container.  There is a zip tie looped loosely through the back, and then the zip tie gets clipped onto the pen with an extra dog clip that came with the xpen.  It’s super simple, and could not get cheaper.  The box is plastic so it can be washed out on occasion too.  (The wood hay holders are gorgeous, but they do have limitations in that regard, not to mention the cost!  Yikes!)  Sometimes the best solution is the simplest!

This is an older pic, but it clearly shows the attachment to the pen.  The hay box is now clipped OVER a litterbox.  I turn one box “long ways” and there is enough space for both buns to sit in the box and eat hay at the same time.

I have tried enclosed hay racks before, or those “hay balls” where the hay is in a little cage that they have to pull strands through.  Those didn’t work for us.  My buns require full, uninhibited access to their hay, so I prefer just an open top box.

Not as clear of a pic, but you can see the current placement.

 

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

this is the hay rack I use for one of my bunnies http://www.petco.com/product/115964/Petco-Hay-Rack.aspx?CoreCat=certona-_-ProductListTopRated_Small%20Animal_4-_-Petco%20Hay%20Rack-115964 i do like it but sometimes the hay does get on the floor and make a mess.

[BinkyBuster]

Perfect!! Thanks guys Those are exactly the type of things I’m looking for but I can never spot them for myself when I’m in the store. I’ll have to have another look! Too bad the binkybunny store got rid of their hay rack… buster liked it, but also destroyed it.

[floppybunny123]

I once saw on mocha200’s youtube channel that she used a plastic bag holder from ikea

[Jesse97]

I use a bent nic grid for a hay rack. It works pretty good.

[colleenbunny]

 I’ve come up with a semi-cool idea!

 

1. Take 2 nic grids, and bend each of them like the hay rack the everyone else is reffering to.

2.Zip tie each bent nic grid to the corner, one on top of the other.

3.I really can’t describe it. Here is what it should look like once you are done.

 

From inside:

 

T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

                                   C

                                   C

                                   C

                                   C

                                  lllll

___________________ lllll______________

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Legend:

 

 

lllll

lllll    = Hay rack                __________________ = Bottom of cage              C = Corner of cage           T = Top of cage

 

 

 

 

I hope that gives you a good idea of what I meant!

[RabbitPam]

colleenbunny,
You put a lot of effort into your diagram, but I’m having trouble picturing it. May I make 2 suggestions? First, stick with black for your typeface color since many browsers make pink even lighter than you intend and it is very hard to read against white. Second, can you sketch it with 2 views, above and from the front, and just scan and upload your sketches as photos?
Apologies, but my schematic-reading skills have deteriorated over time.

[colleenbunny]

 Sure thing, but I’m not a great artist. In each of the photos, the thing I’m pointing to is what should be the hay rack.  This is supposed to be from the top. As you can see, the hay rack is bent, but it is facing so that the it looks vertical, not horizontaly, so you can just push the hay into the top.

 

 

 

 

   In this picture, the you can (hopefully) see that the rectangle looks like a grid. The hay rack is on the bottom of the cage, and is placed in the corner.

 

 

 

I hope that helped.

[colleenbunny]

I also fixed the one I typed.

[longhairmike]

i need to pick up a few of these from http://www.wabbitworks.net

they’re made locally in phoenix

[Beka27]

LHMike… that’s a neat hay holder! It seems like you could almost make something like that with a small trash can…

[RabbitPam]

colleenbunny, thanks for the color change and elaborating on that. It does look good. Longhairmike seems to have one along the same lines that looks like it works and may be easy to make. Beka, I would use sturdy cardboard instead of a plastic trash can.

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