# How frequently do you replenish your bun's hay?



## Jenk (Feb 28, 2011)

How frequently do you completely replenish the hay in your bun's litter box? I'm wondering if it's okay to replace/replenish it a few times per week, rather than daily?

Our buns have a grate in their litter boxes, but urine still builds up on the hay in the corners where they pee. My husband and I refill the boxes with fresh hay each night, but it's a very expensive system. We spend $60/month on a 50-lb. bale of Oxbow hay. And when you factor in the cost of pellets and greens, our total monthly food cost is $85-$90--more than we have to spend nowadays.


Thank you,

Jenk


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## Violet23 (Feb 28, 2011)

Honestly I use horse bedding pellets from the local feed store as litter for my bunnies, and just have their hay in a hay rack for them to eat. they eat way more hay that way, and you don't have to use hay as litter. Hope that helps


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## Korr_and_Sophie (Feb 28, 2011)

I give hay has needed, but at least every other day. 
I use hay racks that sit in the litter box so the little bits are easy to clean up. When I clean the litter boxes, I either throw out the hay if there is not a lot left or use what is there and add more. I fill the whole rack after I clean. They usually need more hay sometime the next day. My rabbits really are never totally out of hay. 

Could you use a rack of some sort so the rabbits are not sitting on the hay but can still eat as they like? My racks are open tops (they are CD racks) so the buns can just eat but the hay is still contained a bit. Maybe even arrange the hay so it is not in the corner where they pee. 

As long as they have good hay I don't think it matters how often you give it. If they are going empty, then it would be an issue. 

I know that one of your rabbits does have diet issues, but could you get local farm hay for the others to help save money? A bale of really good hay costs me $10 and lasts about 2 months. Even if you still need to give Oxbow, it would at least be a bit cheaper as it would last longer.


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## Flash Gordon (Feb 28, 2011)

i dont buy oxbow anymore..too expensive...buy by the bale so u can give more freely...
if u really like the expensive hay then buy a cheap bale for the litter boxes and put the good stuff in the hay rack...id cut back on other stuff (veggies /pellets) to save money ...not the hay.


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## Colorguarder08 (Feb 28, 2011)

Tayler (my bestfriend and room mate) and I don't use hay in the litter boxes. Sweet Heart stays in Taylers bedroom in her own cage and Freckles stays in my room in her own cage. We just use Carefresh bedding in the litter boxes and have no problems with the rabbits going where there supposed to.


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## Flash Gordon (Feb 28, 2011)

whoops..sorry this is an edit


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## Flash Gordon (Feb 28, 2011)

and another screw up ..edit sorry.


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## Colorguarder08 (Feb 28, 2011)

We feed them unlimited hay and 2-3 handfuls of pellets.


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## Flash Gordon (Feb 28, 2011)

*Colorguarder08 wrote: *


> We feed them unlimited hay and 2-3 handfuls of pellets.


colorguarder08 im sorry i posted an answer under the wrong thread..i apologize...i wasnt askin you what u fed ur buns..:foreheadsmack:


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## Colorguarder08 (Feb 28, 2011)

oh ok well I guess it's ok to know anyways incase I was feeding it wrong.


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## Flash Gordon (Feb 28, 2011)

well u prob should be measuring it out instead of guessing with a handful or two...how old is ur bun and if u know,,how much does she weigh?..what kinda pellets do u feed?

sorry Jenk we dont mean to hijack ur thread...


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## Colorguarder08 (Feb 28, 2011)

Im not sure how old she is or how much she weighs but I do know that there is always some pellets left over at the end of the day. the pellets I'm currently feeding her come from an unmarked bin at the petstore I bought her from, but if Zupreem turns out to be as good for bunnies as for ferrets and birds I will be giving Freckles the Zupreem pellets.


