ball or rack?

at the moment our indoor bun harvest has her hay in one of those plastic racks that go on the outside of the cage but we are finding more and more hay on the floor outside her cage and plus I get the feeling the babies I look after (I childmind) will have lovely fun playing with the hay when they come back after the new year! so I was thinking of either getting one of the wooden racks that go inside the cage but have a hard back so they hay can only come out inside her cage or one of those hay balls which turn so they get the hay out.they are the same price so even that didnt help the descision
which woudl you get?

I would use the rack personally. I used the balls for a while for my guinea pigs and a few of them actually broke their front teeth on them.
You could also try just a pile of hay in a corner. Mine love laying in it while munching.

I wouldn't use either. Hay racks, especially those tiny plastic ones, rarely hold enough hay. A rabbit should eat a pile of hay the size of it's body a day and will often pick through to find the choicest bits so needs to be provided with more than that. Can't you just put down newspaper and lots of hay on top of that?

Most buns prefer to eat it whilst in their litter tray :lol: Mine refuse to eat it from a racks or hanging baskets, but will eat it from a box if they are sitting in the box, otherwise they empty the hay out of the box. Then when they have flattened the hay, pooped and weed on it, I have to put fresh hay in the litter tray again! Luckily their litter tray is a 3ft underbed storage box, so I put the hay in the middle (they tend to wee in the corners!) I really don't think you can get enough hay in the commercial rack/ball unless you are topping it up every hour..as most buns are supposed to eat their body size in hay each day!

I have both, and neither holds enough for more than a few hours of hay, if the rabbits are eating the amount they should be. I use a hay-ball for treat hay though, and the buns seem to like it. It does take up a fair amount of space though, and as indoor cages rarely meet the Rabbit Welfare Association or RSPCA's minimum sizes, taking up more space in the cage would probably not be ideal.

The best hayracks I've used are actually Ikea plastic bag holders. Although they are not completely solid on the back, they hold lots of hay, and don't take up much room. I don't have any good pics, but it is in this pic of my bun's old cage, it is the pink thing. Don't worry, he got a minimum of 12 hours a day out of that cage, I wouldn't confine him to something that small


He had trays of hay too, as I find that bunnies eat more hay if they are given some to forage through on the floor/in a tray, and some in a rack to keep it clean.

Could you not move the rabbit to a room away from the children? The noise won't be good for the rabbit's stress levels, and if the babies have asthma hay and dust can aggravate that.

My rabbits also have a tray, they aren't litter trained and never used it as a litter tray so I decided to just fill it with hay instead. I find it easier, the hay stays cleaner and it fits a lot of hay in it

thats a lovely cage nessar, my bun lives in a cage in the kitchen, at the moment shes in a 5ft long, 3ft wide and 3ft tall indoor bunny cage, not ideal but she was only mean't to come in temporerily as we were going to bond her with my elderly rabbit but sadly he took a disliking to her and as shes tiny with no winter coat being outside this winter wasnt an option.,,, she free rangers round the kitchen most of the day and generaly the little ones are in the living room and conservatory so she is left in peace for most of the day, she goes away for a couple of hours after school as the two schoolies I look after have various issues and can be a handful so for her saftey shes left in the cage then when they all go home at 5pm she has the run of the whole house, she also has a litter tray in the conservatory with hay in to encourage her to use it but she although she wees in it she insists on pooing all over the place!
Anyway she has her hay topped up reguarly through the day, the rack is never empty plus she gets fresh veg and a few pellets although I am thinking of cutting out the pellets from all my rabbits diest sbecause they seem to put on weight with them. I like the idea of the ikea bag but is it plastic? what if she chewed it would it be ok?

right well I have just found those bag holders on ebay and orderd two, one for harvest and one for my out door pair as i want to make sure they have more hay than anything else at the moment as the male rabbit has got fat:shock: (other post of mine), thanks for your help with this, they were also quite a bit cheaper than the balls and racks too.

