Bought Some Timothy Hay

[SnuggleHam]

I picked up some Timothy hay today. I only just learned about it when I was researching about guinea pigs. Apparently lots of little rodents like it. So I picked up a bag today which will probably last me a while since I’m using it for smaller critters. My rodents must have the best cage environment going.. Nice selection of food and toys, sand baths, Timothy hay, I even just bought one of those pens you can set up on the floor for them to run in.



Gerald came over to sniff the hay and ran through it a bit, but at this time he really seems more interested in his wheel. Orlando, my gerbil, on the other hand picked pieces up right away and started to eat it, he really seems to like it. I added it to the Roborovski cage but I have yet to observe what they think of it.

[afishcalledwanda]

Hi Candace,



Please read this thread I linked up here for information on Timothy hay. It can be fine and bad at the same time. I had horses and know a bit about hay. If you don't care for it right, it can actually catch fire. It also harbors bugs sometimes.



I don't want to hear about any company boasting their hay has been cleaned or sterilized- it's bunk. If it is, it has lost ALL its nutritious value.



Pet Web Site Link

[SnuggleHam]

Thanks for the link, I read it but I’m not really that concerned, as I'm not using it as bedding or anything and I will only put a small amount in there for each of them. I didn't notice any kind of dust or anything like that when I took it out thankfully,



People buy this stuff for their guinea pigs all the time. In fact I read that its one of the essential things for them to have. I never heard anything about guinea pig owners talking about bugs etc in store bought Timothy.



I just plan on using it as a treat once in a while. I did get alfalfa blocks and put a chunk in each cage. Not one of them have been touched. In fact I've been saving the same blocks after cleaning the cages and putting them back in the hope they might become interested in it... But nope… they just don’t care



It the same with the alfalfa pellets that are in standard hamster and gerbil feed. They eat everything else and leave those in the bottom

[afishcalledwanda]

It's not the point I was trying to make.

What I get concerned with is the fact that some of the stiffer stems can be dangerous if one tries to pouch it. On such a small animal it can pierce the skin.



We didn't bed our horses on straw or hay because the tougher stalks, thin that they are can (I've seen this) act like a hypodermic needle and pierce the skin. This can cause an infection.



Guinea pigs eat this as a normal part of their diets, but in the wild, they would eat the living grass.



I also understand that it is in the food we buy for them, some like it some don't. Mine don't.



I just wanted to point out the dangers of it. I would pick out the tough stems & leave the softer leafy bits and the seed tops if you want to keep using it. I never said that you should stop using it nor did I think you were bedding them down in it.

[SnuggleHam]

Thanks Afishcalledwanda,



I understand now what you are saying. This morning I ended up taking it out of both the Roborovski's tank, and Gerald, my Syrian's cage, neither of then appeared to have touched it, or seemed interested in it. I left it there over night and it was still in the same pile in the morning. So I guess I wont bother to give it to them anymore..



Orlando, my gerbil, on the other hand must have ate all of his, or turned it into nesting material, as I haven’t found any of it in his cage this morning. So maybe I'll just keep it for gerbils.



I'll make sure to take out anything that looks dangerous.

[afishcalledwanda]

Do gerbils have pouches? I'm not familiar with keeping them. If they don't, I dont' see a problem with gerbils.



If you take a stalk that hasn't been crushed anywhere and look at the end of it, it's hollow, like a straw or needle. So, if the end is not cut smoothly but on any kind of angle or unevenly, this is now sharp enough to puncture the toughest hides.



The softer leafy stuff is fine though. If they like it.



I made the mistake of buying a bag of the stuff in a pet store for my hamsters as well, and I was looking at the stuff and said, "this can't be too good for them with all the stems here." I just put the softer stuff in and no one touched it too.



I paid somthing like $3 for this tiny bag! I figured that if they go nuts for it I could get bales of it for the same price at my hay guy, where I bought hay for my horses.



This was when I first got my hamsters and at that time, I just found PWS. I never saw a dwarf before and frankly, didn't even know dwarf hamsters existed. I kept Syrians as a kid, but that was a LOOOONG time ago and the information was little or non existant in regards to them. There wasn't a vet that would even look at or treat one. Sadly they were considered 'throw away pets'.



So as I got myself an education on hamsters I found I should not believe most anything the pet stores tell me, and use more common sense and caution before I buy what they stock. I read all ingredients and watch how many times sugar is on a list. [Those Vitakraft yogurt drops are nothing but sugar]. The feeding of excess sugar is bad for dwarfs and although it was thought that Robos don't get diabetes, [if I remember right] there is a couple of cases of diabetes found in Robos in the UK.



I also go by the rule of 'If you cannot pronounce it, it's NOT food'.



Now, I wind up going to several stores for my guys' food. I like the smaller Mazuri brand lab pellets for the dwarves that only PetSmart carries, and I found at PetCo, they have a 'food bar' of sorts where you can buy bird and small animal food by the pound. My guys love the hamster mix there and it works out better economically too. They just used to pick apart the pre packaged stuff and leave any of those bits that resemble kibble, leaving me to throw out more than they were eating.

[SnuggleHam]

No gerbils do not have pouches, I actually just found a thread on this on a gerbil forum and it seems a few people offer Timothy Hay to their Gerbils.



So I posted about it.. Someone responded and said I shouldn’t give it to hamsters because it can puncture their cheek pouches.. So there I have it huh :P



Ok for Gerbils, bad for hamsters... That's ok though as I’m getting a female Gerbil this Sunday and plan on breeding them so soon I'll have more Gerbils to eat this stuff. :P

[Coco1]

Interesting Candace. Does this apply to Alfalfa hay also? I do give a small pinch of this to Nibbles each cage cleaning and he does nibble on it. Funnily enough, he doesn't seem to touch the soft leafy parts as much as the stems. He will just chew the ends of these I believe but does chew them, as I find them scattered over his cage the next day so I know he's been munching on them. Very small amounts however. But, by the feel of it some strands are stiff enough that I'm sure they could cause pouch damage so I'm going to remove those bits from now on. I don't want to not give him any because I do know he eats it.