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## Flash Gordon (Feb 28, 2011)

ur not feeding veggies?? then id prob do 1/3 -1/2 cup a day...its tough to guess if i dont know how big she is or age...is she a baby? 
im not sure what pellets ur feeding her..if there fresh then that might be ok but if there in a bin im guessing they arent...Zupreem i know nothing about but i can look it up and see whats in it and let u know what i find..or others who are familiar with Zupreem will chime in on this thread to help im sure.


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## Colorguarder08 (Feb 28, 2011)

I haven't given her any veggies yet as I've only had her since thursday but she will be getting veggies once I get paid friday. The pet store didn't give her any veggies either and she wasn't there very long maybe a week at most I don't think she's a baby though heres a pic of her though if it might help.


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## Flash Gordon (Feb 28, 2011)

she is a doll... she looks pretty young still. prob should be getting unlimited amounts of pellets..so if she has some left over at the end of the day ur prob feeding her enough..not sure if u know this already but when u begin feeding veggies u need to feed a small amount ,one veggie at a time. id start with basics like some Romaine lettuce, parsley, cilantro.

lets not hijack Jenks thread anymore ..i think i saw u start another thread about food so ill catch up with u on that one


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## kuniklos (Feb 28, 2011)

I give my little guy unlimited amounts of hay. I change the hay when I change his litter. Depending on if he was a poop machine over night or not, I either change it in the morning or the evening. He goes through about 80=90% of the hay during the day, so changing out the little bit left works fine.

He gets 1/2-3/4 cups of pellets a day, and four snack times. My guy is all about the leafy green stuff, so he's either get one leaf of kale at each of these times, or a small fist of parsley or cilantro. He's 3.4 lbs and has been doing well with this diet so far. Although I'm always tempted to give him more than his fair share of greens when he gives me "ol' big eye".


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## Jenk (Feb 28, 2011)

*Violet23 wrote: *


> Honestly I use horse bedding pellets from the local feed store as litter for my bunnies, and just have their hay in a hay rack for them to eat. they eat way more hay that way, and you don't have to use hay as litter. Hope that helps


At least two of my three buns can't be trusted to not eat litter. (We use the non-treated wood-stove pellets.) So we've put a grate--made from fluorescent lighting grid panels--over the pellets. And those two girls would have horribly sore hocks if they stood on the grate. (They get hock issues when the grate is covered with hay.)


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## Jenk (Feb 28, 2011)

*Korr_and_Sophie wrote: *


> I know that one of your rabbits does have diet issues, but could you get local farm hay for the others to help save money? A bale of really good hay costs me $10 and lasts about 2 months. Even if you still need to give Oxbow, it would at least be a bit cheaper as it would last longer.


I would _LOVE _to spend only $10/month (or even less frequently) for hay. But we tried a local farm hay--purchased through a supplier--just once and wound up spending over $1K to treat our house for mites. (The hay brought in a type of grass mite, as evidenced by when our pets started scratching and the fact that silk worms and moths were later found in/around the hay bale.) So I'm a super-leery of trying another generic farm hay. 

Plus, I'm in a metropolitan 'burb and would need to rely on a supplier to provide such hay. 

I should also mention that in spite of my one girl having CPS, it's actually my male Cali whose gut is _super _sensitive about any hay changes. And he's the one who requires the most hay in his box.


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## elrohwen (Feb 28, 2011)

I use litter in the boxes and only have hay in hay racks. I do take hay that has fallen out of the racks and throw it in the litter box, so it builds up over the week. 

I add new hay once a day usually, unless I fill it so full one night that they still have a lot by the next day.

I have two buns and a 50lb box from Oxbow lasts 3-4 - going through one box a month, even for 3 buns, seems like a lot.


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## Jenk (Feb 28, 2011)

*elrohwen wrote: *


> I have two buns and a 50lb box from Oxbow lasts 3-4 - going through one box a month, even for 3 buns, seems like a lot.


It _is _a lot, no doubt. Our girls are small--the largest is about 4.5 lbs.--but our male is 9 lbs.; he eats quite a bit of hay.

