How Do I Get My Rabbit to Eat More Hay?

You’ve ordered so many different hays online — Timothy, orchard grass, meadow blends — hoping this one will finally be the one. Each time it’s the same: your picky rabbit nibbles a little hay, then hops away, leaving you with another expensive bag they couldn’t care less about. The anxiety gnaws at you because rabbits are supposed to eat a ton of hay; it’s literally what keeps them healthy. You worry their needs aren’t being met. It’s frustrating when they won’t cooperate with something so basic to their wellbeing, not to mention all the wasted hay and money. Why does your rabbit have to be such a picky diva about something as simple as hay? It’s like living with a furry food critic who finds every option beneath their refined palate.

This is such a common problem—a rabbit not eating hay is one of the most frequent concerns I hear from rabbit parents and caretakers. Even if your rabbit nibbles some hay, you wonder if it's enough and worry they'd be healthier eating more. You don’t want them getting stasis and the last time you were at the vet they said losing a few ounces wouldn’t hurt, but the reality is that your rabbit goes absolutely crazy for treats and pellets, gets excited about their daily salad, yet shows little enthusiasm for hay. Your concern is completely understandable and shows how much you care about your rabbit's wellbeing.

Why Your Rabbit Refuses Hay (It's Not What You Think)

Your rabbit isn't picky or stubborn (though I can't say they aren't a diva). This isn't a nutrition problem—it's a behavioral one. The issue lies not in what you're offering, but in how you're offering it, and most people focus on the wrong piece of this puzzle. Your approach might need adjusting. Supporting your rabbit's health isn't just about the right foods—it's about creating an environment that supports the natural behaviors rabbits need to meet their nutritional needs.

As a behavior consultant, I increase rabbits' hay consumption by modifying their environment to encourage natural foraging behaviors like digging, sniffing, and manipulating hay. This approach works because it taps into rabbits' natural need to forage for food, making the hay consumption experience more enriching and reinforcing for them.

I know you want me to jump straight to solutions, but I'll start with theory first. You need to understand the why behind my suggestions, because typical rabbit feeding advice focuses on what to feed rather than how to create an environment that encourages natural feeding behaviors. Once you understand this behavioral perspective, the solution I'm about to give you will make perfect sense—and you'll be able to adapt it to your specific household and rabbit's needs.

Rabbits Armond and Asaka play and eat hay in their maximalist litter box.

“💡 QUICK FIX YOU NEED TO TRY FIRST
Before we dive into environmental changes, let’s address the elephant in the room: you’re probably feeding too many pellets.

First, we need to get this quick fix out of the way. It’s a hard truth: you are likely feeding your rabbits too many pellets. I feel you. I’ve been there many times. Pellets are easy to feed, and rabbits love them.

Try this experiment: measure the pellets using a measuring cup because you want to be precise. Then take a few away. Try this for a week and see what happens. The amount of greens you typically feed stays the same. Does your rabbit eat more hay? You can expect your rabbit to be more interested in hay, eat more hay, and be more active generally just from this small change.
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How Rabbits Eat in the Wild (And Why It Matters at Home)

What It Means to Be a Selective Browser

Rabbits are “selective browsers,” which means they pick and choose specific plants or plant parts rather than eating everything in their path like grazing animals do. They seek out grasses, herbaceous plants, roots, and bark, showing a clear preference for tender leaves, buds, and young shoots when these are available and conditions permit. Their approach is leisurely and methodical: they'll nibble a bit here, then hop a few steps to sniff around and dig briefly before sampling something else entirely. Eventually, they circle back to revisit a promising spot, always leaving plenty behind when they have options.

Foraging Is a Full-Body, Sensory Experience

So when you see your rabbit being "picky," they're actually being normal. Foraging is a full-body sensory experience for rabbits as they use their lips, tongue, teeth, nose, and front legs to manipulate food, stretching up on their hind legs to reach choice bits or digging at the ground. Even while absorbed in eating, they remain vigilant to potential threats with their ears constantly oriented toward ambient sounds, frequently pausing mid-bite to survey their surroundings for any sign of danger.

This constant balance between feeding and vigilance shapes every moment of their foraging behavior, as rabbits are extremely vulnerable while they're out in the open searching for food.

Security and Choice Shape Every Bite

Here's the key insight: This foraging pattern serves a crucial survival function as rabbits are extremely sensitive to predation risk, preferring to feed in dense vegetation, under bushes, or along edges where they can escape quickly if needed. Their cautious approach allows them to continuously assess their surroundings and check for danger while making deliberate choices about what, when, where, and how to eat. Foraging is a self-directed, species-typical behavior where they're actively engaging with their environment and making decisions based on their own preferences and moment-to-moment assessments—not just filling their bellies, but exercising genuine agency in how they interact with their world.

