• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Beetles in new hay

Sammy&Patch

Warren Scout
https://imgur.com/a/3MJJ2IL

Above is a photo of the beetle. I tried tasters of different hays as my bunnies have become fussy with the shop bought hay. They absolutley love the soft cut I found from the Hay Box. I bought them a mixed blend 5kg and they weren't too bothered so I gave in and bought them a 5kg of just the soft cut and they love it so much that they aren't as bothered about their handful of nuggets they get each day as they are eating so much.

Yesterday I found a beetle on the box of the soft cut, I then noticed a second one. I checked the other box and found 1 on there. I searched through the hay and didn't see anything so thought maybe they came to the hay not from it. But I found another this morning on the box. The hay is indoors in the same place I have always kept my shop bought hay and I've never found any beetles/bugs.

Does anyone know what they beetle is, if I should throw away the hay or let them keep eating it. I don't mind buying more but think I could still have the same problem as it appears they are in both boxes. I've never seen any of my bunnies eating so much hay and so excited to eat it so I am gutted if I can't let them have it and have to go back to shop bought stuff!
 
I had a bale of beetle infested hay once. I would tell the supplier, and remove the hay from the house. I doubt that it's an issue for the rabbits, but it's not worth having the infestation spreading in your house. Beetles are not easy to get rid of, IME, once they have a food source.
 
I can't get your pic to show for me, which is odd as I usually have no problem with Imgur. However, I can't see a Beetle being a problem. I think you could try to establish whether the insects came with the hay or are attracted to it for some reason, but I don't think I'd be concerned. My bunny lives outside in a large shed and I watch her on a camera each night. I can see, she has loads of creepy crawlies in with her and pays absolutely no attention to them.
 
The company just phoned me and they are going to send another box and take this back. He told me about the process the hay goes through to make sure there aren't bugs so he doesn't know why they are there but he is happy to replace. Maybe they have been attracted to it rather than came from it then, which has now creeped me out as they must be in the house then! I have never seen them before and lived here for nearly 20 years.
 
I've had beetle infestations from odd sources - one year it was a conker that was indoors and something hatched out. I've had grain weevils in the kitchen - source unknown, plus one heavily contaminated bale of hay out of a batch from a friend's field. Once they get in, they can be hard to eradicate as all potential food sources have to go.
 
https://imgur.com/a/3MJJ2IL

Above is a photo of the beetle. I tried tasters of different hays as my bunnies have become fussy with the shop bought hay. They absolutley love the soft cut I found from the Hay Box. I bought them a mixed blend 5kg and they weren't too bothered so I gave in and bought them a 5kg of just the soft cut and they love it so much that they aren't as bothered about their handful of nuggets they get each day as they are eating so much.

Yesterday I found a beetle on the box of the soft cut, I then noticed a second one. I checked the other box and found 1 on there. I searched through the hay and didn't see anything so thought maybe they came to the hay not from it. But I found another this morning on the box. The hay is indoors in the same place I have always kept my shop bought hay and I've never found any beetles/bugs.

Does anyone know what they beetle is, if I should throw away the hay or let them keep eating it. I don't mind buying more but think I could still have the same problem as it appears they are in both boxes. I've never seen any of my bunnies eating so much hay and so excited to eat it so I am gutted if I can't let them have it and have to go back to shop bought stuff!
I've been buying from haybox since I got Zeus just over a year ago. Generally I buy Timothy blend 10kg every month.
Strangely enough one month I thought I'd try some variety and bought a 5kg Orchard hay and 5kg Timothy blend. Had the orchard hay for a few days and then found a worm. Obviously I freaked and got in touch with them via email and they sent me a replacement.
I've never had any issues with the Timothy blend boxes though :) honestly I swear by haybox [emoji16]

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk
 
I've been buying from haybox since I got Zeus just over a year ago. Generally I buy Timothy blend 10kg every month.
Strangely enough one month I thought I'd try some variety and bought a 5kg Orchard hay and 5kg Timothy blend. Had the orchard hay for a few days and then found a worm. Obviously I freaked and got in touch with them via email and they sent me a replacement.
I've never had any issues with the Timothy blend boxes though :) honestly I swear by haybox [emoji16]

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk

I'm going to continue to buy from them unless I find more in the replacement. So far so good! I wanted them to eat blend but they weren't bothered, it's the soft cut the wolf down. I'm happy to see them eat so much hay. I did read that the soft doesn't wear their teeth as well so hope I don't cause them problems. I'm leaving them harder hay too but they just ignore it every day! They have plenty of things to chew on though so that should help!
 
Back
Top