We've long been putting a lot of hay in their litter boxes--restaurant bus pans for the girls and a mortar-mixing pan for our boy. We fill them thoroughly so that they have plenty of hay for a 24-hour period and so that they're not standing directly on the fluorescent grid/grate for long periods of time. (Our girls' hocks get sore/inflamed even if they stand on 1st-cut hay!) 

The first solution I can think of to try, having read all the responses thus far, is to put a smaller/thinner layer of hay on our girls' grates (for cushioning) and putting hay in their hay racks. (We've not used their hay racks in a long time.) For our male, I suppose we could try giving him less hay--or placing it on one side of his box--though I'm nervous that he, too, could wind up with sore hocks.


Jenk


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## Flash Gordon (Mar 1, 2011)

those fluorescent light panels are very sharp...ive heard of people trying them for the litter boxes but when i went to the store to get some and ran my hand across them there was no way i was gonna let my buns try and stand on those sharp things...do u think that maybe their sorehocks is from the light panels??.
i buy the hard plastic covered hardware cloth to go on top of their litter so they dont dig it out..i cut it as need and tuck the edges under and it works awesome and its not sharp at all.. i have a chewer and she cant chew thru the hardware cloth....there are other options to use instead of those sharp panels.thats gotta hurt them ..


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## Jenk (Mar 1, 2011)

*Flash Gordon wrote: *


> those fluorescent light panels are very sharp...ive heard of people trying them for the litter boxes but when i went to the store to get some and ran my hand across them there was no way i was gonna let my buns try and stand on those sharp things...do u think that maybe their sorehocks is from the light panels??.
> i buy the hard plastic covered hardware cloth to go on top of their litter so they dont dig it out..i cut it as need and tuck the edges under and it works awesome and its not sharp at all.. i have a chewer and she cant chew thru the hardware cloth....there are other options to use instead of those sharp panels.thats gotta hurt them ..


You've hit on another reason why we pile so much hay in their boxes: cushioning. We also check their hocks several times weekly to catch any possible irritation early.

Our one girl has developed sore hocks in the past just from standing on 1st-cut timothy hay! So, really, any non-soft surface can be enough to cause aggravation. 

If you only knew how many times my husband and I have wandered around home-improvement stores looking for possible grating material. Yes, we've even looked at the hard plastic covered hardware cloth. I still found it to be very hard (as in a good candidate for irritating our Mini Rexes hocks). It's also very thin, which means that it doesn't distribute weight as well, so more weight/pressure would be resting on one spot.

So far, the fluorescent grid panels are working for us. Mind you, I may not sing the same tune if I start putting less hay in their boxes in order to save money. _*sigh* _But if they wind up getting sore hocks from that, I don't know what I'll do.


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## Flash Gordon (Mar 1, 2011)

yea weve wandered around HomeDepot for that exact reason too
for one of my buns i used a clear chair mat that you use under ur computer chair and we drilled holes all thru it .cut it to fit the box and it works really well.


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## Jenk (Mar 1, 2011)

*Flash Gordon wrote: *


> for one of my buns i used a clear chair mat that you use under ur computer chair and we drilled holes all thru it .cut it to fit the box and it works really well.


I've considered using a softer solid surface with holes but figure that urine might still puddle in places. Plus, two of my rabbits would likely ingest such material if they took notice of it--i.e., if it weren't entirely covered with a thick layer of hay. (My one girl has Cow-Pile Syndrome, so her gut can't handle ingestible materials.)


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## MsBunBun (Mar 3, 2011)

Usually I give two big handfuls of hay to my bunny every day... but if he eats it all I give him more. If not, I just wait until he finishes it all (edit: or if he finishes MOST of the hay.)


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## MiniLopHop (Mar 3, 2011)

I have a large box the buns like to play in that I put a couple leaves of hay in at a time. Then they have the potty box snack bar as well. I only refresh once a week, but there's lots of hay to choose from.


