Grrrr! Donny & Lola >:(

These rabbits are driving me up the wall! :evil: :lol:

They will only eat ings hay.. but only if it is up to their standard! The new bag was lovely but it was stalky and that seems to be a big NO now, they change their minds so quickly.. I have a new bag coming but it needs to be here tomorrow or they're going to be out of hay.. I'm going to see if they'll eat some timothy & rye, which was the only hay they would eat before they switched to ings.

Why must they change their minds :evil:

Lola nibbled a little bit of the baled hay this morning but stopped pretty soon after. The other day my dad took the shed key to work :roll: so I had to clean them out 3 hours later than I usually do. Did they eat the new bag of ings hay? Nope, they completely avoided it! Ate the older stuff off the floor instead. I've had to swap with Leo and Kerbie so they have the new bag. (which they love and Don & Lola now have their bag which is nearly empty) I bought h4p meadow hay for Charlie and she loves it, she also loves the baled hay. Why can't they be like her :lol:

It's not even that they had expensive taste because there was a time when they would only ever eat ASDA's meadow hay (which was expensive really, was costing £15 a week :lol then Timothy & Rye from h4p, then ings, then t&rye and now ings again.

There isn't really a point to this thread tbh.. No one will listen to me though, I'm at my wits end and no one seems to get it :lol: but Donny and Lola will just stop eating hay if they don't like it. I was thinking about trying the dust free hay, but I can't see where it says how big the bags are. And on the hay experts I can't find the big bags, so I gave up :lol:

I can't imagine how frustrating that must be! N&T are kind of picky too, although it just manifests in them not being too impressed by anything I buy roll. It must be much worse to be messed about like that! I wonder why they keep changing their minds? How awkward for you

yaretzi said:

I can't imagine how frustrating that must be! N&T are kind of picky too, although it just manifests in them not being too impressed by anything I buy roll. It must be much worse to be messed about like that! I wonder why they keep changing their minds? How awkward for you

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It kills me :lol: Their teeth are fine, tummies are fine, everything fine .. but when it comes to hay, if they don't like it, they won't eat it and the speed that they change their minds is silly! If I give them some t&rye later and they eat that I'm going to scream :lol: I'll have 2 full bags of ings and will need to order more t&rye! There is nothing wrong with the hay because the others go mad for it, but if Don & Lola think it's too stalky or too stringy, they just won't eat it.

There was a time when all Jaff would eat was stinking P@H Timothy & Rye which is like £4 for a titchy bag!!

Luckily since Ren joined him his tastes have broadened now and he'll eat Ings and even BALED HAY!

But it was a stressful couple of months when he was being so picky. I hope Donny and Lola mellow in their tastes and stop being so fussy!

You pander to it too, don't you?

If you see they don't eat it immediately, I bet you get stressed and start doing something, eg, changing tray, changing hay etc?

Have you simply just 'left it' for a few hours?

Ginger did something similar a while back and in the end, I was so frustrated, I just left it. Came back a few hours later to find her demolishing every bit i'd added in.

Worth a shot?

GrahamL said:

You pander to it too, don't you?

If you see they don't eat it immediately, I bet you get stressed and start doing something, eg, changing tray, changing hay etc?

Have you simply just 'left it' for a few hours?

Ginger did something similar a while back and in the end, I was so frustrated, I just left it. Came back a few hours later to find her demolishing every bit i'd added in.

Worth a shot?

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:thumb:

I'm afraid if mine don't eat it straight away, tough :lol: They always go back to it later on. They get 99% baled with the occasional handful of treat hay or readigrass.

I've left it all day before, from about 7.30am to 8pm, but they ate the old bag and ignored the new stuff. I am actually really mean when it comes to feeding the rabbits, but I've tried everything I can think of when it comes to a bag of hay they don't want to eat. The other day I cleaned them out earlier, about 8am and only used the new bag in the litter trays and hay racks, didn't check or top up until 3pm and they hadn't touched any of it. Left it again until 6pm and still nothing, gave them some from the old bag and they ate it straight away.

