Hay mess in a rented house with a rabbit

Hay mess in a shared rental is a real tension — but here's the thing: hay still has to be 80% of your rabbit's diet, full stop. It's not decorative, it's what keeps their gut moving and their teeth worn down properly. Pellets are a small supplement on top, not the main event. So the goal isn't less hay — it's contained hay. How old is your rabbit, are they in good health, and what are you currently feeding them day to day?

A Smoke Pearl at 2 is in her prime — good gut motility, active teeth, so she genuinely needs unlimited timothy or meadow hay available all the time. The side-mounted rack is the problem. Rabbits pull hay out, drag it around, and sit in it — it's natural foraging behaviour, but an open rack doesn't contain any of that. What does her enclosure look like — is it a pen, a hutch, or does she free-roam a room?

That's the key detail — if she's using her litter tray reliably, you can move the hay feeding entirely into the tray. Rabbits almost always eat and toilet at the same time, so putting hay directly in or right above the litter tray means the mess stays in one contained spot. The product I'd point you to is the Rosewood Boredom Breaker Small Animal Activity Centre — but actually, more practically, the simplest fix is a dedicated hay feeder that mounts directly above the litter tray inside the pen. The Supreme Petfoods Leaky Bowl or a Simple wooden hay rack mounted low and inside the tray area both work. For your specific situation though, I'd go with the Hay Bag Feeder by Rosewood — it hangs on the pen bars, sits directly over the tray, and the fabric sides stop hay scattering outward. Pair it with a litter tray that has higher sides, like the Savic Bunny Litter Tray, and almost all the hay stays inside the tray. That's a landlord-friendly setup without compromising her diet.

Depends what you're using. At 2 years old she should be on timothy hay or meadow hay as her main hay — not alfalfa, which is too high in calcium for an adult rabbit and can cause bladder sludge over time. If you're already on timothy or a quality meadow mix, keep it. One thing that does help with mess specifically is hay that's slightly compressed into smaller flakes rather than loose long strands — something like Burgess Excel Timothy Hay comes in a resealable bag and the cut is more consistent, which means less scatter than very long, wispy hay. But type matters more than cut — get the type right first.

A small bowl once a day is fine in principle, but watch the quantity. For a 2-year-old rabbit the standard guide is about one egg-cup of pellets per kg of body weight per day — Smoke Pearls are typically around 1.5 to 2kg, so you're looking at one to two egg-cups maximum. Go for a plain, high-fibre pellet with no added seeds or coloured pieces — those extras get selectively eaten and throw the balance off. Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food is the one I'd recommend: high fibre, uniform pellets so she can't pick favourites, and it's widely available. Keep hay unlimited, pellets measured, and fresh leafy greens daily and she'll be in great shape — and with the hay contained above the litter tray, your landlord should have a lot less to complain about.