Ultra Premium Alfalfa Hay
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Most orders are shipped from our Warehouse the Next Business Day. In an effort to ensure your product comes as quickly as possible, your product may arrive in a brown box rather than the colored box shown in the image.
Alfalfa Hay is perfect for:
- Rabbits younger than 7 months
- Guinea pigs younger than 6 months
- Chinchillas younger than 1 year
- Treats for adult rabbits, guinea pigs, and chinchillas
It’s crucial that you transition your small pet to a grass hay as soon as they are old enough, otherwise they’ll end up facing major health issues such as obesity, digestion and urinary tract issues, along with an increase risk of bladder stones.
Veterinarians recommend that in order to keep a healthy diet, adult rabbits and guinea pigs should have a diet consisting of 80% grass hay and adult chinchillas should have a diet consisting of 75% grass hay.
From birth until adulthood, it’s crucial that you feed your rabbit specific hays and other foods based on how old they are. Use the feeding timeline below to help guide you!
- Birth – 3 weeks: Mother’s Milk
- 3 – 4 weeks: Mother’s Milk, nibbles of Alfalfa Hay and Pellets
- 4 – 7 weeks: Mother’s Milk, access to Alfalfa Hay and Pellets
- 7 weeks – 7 months: Unlimited Pellets and Alfalfa Hay (plus see 12 weeks below)
- 12 weeks: Introduce vegetables (one at a time, quantities under ½ oz.)
Once your rabbit is older than 6 months, start to transition them to a grass hay (such as Timothy or Orchard) and decrease pellets to ½ cup for every 6 pounds of body weight. You can also begin to slowly increase their green vegetables and give treats in moderation. The transitions will help keep your rabbit’s GI tract healthy and avoid obesity.
Tired of wasting time picking through bad hay just to find the bits your rabbit, guinea pig, or chinchilla will actually eat? We visually inspect and hand-pack every package of hay to ensure that you get fresh, green, fragrant hay of the highest quality. Your hay is always hand-processed, never machine-cut, creating nice long strands and less small pieces. You’ll no longer have to worry about your small pet suffering from irritated eyes or sneezing from excessive dust. We preserve freshness by bagging all of our hay inside the box. This helps keep it from drying out or absorbing unwanted odors.
U.S. Shipping
- Most orders are shipped directly from our Warehouse the next business day.
- We don't ship out anything on Saturdays, Sundays, or Holidays.
- In the Continental U.S., shipping is free to those located West of the Mississippi River.
- In the Continental U.S., shipping has a small fee to those located East of the Mississippi River.
- Your order will arrive within 2 to 7 business days once shipped.
- We never count the weight of packaging in our product, if you order a 10 pound bag you'll receive 10 pounds of hay!
International Shipping
We do ship international, but depending on where you are located there may be an additional fee* on top of the shipping cost that your country will require upon the hay arriving. This is not something that we can pay for you, so please keep this in mind when you order from us!
*Depending on your country, the additional fee required may be a customs fee, a duties fee, or both. To research your particular country please visit this website: https://www.myus.com/countries/
To see if we can ship to your country and if so, what the process is please click here to read.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
All our products come with a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee, just contact us and we'll make it right.
Just give us a call at 530-763-6900 or send us an email at support@rabbitholehay.com.
Annual Harvest Report & Fresh From The Hopper - How's The Hay Looking?
Small Pet's Guide to Hay Quality
Not All Hays Are Stored & Packaged Equally
Small Pet Owners Ask
Is It Okay To Give My Adult Small Pet Alfalfa?
How Much Hay Should I Feed My Small Pet?
Daily Feeding Recommendations?
Recommended Daily Feeding Chart based on your small pet's age and weight:
Age |
Weight |
Recommendation |
| < 3 Weeks | Any | Mother's Milk |
| 3-4 Weeks | Any | Mother's Milk, nibbles of Alfalfa Hay and Alfalfa Pellets** |
| 4-7 Weeks | Any | Mother's Milk, free access to Alfalfa Hay and Alfalfa Pellets** |
| 7 Weeks to 7 Months |
Any | Unlimited Alfalfa Hay, Alfalfa Pellets and/or Alfalfa Cubes**, unlimited access to chew toys |
|
7 Months |
per 6lbs. |
Unlimited Grass Hay (including Timothy, Orchard or Mountain Grass), 1/2 Cup Alfalfa Pellets*, 1-2 Alfalfa Cubes**, unlimited access to chew toys |
| 1 Year+ | per 6lbs. |
Unlimited Grass Hay (including Timothy, Orchard or Mountain Grass), 1/2 Cup Timothy Pellets*, 1-2 Timothy Cubes. Transition pets off Alfalfa products other than small quantities as a treat only**, unlimited access to chew toys |
* Use a standard 8 ounce measuring cup
** Please follow all veterinary recommendations, every small pet is different and may require specific regimens to maintain optimal health
What’s The Best Way To Store Hay?
Store your small pet’s hay in a cool, dark place that is free from moisture.
Sunlight is bad as it will not only change the color of your hay but it’ll also rob your hay of nutrients intended for your small pet. Moisture (like water) can cause your hay to develop fungus, mold and bacteria, which can be very dangerous to not only your small pet but you as well.