Glad you've decided They look quite good, do you think they'd be ok for guinea-pigs? Sorry to post this on your thread curlyandwurly

i use a hay ball but they also have their litter tray topped up regularly as they lke to munch from there too

Out of interest, did you get the cage specially made or do you have a link to where you got it? That's an unusual size for an indoor cage, and I'm always on the look out for good indoor housing incase I have to bring mine inside - the cage in the pic was an old one, I don't use it anymore. Being 3 foot high, you'll be able to fit the bag holder up vertically, but some people prefer them sideways. I tend to position them over the litter tray, so any discarded or dropped bits of hay don't make too much mess.

Hopefully you'll find the bag holders suit your buns, and if not at least they aren't too big a gamble financially I've never had problems with mine chewing them.

I wouldn't cut out the pellets completely as they are indoors, as they won't get any vitamin D from sunlight, as it has to be direct sunlight, not through windows. I'd maybe reduce them right down though, to maybe a tablespoon per bun if they are putting on that much weight, and be careful not to feed them fruit or sugary veg. It may also be the brand of pellets that you are feeding, check they are not 'junior' ones and don't have too high a protein or fat percentage.

Its my outdoor bun thats putting on weight, harvest our indoor bun lives on her own at the moment, I cant decide wether to get her a mate or not, she has me the cat and the dog for company and gets loads of attention plus not sure i can deal with having another indoor bunny pooping everywhere:shock:, I bought the cage years ago and can't remember were from, its not custom made, I guessed at the sizes so might not be accurate but it will do her for now unitll we can sort somthing else, she has the run of the kitchen for the best part of the day but not when we are out as we have cats and a dog aswell and whilst they all get on great now I dont want to risk leaving them alone together just in case,, I do have a laugh at the dog though, hes a labrador and when the rabbit hops up he just grunts and watches her, he'd never make a gun dog lol.

I like a nice, big, full rack....


Always good for easy eating and easy filling of hay

I bought hay racks for mine and soon donated them to a local rescue...mine much prefer a nice deep storage box full of hay to dig around in :thumb:

megansmummy said:

I bought hay racks for mine and soon donated them to a local rescue...mine much prefer a nice deep storage box full of hay to dig around in :thumb:

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If i put it in a box or just in her cage she poops and pees in it, I know they like to do this but its costing a fortune in hay and she dosent seem to eat as much, which is why I thought somthing off the ground would be better.
I have just been looking at dog crates for her and the biggest is 48 inchs so smaller than the cage shes in, she can stand up in the cage and has free range, shes currently chewing the boxes we put for her in the living room, trying to distract her from the furniture and my feet lol

curlyanwurly said:

If i put it in a box or just in her cage she poops and pees in it, I know they like to do this but its costing a fortune in hay and she dosent seem to eat as much, which is why I thought somthing off the ground would be better.
I have just been looking at dog crates for her and the biggest is 48 inchs so smaller than the cage shes in, she can stand up in the cage and has free range, shes currently chewing the boxes we put for her in the living room, trying to distract her from the furniture and my feet lol

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Have you looked at buying baled hay? Hay in shops is a rip off.

Elena said:

Have you looked at buying baled hay? Hay in shops is a rip off.

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cant find bales round here, the local stables wont sell them as they are massive but we do get discounted hay so like a half bale for £5 but with her having it on the floor I would be changing it 3-4 times a day as she poos and wees in it so then wont eat it

curlyanwurly said:

cant find bales round here, the local stables wont sell them as they are massive but we do get discounted hay so like a half bale for £5 but with her having it on the floor I would be changing it 3-4 times a day as she poos and wees in it so then wont eat it

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Have you tried just puffing it up or topping it up. In my experience it's not weeing on it that stops them eating it but it getting flattened.

I use a box like this...



I also have a smaller box as otherwise they wee under the table. :roll: I top up the hay twice a day and change it every other day. Without that smaller box I'd probably change it every day. A bale lasts me a month and they eat loads of it. So for a month's hay I pay £6.

Have you asked around? Some places sell the smaller rectangular bales, they fit in the boot of a medium sized car quite well. I know of about four places within driving distance that sell them. You might even find people on here local who can recommend somewhere.