Can I buy hay bales off Craigslist for my chins?

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Phoeblie

Active member
Joined
May 6, 2017
Messages
36
Location
Connecticut, USA
Hi all,

I notice a lot of people are selling bales of timothy hay, both first and second cut, on Craigslist. They're about $5-7, so very inexpensive compared to what I see in stores. I'm also assuming they're pretty big. Should I pick up a bale to try out?

If it's ok, what precautions should I make so the hay is safe for the chins?

My chins had been fed Charlie Chinchilla feed from their previous owner, and I switched them to hay and pellets. The first bag that I got(and is still going through) isn't very good quality, but they were still very excited when they started eating hay. They're not pampered to 'best quality hay' and that stuff, not yet. So I'm not sure if that will matter in comparison of my chins being picky on new types of hay.
 
I would be wary of buying hay from random people, is it being sold by a person from their house? or from a farmer? If it's just a random person selling it and they don't have a store or anything I wouldn't do it, you don't know how they may have stored it and if it was in contact with any sick animals, etc. However if it's being sold from a farm you just need to make sure it's horse quality hay. When you go to get it if they let you pry one of the bales open to make sure it's not moldy or dusty, and that it smells good, once again not moldy or anything.
 
I buy from local farmers that advertise horse hay, have had good luck with it, I would say as long as its horse hay and it looks good buy it, if the chin does not like it see if you can find a local rodent rescue to give it to.
 
Hi guys! Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it very much. I will go ahead and contact some sellers. I vaguely remember that one of the postings said it was for horses. It shouldn't be a problem finding another one for horses, since I see a lot of those posts. Hopefully I'll be able to get a nice bale and my chins will like it 😄
 
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