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## Nancy McClelland (Mar 3, 2011)

we have mangers that hang from the side and usually fill them twice a day rather than put hay in their litter boxes. We use kiln dried pine for litter and they all have carpet to lay on in their hutches.


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## Jenk (Mar 4, 2011)

*Nancy McClelland wrote: *


> we have mangers that hang from the side and usually fill them twice a day rather than put hay in their litter boxes. We use kiln dried pine for litter and they all have carpet to lay on in their hutches.


I'd love to be able to return to this particular setup in order to save on hay costs, but my girls' hocks wouldn't survive standing on a bare grate. (They can't be trusted to _not_ have a grate, though; at least one of them eats _any _form of litter. And since we currently use untreated wood-stove pellets, I can't risk giving her direct access to it.) How much easier/cheaper things would be if I didn't need to use a grate for them--or if they could at least stand on a hard grate without problems.

My one saving grace is that I've been able to put down microfiber blankets in the girls' pens to offer them extra cushioning for their hocks. They'll eat any natural fiber, though, as well as carpeting.


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## Flash Gordon (Mar 4, 2011)

i know that woodstove pellets arent harmful if they eat a some.its wood ..they can eat wood.as long as it doesnt have a flame accellerant added to it .,.it is all natural wood...ive heard that alot of buns who norm cant be trusted with yesterdays news or others do just fine with woodstove pellets and they dont eat it .
ive been thinking about ur prob and i do understand that the hardware cloth isnt firm enough for ur buns ..but i know for a fact its not even half as sharp as those light things ur using..so maybe just cut a piece of hardware cloth to put OVER the light panels will help with how sharp those things are...they will cut ur hand if u run it across too quickly..thats dangerous...or maybe grind down the top of the light panels with a sander and take that sharp edge down slightly..no way would i have any of my buns standing on that thing...and they arent rexes who are prone to hocks...i still wouldnt do it.keep us posted


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## Korr_and_Sophie (Mar 4, 2011)

What about using the resting mats that breeders use for wire cages? They have holes big enough for the poops to fall through, but should be better for the feet. Hopefully they are hard enough to not be chewed.


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## Flash Gordon (Mar 4, 2011)

*Korr_and_Sophie wrote: *


> What about using the resting mats that breeders use for wire cages? They have holes big enough for the poops to fall through, but should be better for the feet. Hopefully they are hard enough to not be chewed.


arent they flimsy?..i think she was worried about them not having a firm support under them..i would use something like this but i dont have buns that are prone to hock sores.


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## Korr_and_Sophie (Mar 4, 2011)

*Flash Gordon wrote: *


> *Korr_and_Sophie wrote: *
> 
> 
> > What about using the resting mats that breeders use for wire cages? They have holes big enough for the poops to fall through, but should be better for the feet. Hopefully they are hard enough to not be chewed.
> ...


I really don't know, I have never used them. If it was on top of the lighting grate, it might work. It would still be firm, but a hopefully easier on the feet and cheaper than lots of hay.


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## Jenk (Mar 4, 2011)

*Flash Gordon wrote: *


> i know that woodstove pellets arent harmful if they eat a some.its wood ..they can eat wood.as long as it doesnt have a flame accellerant added to it .,.it is all natural wood...ive heard that alot of buns who norm cant be trusted with yesterdays news or others do just fine with woodstove pellets and they dont eat it .


Someone recently posted on another bun forum that even the non-treated wood-stove pellets can be dangerous if ingested because they contain some form of glue. Awww, who knows anymore? I just know that I don't feel it's safe to trust my crew with anything small enough to get their mouths around.



> ...i do understand that the hardware cloth isnt firm enough for ur buns ..but i know for a fact its not even half as sharp as those light things ur using..so maybe just cut a piece of hardware cloth to put OVER the light panels will help with how sharp those things are...they will cut ur hand if u run it across too quickly..thats dangerous...or maybe grind down the top of the light panels with a sander and take that sharp edge down slightly..no way would i have any of my buns standing on that thing...and they arent rexes who are prone to hocks...i still wouldnt do it.


