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Straw..

katie2000

Alpha Buck
:wave: What is straw like for bunny back teeth?

Its thick with snow here (which doesn't seem to bother the buns) but I have been making lots of cosy hidey places stuffed with straw which they are happily munching their way through at the moment.

Considering they need dentals every 2/3 months could this be problematic to their teeth? They are still munching hay too although I suspect not as much as normal.

Thank you :)
 
Buns shouldn't eat straw incase it can cause blockage/impaction, I would put some hay in with the straw for then to eat instead.
 
because straw is so coarse it's easy for them to fill up on it and not eat the hay, and this would have a bad effect on their teeth, but the straw itself won't.

as said, it can cause a blockage, and I think can make a bun colicky? My Zero used to eat straw and his poos were a bit funny so I took the straw out, I made lots of diet changes though so don't know if it was just the straw
 
oh goodness, I didn't even realise it could cause blockages - I think I will go down and switch it for hay now otherwise I will never sleep.

Thanks everyone :)
 
I'm not really sure to be honest.
People say it can cause colic and blockages in horses but then horses always have nibble of their straw bed! It's strange as people at my old livery used to feed half straw half hay (I had Obie on full hay).
The other day Obie had to be sedated so that he could have a tooth extracted and he wasn't allowed to eat for two hours to prevent choking. I took all his hay out of his stable and as soon as the 2 hours was up I untied him and let him walk around. The first thing he did was eat his straw bed until I put his hay in.

Personally I'd put straw in for extra warmth but still give ad lib hay.
 
Whereabouts are you? wheres the snow?
its not fair I want some, send it our way :lol:

Whitley bay near newcastle! the buns have been playing out in it and having an amazing time digging and moving it around - its now too deep for them because we got loads overnight which is a shame because I wanted some bunny snow pics!
 
Buns shouldn't eat straw incase it can cause blockage/impaction, I would put some hay in with the straw for then to eat instead.

Straw is a much better insulator than hay, so I'd agree with the above, just add some hay into their straw bed - hay tastes better, so if there's some there they should chose to eat that over the straw. :)
 
I have made up some mainly straw beds with some nice yummy hay too - they are only eating the odd fews strands now so I think they should be ok :)
 
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