Where do you hang your hay?

[Dibbyface]

Do your rabbits have hay racks beyond their litter boxes?

I’m curious to hear about other bun parents’ setups. When my Evi was an only bun, it seemed he could have hay anywhere without much problem (other than the hay mess, of course)–I’d give him a bunch in his litter box, backed up with a bunch in a rack inside his cage, and often in random hay-stuffed toys like toilet paper tubes. Once Miss Cha Cha entered our lives, though, it seemed hay-outside-the-litter only encouraged potty accidents.

Anybody else find their rabbits tend to pee out of the box when they have regular access to litter elsewhere?

I’d really love to be able to add more hay dispensers to my rabbits’ condo, especially since Cha Cha is a voracious little hay-muncher. I barely keep up refilling it twice a day!

[Mimsy]

I use wood pellets in the litter boxes, and then just a little hay at one end. Inside Willows pen I have one of those short, for under the bed plastic storage containers as a litter box and at one end there is a cardboard box of hay. Since she is young I also have a hanging hay bin with just alfalfa in it. The rest of them are a mix alfalfa/timothy and orchard. She only pottys in the litter boxes and my bed if I give her the chance.

[Eepster]

Porky’s hay rack hangs next to his litterbox, and that’s it.

If you want to offer hay in more places, maybe you could set up another litterbox.

[Q8bunny]

My little Chewie only has hay in his litterbox, since that’s where he prefers to munch hay (even back in the day when I had little piles of hay all over the house). I do, however, make sure he has hay toys all over the place – he enjoys nibbling at them, but they don’t put any funny bunny ideas in his noggin (i.e., this would be a fun new place to go to the bathroom).

[Dibbyface]

Hmmm! I guess I haven’t actually tried hay toys in a while. Maybe I’ll throw a couple in their condo and see if any new puddles mysteriously appear.

Last night I was browsing photos of homemade hay racks and came across a really excellent, simple idea–a easily reloadable hay rack on the OUTSIDE of the cage: http://photo.foter.com/photos/pi/262/create-a-cheap-hay-rack-for-your-guinea-pig-or-rabbit-it-keeps-hay-from-falling-out-of-the-back-and-you-can-fill-it-from-outside-of-the-cage.jpg

Somehow this has never occurred to me, haha. I have a little wire rack I’ve owned forever, but Cha Cha’s big into grabbing and yanking (you should see her with her food bowl! Heavy ceramic and within ten seconds it’s flipped), so it usually ends up IN the litter box by the end of the day. We also have a cat who loves nothing better than to eat the stray bits of hay around their cage and then puke it up all over the carpet, so it’s important I contain as much of the hay as possible. Maybe this way I can both reload the hay racks with ease AND keep the hay from all being immediately yanked out and trampled underfoot. We shall see :]

[Cheru and Choco]

I’ve only had Choco a short while. When we got him, his cage was already all set up. He was a rescue, so he had another home before ours. His owner had the (woefully small) litter box in the back left corner, where he liked to go, and the hay rack in the front right corner. As I’ve been learning, I’ve heard people say to hang the hay rack above the litter box. I put the hay rack by his litter box, but like I said, it was small, so it was really hard to put it in a place where he could sit comfortably in the box and eat the hay.

I got him a new box yesterday. (It’s actually a dish rack, but shh, he doesn’t know.) I now have the hay rack fixed in the corner where his litter box is. I’m actually using the hay rack to secure the litter box in place, so it seems to be working well. I can also hang it lower than I was hanging it before, so he can reach all the hay much more easily. Even though he was initially unhappy about the “intruder,” trying to flip it over and stomping his feet at it, he seems quite happy with the setup, now. I notice him eating more hay, too, so I’m happy with the arrangement as well

[vanessa]

I use the 9 gallon mixing tubs as litter boxes. They have a puppy pee pad, then 2 cups wood pellets, then hay to cover the pee pad so Avalon doesn’t chew it. Lots of hay. They also have a wooden hay bin that I made. It’s a two-fer. A section for pellets and a section for hay. That way they always have fresh hay to eat. They are ferocious hay eaters. They eat 3/4 of the hay in their box every day. That’s a pile of hay equal to 4 times their body shapes – between the 2 rabbits.
Guin and Lancelot dont’ eat as much hay. Their litter box is set up the same, and thye also have a hay rack hung against the fence. Both pairs can reach their fresh hay rack while sitting in the litter box.

[vanessa]

I use the 9 gallon mixing tubs as litter boxes. They have a puppy pee pad, then 2 cups wood pellets, then hay to cover the pee pad so Avalon doesn’t chew it. Lots of hay. They also have a wooden hay bin that I made. It’s a two-fer. A section for pellets and a section for hay. That way they always have fresh hay to eat. They are ferocious hay eaters. They eat 3/4 of the hay in their box every day. That’s a pile of hay equal to 4 times their body shapes – between the 2 rabbits.
Guin and Lancelot dont’ eat as much hay. Their litter box is set up the same, and thye also have a hay rack hung against the fence. Both pairs can reach their fresh hay rack while sitting in the litter box.

[CrazyGemini22]

I had a hay rack but it’s getting annoying. I put the hay in their litter box. We’ll see how that works. I may by a box from Save A Bunny.

[Paradigm]

With Mr Roger we could put hay where ever. George pees on all hay so now it’s only served above ten tray.

I feel like someone needs to invent a litter box with a central hay rack so hay doesn’t fall out from any side.

[vanessa]

Second that paradigm. I also don’t understand why all the litter boxes are so small. As if the only bunnies that exist are holland lops or dwarf rexes.

[Author]

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