Bugs in straw hay...

[hummer]

Miffy is out in her outdoor hutch at the moment(only during the days), and I just ended up getting (for free) a fewfree flakes of straw hay. After I took it out of the back ofthe suburban, I saw these little bugs, kinda a burnt red on the carpetback there. I have no idea what kind of bugs they are but Iam not sure about putting in the hutch until I find out what theyare. And unfortunatly they were not the only bugs back there,I swear I saw what looked like a really big tick, although it isprobably not a tick?



Anyone here know anything about straw hay?

 

If you could get apicture , it would help in dientifyingthe bugs . If there is bugs inthere I wouldnt feed it out atall I would throw it out instead . always bewareof Free , theres always a good chance theres a reason itsfree.

 

[Carolyn]

Now you know why it was free.

No way would I give it to my charges. Definitely not worth the risk.

-Carolyn

 

[ariel]

Hummer I have to agree with what hasalready been said, as soon as I read that you seen bugs in there Iactually said out loud "don't give it to her"

I would throw it out for sure, it's nice that you were given it forfree but I wouldn't take the chance of something happening to Miffy.

 

[hummer]

Yeah, right now it is sitting in the yard, hubbythinks the bugs may go away but I am not too sure about that.Oh, and this is not "feed" hay, (I don't think I would feed her freehay, I could not trust it) just regular straw hay for digging in orgetting out of the cold to lay in. I talked to a differentfeed store and they sell loose but fresh hay by the bag for $1, I willbe going there tomorrow to pick some up. (and double check forbugs!)



Thanks for the reassurance on this, I was waiting for some replies on this and I was not disappointed!




Edited to say - I will try tomorrow to get a pic of the little buggers,they are pretty small, with hard outer shells and the coloring is kindof a dark brick red. And there are plenty of them, yuck!

 

[ariel]

I gathered it was laze about in hay not the feeding kind, however thatbeing said I still wouldn't do it, who knows what sort of bugs and whatsort of nasty stuff could come of it.

As the old saying goes "better to be safe than sorry"

 

[Emmy-webby]

I'd definatley throw away that bag of straw hay.

Like everyone else stated, I wouldn't take the risk. Better to be safe than sorry!!

-K&E

 

[edwinf8936]

Are you sure they are not lady bugs?They vary from dark red to orange and some have few if anyspots. I cannot think of what else has a hard shell that isred.

Straw/hay will have in it whatever was in the field when it wascut. There also could be eggs in there. It couldhave been stored bad.

Ed

 

[DaisyNBuster]

I have seen weevils go in straw/hay that ispassed its best. They also can be found in flour and stuff too. I did agoogle search for weevils and found thishttp://bromeliadbiota.ifas.ufl.edu/images/dimidiatip.jpg.There are apparently different types but, did it look like this one?

Vickie

 

[hummer]

I want to say that that is kind of what theylook like, except for no black on them. And they are reallysmall, I will try and see if they are still there today. Wehad rain yesterday (first time in a number of months!) so I did nothave a chance to check it out. Today I am going to try to getto the other feed store and get some of the bug free hay for her.

 

[Emmy-webby]

Ekk! Those bugs look extremley creepy.

onder:

Keep us posted about the critters. Do you possibly have a digital camera where you
coiuld take a few shots of them?

.-K&E

 

[Kricket]

I have found the occasional dead cricket in my buns' Kaytee hay :?