Spider in hay from farmer

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BerryMochi

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Oct 1, 2021
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Location
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Hello!
I usually source the hay for my bunny from a local small business. It's essentially a family who has a couple of bunnies, they were getting their hay from a local farmer for years and decided to start a business to help out other bun parents as there's no other alternative. Today I noticed a small bite on my finger after I was digging in the box to get some hay for my bunny. There aren't many dangerous spiders here but there is a small number of them. I don't think there's one that's deadly to humans unless you're allergic but bunnies are a lot smaller so I'm worried. Is it safe to keep feeding it or is there a way to get the spiders out of it? My only other option is the science selective timothy hay from a pet store but it's very expensive and about half of it is just dust. I'm wondering if maybe it's better to keep feeding the storebought hay until the end of fall or switch to it completely.
 
Any and all hay has the chance to find a spider. Dead animals. Mites. Etc.
The stuff in bags isnt from a sterile factory. It comes from fields too.
You could freeze it to try and kill anything else off but its just nature.
Keep feeding it youre fine.
 
Are you sure it was a spider? I've been stuck by spikey weeds in my hay before.
Yup! I'm sure. A hay splinter was my first thought but I checked under a flashlight and there were two very distinctive puncture marks. The area got very red ( it spread far from the actual puncture ) and a bit swollen and it was mainly itchy rather than painful. I got bitten by spiders before and it's always similar. They get a bit annoying this time of year because it's cold outside.

The bite is small and got better relatively quickly so I'm assuming the spider was just a harmless meadow spider or something similar. For now, I got rid of her hay bags and put fresh hay straight into her litterboxes just to make sure nothing gets inside.
 

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