10 Year Anniversary Awards Time!
As we begin to wrap up our 10 Year Anniversary Celebration, we wanted to give away five different awards that encompass not only who Rabbit Hole Hay is, but also who our customers are!
We'll be showcasing our Award Winners through "Meet the Winner/Customer Spotlight" interviews here on our blog. This way you can learn about our award winners and hear their stories!
The Hole Lotta Hay Award is hereby granted to Mary Fletcher and her buns, Dusty and Rusty for purchasing the most hay! We know how important hay is to small pets, andwe love seeing Mary give the best to her buns!
Enjoy reading and getting to know Mary and "her boys" Dusty, and Rusty.
Q. How Did You Hear About Rabbit Hole Hay?
I've had rabbits all my life, but when I moved out to California we started getting rescue rabbits. As I looked around for hay, I found Sierra Valley Farms in Nevada. I ended up using them for years, but the owner brought some people in and instead of helping him they ended up ruining his crop which put him out of business. It was around the time that Sierra Valley Farms went out of business that I got my boys. My boys are picky, so I was trying to find a replacement hay that they liked, but it was difficult. I ended up filling my house with different boxes of hay to see if there was one the boys would like, but I didn't have any luck.
I continued the search by typing in "second cut hay" and Rabbit Hole Hay finally came up so I thought, "Let's give that a try." It worked. The box came, and the boys have been in love with them ever since!
Q. Tell Us About Your Small Pets!
I have two Harlequin Mini Lop boys, brothers, Dusty and Rusty. I got them when they were 8 weeks old and they've always been free roam never caged. They turned 5 this past October.
Q. What Do You Like About Having Rabbits As Pets?
As I said before, I've had rabbits my whole life. I got my first one when I was 7 years old. My dad got him for me around Easter, and he lived to be 14 years old. I just love them. They're smart and funny. My guys do something every day to make me laugh.
I don't know what it is exactly. My sister has a cat rescue and I've also had dogs all my life, but bunnies have my heart.
Q. What Is Their Favorite?
Food? Spring Mix Lettuce (minus the spinach) and their hay.
The rescues I would take in all came to me with teeth issues that seemed to stem from eating sugar foods and not enough hay. So while I know some people give bananas to their rabbits, I don't do that with my two. I actually don't feed my guys any sugar. As I'm getting up there in age, I wanted to be able to raise up two babies from the beginning and keep they healthy and living long.
Activity? The boys love their cardboard castles and boxes. I buy this brown wrapping paper or boxing and crumple it up and hide it in different places. They'll dig it out and shred it, but their favorite thing is their little cardboard houses and chewing them up. They also love their tunnels.
Rabbit Hole Hay Product? Right now it's the soft cut (Soft Timothy Hay).
They started out on the second cut (Medium Timothy Hay) but it got coarser so I switched them to the soft cut and they are hooked now. While Dusty and Rusty don't like any other hays (no orchard or oat, even though I've tried) the rescue bunnies love the Oat Hay.
Q. What Does Your Daily Routine With Your Bunnies Look Like?
First thing we do is get up and start on their litter boxes. They have two litter boxes (each boy has their own). While they have a box of hay they eat out of, I also use hay for their litter boxes.
We then start cleaning up their area by removing all the cardboard and stuff they've chewed, which they hate. They're night owls, up all night and they sleep all day. Even though they hate when we clean up their area, we do it and then the boys go down for a nap.
We do their litter boxes again in the evening. Around eight o'clock they have their hay along with their night snack of spring mix.
Q. Do You Have Any Advice Or Tips That You Would Want To Give A New Small Pet Owner?
We do pet adoptions over here at PetSmart, and everyone is always coming in saying, "Oh, we found this bunny, what do we do?" I tell them right from the get-go, hay is the most important thing to keep their gut going and their teeth filed down. Sure, they need a few pellets here and there, but if you give them hay, you're going to have healthy bunnies. I tell them to not give the bunny bananas and sugar as their teeth will go (I found out the hard way).
Way back when I started with rabbits they loved carrots, bananas, and pears, but it's not the best for them.
There are a lot of groups that call me the mean bunny mom because I don't give my rabbits bananas. But, like I said before, I want my guys to live as long as they can. My first bunny, he lived to be 14 years old. Back then, you didn't keep bunnies in the house. My dad built him a real long hutch along the whole side of the house and we brought him in for winter, put him in the laundry room. He lived to be 14, and I'm hoping to get that lucky with my two boys here.
