Where can I find rabbit hay and bedding in bulk?

[Ginny's Mama]

We have a young male rabbit, one just reaching maturity, and one female- she’s a rescue. The guy that we bought her from was going to raise her for food. She’s expecting, and since we LOVE our rabbits like children, we’re just going to build a large outside hutch for the new family, maybe keep one or two house rabbits. (Our oldest and my dad are good pals).

Petsmart has MAYBE a max of 50L bags in the store. We need way more to keep a sanitary environment for our young mother.

Any ideas?

[jerseygirl]

Fodder stores or places that do horse supplies (horse quality hay is best for rabbits). Do you have a Tractor Supply store nearby?

[KytKattin]

I had a heck of a time finding hay now that I have a rabbit again. I too buy it by the bale, even for just one rabbit. At $20 a bale I am saving a TON of money over the $25 per bag of Oxbow at Petsmart that only lasts maybe 2 months. Even if I had to throw away 3/4s of the bale I am saving money.

My ordeal finally ended today when I found oat hay. I did some quick research on it, and it seems to be just as good as timothy and other grass hays, sometimes even being preferred. After a week of calling around the the surprisingly few feed stores around here (which is a heavily farmed area), and one of them somehow selling out of timothy over the weekend, and other trying to sell me some weird alfalfa blocks/pellets, I finally found a bale of oat. So basically, just Google “feed stores” in your area and start calling! Back when I lived in more developed areas I never had trouble finding hay, but out in the middle of nowhere I think most people grow it themselves or buy wholesale/by the ton. Now is a good time to buy too.

[Stickerbunny]

Find someone with horses and ask them where they get their hay. Or, look in the newspaper for “horse hay” being sold. Or craigslist.

You want a grass hay, not alfalfa or an alfalfa mix. But any horse quality hay should be OK, as long as it’s the right type (oat, orchard, timmy, brome). If nothing else, you can order 50lb boxes of hay online. Farm bales are cheaper though, I pay $5 for my bales vs the $50 for oxbow boxes.

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