Cotton ravaging his Oxbow Hay Stack

 

Cotton doesn't like his Hay cake so I would think he wouldn't like his Hay Stack as well. What am I going to do because I did not want to waste food and money. Pssst....Hay Stack ($25) costs more than Hay cake ($12.80). Ouch!

 

I checked the ingredients of the Hay Stack and confirmed there is NO cane molasses....OH NO!!! Suddenly I realized that I depend on molasses a lot in order to get Cotton to try new things! That isn't too healthy but as long as the amount of molasses is within acceptable range (that means as long as molasses is not the top 5 ingredients listing where usually the order of ingredient listed would normally based on the decreasing order of amount added).

 

So I decided to use the pellets which have molasses in them and stashed into the Hay Stack. Cotton has very sensitive sense for smell (maybe that's normal for rabbit) and Cotton started digging for the pellets in the Hay Stack. See video.

 

Video Disclaimer: It's not for the weak stomachs. Some violence scenes are expected. :p

 

 

 

 

So does my strategy work? I do not know yet because at least it gotten his attention to ravaging the Hay Stack but not sure if he will eat his hay from the stack. Will update again in next few days if he eats the hay stack.....or not.

 

Stay tune.

 

Updated on 02-Apr-2014:

To get a clearer picture if Cotton does eat his hay stack, I have setup an 'experiment' to test it out. In his next change of litter box, I just gave him just one hay stack and no loose hays. As per instructed on the packaging, the compressed hay stack must be torn a little in an 'S' form so that bunnies can maximize their foraging pleasure. I personally think the instruction is very useful and helpful.

 

1 Oxbow Hay Stack added to his next litter box change

The compressed hay stack is loosen by hand to form an 'S' shaped 

Overnight: Cotton have dug further one small part and did eat the stack

After 24hours (Day 2): Only a small portion of 'S' shaped was left.

Cotton foraging at his hay stack

So Cotton did not waste his mummy's hard-earned monies and eat his given hay stack. It's true that at the initial stage, the hay stack is cleaner and less messier to begin with. However, once Cotton started tearing the stack apart, be expected there will be much loose hay around. Let me break down the Pros and Cons of the hay stack:

Pros:
- Clean and no mess at the beginning only
- Cotton is kept busy with the tearing apart

Cons:
- Price is not cheap
- Cotton doesn't like to work for his food so he did not eat as much than if he is fed with loose hays
- Cotton urines a lot so his litter box has to be cleaned every 1-2 days (no longer than 2 days) so recycling the un-eaten hay stack seems unhygienic and waste $$ as Cotton only ate about 40% or so of the stack
- Hay stack lacks those long hay strains types which are just important in providing the essential fibre content.....and Cotton loves eating these long hay strains which are crunchy and good for his teeth too
- Hays in the hay stack does not look as green as those in loose hays packs.

Verdict? I won't repurchase the hay stack once Cotton finishes this stock because the Cons outweighs the Pros. :P