Tiny brown bugs in Timothy Hay

[ARPena415]

Hello all,

Very recently I noticed a few small bugs crawling on the bag of my Timothy Hay. I keep the bag inside a large plastic bin. I've never seen them before so I'm going to empty the large bin and sort through the sealed bags of extra toys that I also keep in there!
I don't want to panic and stress, and I'm assuming I need to toss the entire supply?

Please let me know what to do next! I just want to be sure 100%

Thank you all in advance!

 

[Amethyst]

I'm not sure what the bugs are, but I would at least sort the hay to make sure you aren't giving your chin bugs. If there isn't much hay left you could probably just toss it, but if there are only a few bugs not infested with bugs, and it's new with a lot is left I would try to save it. Most bugs would likely not contaminated the hay, but you don't want the chin eating them. You could freeze the hay, that should kill any bugs in it then you can go through the hay to remove the bugs as you see them.

 

[ARPena415]

Thank you for replying! I decided to toss the hay. It was given to me by a friend who had purchased it from a feed store, and based on what little bit I’ve found online, that can be considered a normal finding.
Still, I figured it’s best to be safe. Plus we had the hay for many months since it was such a large quantity.
He’s definitely happier with the new, fresh hay!