If I'm thinking of the right stuff--that which I swore was hardware cloth that I saw in home improvement stores--it's coated but still worthy of irritating a Mini Rex's hocks because it would be standing on thin lines of wire. In other words, more pressure would be put on one area of the foot than something that's a bit wider, like the light-panel grids we're currently using.

I'll likely make yet another trip to the home-improvement store--probably my sixth, or so--to take another gander at the hardware cloth. But from what I recall, it's thin wire that's coated. And standing on an even more thin material is likely to irritate hocks even more due to less weight distribution. 

It's not the surface of the light grid-panels that's so sharp; it's the actual edges. So if a bun's foot pad were to bend over the edges of the grid openings, then I suspect it could/would cause irritation. But sanding the flat plane of the grid isn't likely to help. And it's impossible to file between the grids--unless I get a tiny file and spend much time filing all the inner edges every single grid opening. :shock:

BTW, my husband--the one who makes the grid-panel grates for our buns--does file down the edges of the grate that has to be cut on an angle in order for it to fit inside of the litter boxes. But, as I've said, it would take a _lot_ of filing of each inner grid-opening edge in order to "soften" them.


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## Jenk (Mar 4, 2011)

*Korr_and_Sophie wrote: *


> I really don't know, I have never used them. If it was on top of the lighting grate, it might work. It would still be firm, but a hopefully easier on the feet and cheaper than lots of hay.


I've looked at these plastic "grates" before. Unfortunately, they wouldn't cover the size of the busing pans that we use as litter boxes. And if my one girl can get her teeth on the edge of anything inedible--including plastic--she'll ingest it. (I've learned this the hard way.) And since she has Cow-Pile Syndrome, I can't give her any leeway to possibly ingest such things. As long as a grate-type product fits the litter box all around the edges, it's at least a bit safer from her roaming mouth.

If I could get these flat, plastic grates in a size that would fit the litter boxes, though, I would use them.


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## kirbyultra (Mar 4, 2011)

I have 3 buns and I give them each 1 huge fistful of hay in each of their litter boxes and hay racks, twice a day -- total of 5 spots. They easily go through 30lbs of hay a month, but definitely not 50lbs. I think my buns eat a ton of hay - and one of them eats every spare moment of the day. My buns are 6.5, 5.5 and 3 lbs. Yours must be eating a LOT? I have seen my bunnies pee on a pile and never eat there again, until I put a fresh pile over that. I do both litter box piles and hay racks because they tend to clean out the rack after they've peed on the hay in the litter box. But they do prefer to eat out of the box since it's less of an obstacle. It may seem counter intuitive but maybe having additional hay racks can end up saving you some hay due to less waste... if wasted/peed on hay in the litter box is a contributor to your hay usage.


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## Jenk (Mar 6, 2011)

*kirbyultra wrote: *


> My buns are 6.5, 5.5 and 3 lbs. Yours must be eating a LOT? I have seen my bunnies pee on a pile and never eat there again, until I put a fresh pile over that. I do both litter box piles and hay racks because they tend to clean out the rack after they've peed on the hay in the litter box. But they do prefer to eat out of the box since it's less of an obstacle. It may seem counter intuitive but maybe having additional hay racks can end up saving you some hay due to less waste... if wasted/peed on hay in the litter box is a contributor to your hay usage.


My crew does eat a lot of hay. But main issue is that we pile a ton of hay in their boxes for them to eat and also to cushion their feet. (They each require a grate, so that they can't ingest their litter. I've also seen them ingest newspaper like it's candy, rather than just shred it.) So we do wind up wasting a lot of hay by using this method. 

Our largest bun might do okay with less hay on his grate; I don't think he's at high risk for sore hocks. It's our girls who're at risk for them, since they're hocks still can manage to become irritated in spite of all the precautions we've taken.


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