Hay What does mold on hay look like?

[Rainspinner]

I bought a bale of hay last year (late August?), and because my dad wouldn't let me keep it in the house, we've been keeping it in the garage.

Now, I need to take out some of that hay because we've used up what we had in the house, but I can't tell what mold looks like to check for it.

I live in Vancouver, and I don't think we're that humid here. The hay is stored in a cardboard box with plenty of holes poked in it. I've tried Googling, but many results just say smell it for mold, but I have no idea what mold smells like! Any help/photos would be appreciated.

 

[RayneBowPig]

http://www.binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/113224/Default.aspx
They have someone asking that question, and if you scroll down, there's a really good picture of badly molded hay.

Hope that helps a bit

 

[Rainspinner]

Thanks for the link! Do you know at what point is the hay not good for consumption for the pigs? There's nothing that looks like that on my hay, but I'm worried there might be mold that cannot be seen yet? Am I being too paranoid, haha.

 

[RayneBowPig]

I honestly don't know. I'm very new to guinea pigs, and am still learning a lot, but the mold on hay was something I always meant to look up, but never had until I saw your post.


I know a lot of people have stored theirs in a garage with no issues, so long as it can get air through air holes in the box, and I think people kept theirs off the ground, just had.it placed.over 2x4s, or on a table so the moisture that may develop on the cement floor wouldn't go into the hay. The hay on farms is stored in the hay loft, so it's exposed to humidity, but has lots of air flow to keep it dry. I'm fairly positive that when researching how to store hay, that's how people had done it.

You could try doing a search on here to see how others have stored theirs, I did that when figuring out how to store the 50lbs of hay I bought, not realizing that was a bale of hay lol

Hopefully someone who has stored lots of hay comes along

 

[pinky]

As long as your hay has been kept dry and well ventilated, you shouldn't have a problem. If it's gotten wet or you've had it in an airtight container, it could mold. I store my hay in my garage and it's never gotten moldy. I keep it up, off the garage floor in yard waste bags with a bed sheet over them to keep out bugs.