Aly&Poppy<3 said:

I've left it all day before, from about 7.30am to 8pm, but they ate the old bag and ignored the new stuff. I am actually really mean when it comes to feeding the rabbits, but I've tried everything I can think of when it comes to a bag of hay they don't want to eat. The other day I cleaned them out earlier, about 8am and only used the new bag in the litter trays and hay racks, didn't check or top up until 3pm and they hadn't touched any of it. Left it again until 6pm and still nothing, gave them some from the old bag and they ate it straight away.

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It scares me a little bit - as with most other animals you can say 'oh if they're really hungry they'll eat anything' but with bunnies sometimes they actually won't!

I felt terrible when I gave Jaffa other hay and he just looked at it like 'what even IS this? where is my dinner? i'm hungry! feeeeed me!!!!!'

KMazzy said:

It scares me a little bit - as with most other animals you can say 'oh if they're really hungry they'll eat anything' but with bunnies sometimes they actually won't!

I felt terrible when I gave Jaffa other hay and he just looked at it like 'what even IS this? where is my dinner? i'm hungry! feeeeed me!!!!!'

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Elena said:

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I looked at that burns oat hay (I think it's called) but £40+ for 11kg I think it was :shock: but if they eat it.. I don't know if it's a risk or what, the others would eat it but it's a lot of money and I've already spent £60+ on hay this month because of this pair :lol: I don't mind because it gets eaten by the other buns, but these 2 so picky it really gets me down!

Have you tried sprinkling in something else? Like dried dandelion, plantain, readigrass, etc?

Aly&Poppy<3 said:

I looked at that burns oat hay (I think it's called) but £40+ for 11kg I think it was :shock: but if they eat it.. I don't know if it's a risk or what, the others would eat it but it's a lot of money and I've already spent £60+ on hay this month because of this pair :lol: I don't mind because it gets eaten by the other buns, but these 2 so picky it really gets me down!

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Whoah!! That's loads! Can you get a sample of it first?

Is there anyone who lives nearby who you could sell on some of your Ings to? (I guess you might not need to, but it could help get some money back to afford this DELUXE hay!)

Elena said:

Have you tried sprinkling in something else? Like dried dandelion, plantain, readigrass, etc?

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When I tried that with Jaff he carefully picked the tasty bits out and threw the rest of the hay on the floor in disgust!

Elena said:

Have you tried sprinkling in something else? Like dried dandelion, plantain, readigrass, etc?

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Yep :lol: That's why Lola ate some meadow hay this morning, I put readigrass and some clover over/into it, she got really into it but when she got to the hay she stopped and it dropped out of her mouth. Then she just sat there doing nothing :shock:

I tried a forage box last week, they ate the forage and literally left the hay (this was the new ings). There was no forage left, just hay :lol:

If I didn't laugh about it, I think I'd go crazy :lol:

My lot are on Meadow hay..if they don't eat it...then they don't eat it

I've only ever used that type of hay so they don't know any different,

the only time I swap is if one of them is poorly, I give them timothy hay, cos its so rich they think of it as extra yummy, so it in courage's them to eat hay

KMazzy said:

Whoah!! That's loads! Can you get a sample of it first?

Is there anyone who lives nearby who you could sell on some of your Ings to? (I guess you might not need to, but it could help get some money back to afford this DELUXE hay!)

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The smaller bag is really too small and I don't know anyone with hay eating animals unfortunately, I know OF people but I don't talk to them. Leo and Kerbie don't mind all the yummy hay though :lol: Aside from petrol, my main outgoing is hay as my bf has been paying for the vets recently because of the amount I spend on hay :lol:

emmiiee said:

My lot are on Meadow hay..if they don't eat it...then they don't eat it

I've only ever used that type of hay so they don't know any different,

the only time I swap is if one of them is poorly, I give them timothy hay, cos its so rich they think of it as extra yummy, so it in courage's them to eat hay

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They used to eat meadow hay but one day, just stopped. Took them to the vets because I thought it was their teeth but nope, they just stopped. Got some hay from the range and they ate that for a while which is when I tried timothy&rye.

They loved timothy&rye but recently (and for the second time) have gone off it, so ings it was and is if they would eat it :evil:

It's a win/lose situation with the timothy & rye as it gives Lola excess poopers, golden poops, but excess cecals (sp?) I don't get that either though, they loved stalky t&rye, but not stalky ings!

I've never treated them any differently regarding hay feeding, I don't understand why they're like this!