How to Encourage Hay Eating Through Environmental Enrichment

Let’s take these lessons from your rabbit’s wild cousins and translate them for a house rabbit context. 

The Maximalist Litter Box That Doubles as a Foraging Zone

To create conditions under which foraging is possible, start with the litter box. Consider it your multipurpose foraging and enrichment hub and hay buffet. Make it huge - we're talking the size of an underbed storage box, large enough so that your rabbit(s) can move around with space to spare. Lay down your preferred litterbox substrate, and then pile on a few inches of hay over the entire surface of the litter box. You want the rabbit to be able to move and manipulate the hay. You can also add a hay rack to one side of the box.

Yes, Rabbits Eat Where They Poop (And That’s a Good Thing)

Now, I know you’re thinking, that's where rabbits poop and pee. Isn't that gross and unhealthy? Yes, rabbits shit where they eat. Is it gross? You'd have to ask the rabbit. But consider that they do eat their own poop. This is what rabbits do in the wild, and poop tends to accumulate near feeding areas.

Why does this maximalist litter box setup encourage rabbits to eat more hay? It transforms hay consumption from a passive activity into an engaging, rewarding experience that taps into natural foraging behavior. 

The deep layer of hay lets rabbits dig, manipulate, and move around—using their whole body, the way they're designed to forage. They get to make choices about where to explore and what to sample, exactly like they would in the wild. The hay rack simulates reaching up to grasp plants while creating some cover, so they feel secure enough to let their guard down and really focus on eating.

This combination—physical engagement, genuine choices, and feeling safe—gives rabbits actual agency over their foraging experience. And when rabbits feel in control of their environment, they naturally want to spend more time foraging and eating hay.

Mix It Up: How Variety Encourages Exploration

There are many ways to trick out this litter box to promote foraging and interaction with hay, which is what you want. Remember, this works with their natural behavior and entices them to eat. You can sprinkle their pellets and even a few treats in their hay so they have to root through the hay and explore and manipulate it. You could even get creative and mix in small pieces of salad.. Think of the litter box as nature's snuffle mat.

I encourage you to use at least two hay types, mixed in or layered. Variety and novelty stimulate the senses with various textures and tastes. I like to buy a large box of first or second cut timothy, and a smaller box of a softer "treat hay” and add a handful or two of the treat hay into the box.

Admittedly, you end up throwing out a lot of hay when you do litterbox changes. But this is not wasteful. Rabbits don't plow through hay like lawnmowers - it's not their natural foraging or feeding pattern, so please don't expect that. The hay you end up tossing served its purpose, to promote foraging and feeding behavior, even if it doesn't wind up in the rabbit's stomach.

I don't want to set up the expectation that everyone should be tricking out their litterboxes just like this, and if you don't, you're falling short as a bun parent. The maximalist litterbox is simply a creative way to meet rabbits' need to forage and encourage hay consumption. This is how I provide hay to my foster rabbits, some of whom have been new to hay. It has also helped my clients.

Tailor Your Setup to Your Rabbit’s Preferences

Remember, change doesn't happen overnight. Foraging is a skill that some house rabbits need to rediscover, and all that digging and manipulating hay can be genuinely tiring work for a rabbit who's been living off the convenience of pellets and pre-chopped salads served in a bowl.

Try New Hay Types, Locations, and Add-ins

Start by systematically testing your rabbit's preferences. Try different hay types in your maximalist litter box setup—mix timothy with orchard grass one week, then try adding some oat hay or botanical blends the next. Give them at least two different options so they can exercise choice, which is crucial for encouraging their natural selective browsing behavior.

Rabbits eat more hay when they have choices.

Watch for Where the Poop Lands—That’s Prime Real Estate

Test locations too: some rabbits prefer their foraging station tucked in a corner where they feel secure, while others want it in the middle of their territory where they can keep watch.

If your rabbit doesn't seem interested initially, make it easier for them to find their favorite foods within the hay. Sprinkle a few pellets on top or hide small pieces of their preferred greens throughout. Make sure your rabbit sees you do this - they'll be more motivated to dig and explore when they know tasty snacks are scattered in there.

You may want to try adding an additional litter box, especially if you have multiple rabbits or a large living space. Remember: rabbits vote with their poop. If you're finding droppings consistently in one area, that's where your rabbit wants to spend time, and that's prime real estate for a foraging station. When you do these experiments, wait at least a few days to see if your rabbit responds to the change. You may have surprises!

What’s Working for You? Share Your Hay Success Stories

I want to hear about your experiments! What creative modifications have you tried to get your rabbit more interested in hay? Have you discovered any surprising preferences or behaviors when you changed up your approach?

Head over to my Instagram here and share your results in the comments. Your discoveries might be exactly what another frustrated bunny parent needs to hear.