This is a specific conversation about Rabbit food and hay — getting the diet right — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Making the switch from hay pellets to long-stem hay is one of the best decisions you can make for a rabbit's dental health — the chewing action on long fibres is what actually grinds the teeth down properly, and pellets just don't replicate that. Hay should make up around 80% of a rabbit's diet; it's not a supplement, it's the foundation. Pellets keep teeth neither worn enough nor the gut moving as it should. Before I point you toward a specific hay, a couple of quick questions: is your Swiss Fox otherwise healthy right now, and what does his current daily diet look like beyond the pellets?
He's 3 years old and pretty healthy — his last vet check was fine. He's been on hay pellets as the main part of his diet with a handful of leafy greens each day. I've been reading that the pellets aren't great for his teeth long-term so I want to transition him onto proper long-stem hay.
inparticular.ai
Good — healthy at 3 and already getting greens is a solid starting point. Your instinct about the pellets is right. Compressed hay pellets lack the coarse, abrasive length of real long-stem hay, so the lateral chewing motion that wears molars evenly just doesn't happen in the same way. For a Swiss Fox at this age I'd go with Oxbow Western Timothy Hay. It's consistently high-quality, cut with good stem length, low in calcium (which matters more as rabbits get older), and widely trusted by vets and rabbit-savvy owners. It's also available in larger bags so you're not constantly reordering. Has he ever had access to loose hay before, or will this be completely new to him?
He's had some loose hay in the past but it was always a small amount alongside the pellets. He definitely wasn't eating much of it because the pellets were filling him up first.
inparticular.ai
That's exactly the problem — pellets are calorie-dense and filling, so rabbits always choose them over hay when both are available. The transition approach here is straightforward: reduce the pellets gradually over two to three weeks while keeping the Oxbow Timothy Hay available in unlimited quantity at all times. Start by cutting pellets to a small tablespoon-sized portion per day, and within a fortnight most rabbits naturally start eating the hay properly once it becomes their primary option. Keep the greens going — that variety helps. Watch his droppings during the transition; they should become rounder and more uniform as his gut adjusts to more fibre. Any concerns there or questions about quantities?
That's really helpful. How much of the Oxbow Timothy Hay should he be getting each day, and what size bag would you recommend starting with?
inparticular.ai
Hay should genuinely be unlimited — the rule of thumb is a bundle roughly the size of your rabbit each day, but honestly just keep the rack topped up and let him self-regulate. Rabbits rarely overeat hay. For a single rabbit I'd start with the 1.13kg bag of Oxbow Western Timothy Hay to make sure he takes to it well before committing to a larger size, then move to the larger 2.26kg bag once you're confident he's eating it consistently. It works out cheaper per gram and hay stores well in a dry spot. The greens alongside it — a large handful of mixed leaves daily — rounds out everything he needs at his age.
Your situation is probably different. Get a specific answer for yours.
