Safe Home-Made Toys

[Tara B]

I am trying to make some toys for my meat rabbits to play with.

We have fire wood we burn in our wood stove, but i dont know what kind it is. I wanted to give them pieces to chew on. Some of it is cedar, i know that. What trees are not good for bunnies?

Are crinkling cat toys safe? What about stuffed cat toys?

I was going to string some things together and hang them in the cages. I was going to use garden twine - the brown soft stuff - is that ok to use?

Any other ideas for household stuff to use as toys? Already doing cardboard tubes and paper...

 

[MaggieJ]

Put a few pebbles in a pill container. They will enjoy flinging that around and making noise. Inspect it now and again to make sure they are not ingesting the plastic. Plastic is not good for rabbit's digestion. Those wire ball cat toys are excellent for bunnies. They can really get a grip on them and will have great games. Pine cones care also good toys. I would not give them cedar. Instead take a branch off a safe tree and cut it into lengths for the rabbits to chew. Apple, pear, sugar maple, willow, elm and poplar (cottonwood) are all good choices.

 

[Jessykah]

Stuff your toilet paper rolls with hay.... I have also used the plastic cat balls you can buy at the dollar store, that have a little ball in them.... But when they play with toys, they often roll into the potty corner and get pee'd on, so be sure to clean them often. They also can roll under the j-feeder and get stuck or forgotten about, and I just pull it out when that happens.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

mine absolutely LOVE the TP roll stuffed with hay! its their favorite toy!

 

[Miss M]

Pine cones are a favorite around here. They also love baby keys (not homemade, but cheap at the thrift store).

 

[Anntann]

Cheap wire balls seem to go over well with my guys. and the hay stuffed toilet paper rolls...WOW. Particularly good for youngsters. Mine also like those trays that come with take out food. they never eat them, just toss them around or turn 'em upside down and sit on them.

 

[hoodat]

The one thing my rabbits seem to enjoy more than anything else is a tunnel they can run through. If you can do basketweaving a tunnel made of willow withes is ideal. They can chew on it or it's light enough for them to move around. Failing that you can just nail four boards together out of scrap wood. Leave both ends open. They like to race through it.

 

[Jessykah]

That's a good idea! I have used a hollow log piece about a foot long and they loved it. Just be sure the wood is safe for them to chew on, not pressure treated or painted.

 

[Artios]

Mine have been going nuts for popsicle sticks. :lol: Having parrots, I have boxes and boxes of toy making parts and have been experimenting with things the buns might like to play with. They also like birdie bagels (hard rings of pressed cardboard) and seagrass rope just tied into knots. Lots of tossing and binkies! I've also been raiding my apple trees for sticks to chew. Good thing I'm lazy and they really needed a good pruning.