What's The Difference Between All Your Hays?
Coarse Timothy Hay is known for its high fiber and low protein, making it a great food source for adult rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas. By late spring or early summer the hay is ready to be harvested for the first time of the growing season. It’s usually by mid June that the farmer cuts the first growth of the year. During this early growth the plant grows long thick stems, short broad leaves, and long seed head (flowers) making it coarser than the two later cuts. When this is harvested it is commonly referred to as First Cut Timothy Hay and is a great choice to maintain healthy teeth and digestion.
Medium Timothy Hay is known for being a softer hay with its long thin stems, short seed heads, and broad flat leaves making it easier for rabbits, guinea pigs, and chinchillas to eat. After the first harvest of Timothy Hay, the hay is then left to regrow and is harvested a second time usually by late summer, commonly referred to as Second Cut Timothy Hay. Medium Timothy Hay is also high in fiber and low in protein making it a great choice for your small pet’s dental health and digestive system particularly if they are aging and need softer hay.
Soft Timothy Hay is known for containing mostly leaves with very few stems or seed heads. This grade of hay comes from the third seasonal harvest of Timothy Hay or an exceptionally soft second harvest. Stems, if any, will be thin and occasional seed heads will be short. The key to this grade of premium hay is that it is made up almost entirely of soft leaves. It’s good for small pets that have soft or weak teeth which makes it hard for them to eat more coarse types of hay. Soft Timothy Hay offers all the nutrients and fiber that are required for digestive health, but due to its softness it doesn’t cover dental health. Therefore, we recommend investing in chew toys, such as Apple Sticks, or mixing in some coarse hay such as Coarse Orchard or Coarse Timothy to maintain healthy teeth.
Soft Orchard Grass is known for being the softest hay that we carry. For pets and owners who are allergic to Timothy Hay, Orchard Grass can be a great alternative. Orchard Grass is great for digestive health and can be fed free-choice to your rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas. Soft Orchard Grass has long soft grass blades, minimal seed heads and fewer stalks than other types of hay. Due to its softness, we recommend investing in chew toys or supplementing their diet with a little coarse hay to keep their teeth in good health.
Coarse Orchard Grass is very similar to Coarse Timothy Hay and is known for its large seed heads and more fibrous leaves and stems. For pets and owners who are allergic to Timothy Hay, Orchard Grass can be a great alternative. Orchard Grass can be fed free-choice to your rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas. Coarse Orchard Grass provides long strands that promote natural chewing behavior. It holds a great balance of roughage and nutrition to benefit both dental and digestive health.
Alfalfa Hay is full of protein and nutrients, making it perfect for growing rabbits between the ages of 3 weeks and 7 months. Alfalfa Hay has a thicker stem and lots of elliptical leaves compared to the long thin leaves found on grass hays. Mature rabbits can only eat a limited amount of Alfalfa due to the high levels of protein and calcium. Adult rabbits also require more fiber than alfalfa can provide to maintain healthy digestion. Transition your 7 month old rabbit (6 months old for guinea pigs, and 1 year for chinchillas) off of Alfalfa Hay and onto a grass hay (such as Timothy or Orchard).
Mountain Grass is high in fiber and low in protein and calcium content, ideal for keeping the digestive tracts of rabbits and other small animals functioning properly. It's made up of a variety of wild grasses that grow in a mountain meadow. Mountain Grass contains a variety of textures and colors, which your small pet will enjoy. Typically it has leaves that are fine and coarse in texture with almost no stems. It's known for being a grass hay that wild rabbits would naturally feed on with an added benefit of being coarse enough to wear down their teeth.
Oat Hay is known for containing mostly stems, long seed heads, and leaves. This grade of hay comes from the first harvest of Oat Hay. The key to this grade of premium hay is that it’s made up entirely of coarse stems and leaves. Near the end of the growing season the plant begins pumping sugars up into the seed heads to help them finish maturing. This causes our hay to taste great despite having more yellow than other grass hays.
Are You Monitoring RHDV2? Is Your Hay Affected?
At Rabbit Hole Hay, we are monitoring this virus closely and at this time it has NOT affected our area of the country (Northern California). While all our hay is from the 2022-2023 growing season from Northern California, there have been NO reported cases affecting the area of the country where we source our hay.
As mentioned above, the USDA estimates that RHDV2 can remain stable for 3 months. Considering the dates of the recently confirmed cases and dates of harvest, we can safely reassure you that no Rabbit Hole Hay product that is available (whether on our website, Amazon, Chewy, Walmart, or by third-party seller) is currently at risk for being a carrier of RHDV2.
Our goal here at Rabbit Hole Hay is to continue to monitor the information coming from health officials carefully to ensure we are following any recommended precautions to keep your small pet safe. We are confident at this time based on the latest available information that the transmission of RHDV2 from a packaged product like our Rabbit Hole Hay, is highly unlikely. While RHDV2 could be transmitted in hay, it would require a rare combination of circumstances for the virus to be present and remain stable.
Even knowing that, we are committed to remaining vigilant both in how we monitor and how we move forward with product safety as it relates to RHDV2. We will be paying close attention to all the hay we source in the coming days and months to ensure it is processed in a way that helps us keep your small pets safe.
