So in several other posts I have heard people talk about giving their bunnies toys and stuff to play with. What kind of stuff do you give them and do certain breeds play more than others? I will be getting a few meat mutts and eventually SF.
Toys for the buns
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Several of mine dearly love toilet paper tubes. They throw them around the cages for hours.
dayna
Well-known member
I use parrot toy chunks for my rabbits, cardboard tubes, tuna cans (cleaned of course), baby coconuts, coconut palm fronds, and safe wood sticks off trees.
MamaSheepdog
Well-known member
My rabbits love toys! I have fifty-plus holes, and everybunny seems to play with them. I don't always see it, but the evidence is there in that they seem to have a penchant for putting their balls and things into other things like their water crocks (if they have them- the bunny barn has an automatic system) and the tuna cans that I have ziptied to the wire to hold their mineral blocks.
I buy whiffle balls at the dollar store for them. When I gave them just one ball they didn't play with them as I imagined they would. I thought they would roll them around and stuff, but no... they were kind of a flop. Then I had the bright idea of connecting two whiffle balls together with a shower curtain ring, and all of a sudden I felt the God-of-Rabbit-Toys.
They delight in grabbing the ring and tossing the balls around.
The dollar store also has these really cute plastic balls that have a smaller ball with a bell inside. Those are "pricey" by $1 Store standards in that they are a buck a pop, so they only get one of those- but it seems that rabbits (though mostly the "silent type" themselves) LOVE to make noise. So they do actually roll those around and play with them.
You can also give them empty tuna cans, but mine really enjoy tin cans that soup or vegetables come in. I give them standard 15 oz. cans as well as the 8oz. size that you get sliced olives or green chiles in. I cut both ends off (not the tuna cans though) so I can stuff them with hay if I feel like it, but most of the time they are just empty. The rabbits will grab them with both front feet and pull them under their bodies, roll them around, pick them up and whack the wire like convicted felons, and, of course, put them in their water crocks. :roll:
This goes without saying, but I will say it anyway... you will want to crimp down any sharp edges on the cans before giving them to your rabbits.
I buy whiffle balls at the dollar store for them. When I gave them just one ball they didn't play with them as I imagined they would. I thought they would roll them around and stuff, but no... they were kind of a flop. Then I had the bright idea of connecting two whiffle balls together with a shower curtain ring, and all of a sudden I felt the God-of-Rabbit-Toys.
They delight in grabbing the ring and tossing the balls around.The dollar store also has these really cute plastic balls that have a smaller ball with a bell inside. Those are "pricey" by $1 Store standards in that they are a buck a pop, so they only get one of those- but it seems that rabbits (though mostly the "silent type" themselves) LOVE to make noise. So they do actually roll those around and play with them.
You can also give them empty tuna cans, but mine really enjoy tin cans that soup or vegetables come in. I give them standard 15 oz. cans as well as the 8oz. size that you get sliced olives or green chiles in. I cut both ends off (not the tuna cans though) so I can stuff them with hay if I feel like it, but most of the time they are just empty. The rabbits will grab them with both front feet and pull them under their bodies, roll them around, pick them up and whack the wire like convicted felons, and, of course, put them in their water crocks. :roll:
This goes without saying, but I will say it anyway... you will want to crimp down any sharp edges on the cans before giving them to your rabbits.
Definitely !!!
I have found Netherlands and Lionheads to need entertainment or they get frustrated and often aggressive.
The English Lop I had in the 80's had to be entertained or would become very destructive. Apparently the are still rather precocious as are their close relatives the Velveteen Lops - here is one members experience - these-rabbits-are-driving-me-nuts-t18683.html?hilit=Surprised#p204518
DogCatMom
Well-known member
Parsley Graybuns is a resourceful rabbit. Although I actually purchased one chewy for him made of sea grass, and stuffed it full of hay, his favorite playthings are either free or spontaneous re-uses of other items. The sea-grass thing was designed as a hiding place for truly small animals; maybe hamsters? so I kept stuffing it with grass and fresh forage. It's taken him four months to chew the thing down, but there's still one end disk left from the original cylinder.
He also has a few untreated pine cones DH and I picked up from late MIL's yard last weekend, liquidambar branches for chewing, a cardboard box with hay in it, a small hay rack on the side of the ex-pen (hangs from two carabiner clips), and his greens bowl, a repurposed, heavy-duty dog bowl. The only items in his ex-pen he doesn't treat as toys are his litter box and his water bowl--although, raccoon-like, he does drop stuff into the water bowl. :lol:
Cardboard box: Yesterday morning, while I was at the computer here in the home office, Parsley went on a tear with the cardboard box (originally approx. 12" x 10" x 6" deep). He shredded an entire side and part of the bottom. He can't throw the box around b/c we've put a weight (5-lb weight-lifting type) in the bottom of the box, under the hay in it. He also likes to "redecorate" his ex-pen by strewing hay here and there and then lying in said hay.
After you've eaten the hay and "kibble" in it, the small hay rack makes a delightful noise (if you're a rabbit) when you grab it and bang it against the side of the metal ex-pen. Lots of fun!
Even more fun is to summon Mommy by picking up the large greens bowl (after eating the yummy contents, of course) and banging it on the floor. This seems to be my summons for more chewy sticks, pets, or when breakfast/dinner is later than Mr. Graybuns feels appropriate.
We've also stuffed empty toilet-paper tubes with hay, but he doesn't seem to want these; it took him two weeks to get the hay out of the most recent one.
A couple of weeks after I adopted him, I purchased (!) a chewy with pine cones and a couple of blocks of wood strung together on sea grass cord. It's still in the ex-pen, untouched. He does like to lie down next to it, though, and he moves it around, because I observe it in different places frequently.
He also has a few untreated pine cones DH and I picked up from late MIL's yard last weekend, liquidambar branches for chewing, a cardboard box with hay in it, a small hay rack on the side of the ex-pen (hangs from two carabiner clips), and his greens bowl, a repurposed, heavy-duty dog bowl. The only items in his ex-pen he doesn't treat as toys are his litter box and his water bowl--although, raccoon-like, he does drop stuff into the water bowl. :lol:
Cardboard box: Yesterday morning, while I was at the computer here in the home office, Parsley went on a tear with the cardboard box (originally approx. 12" x 10" x 6" deep). He shredded an entire side and part of the bottom. He can't throw the box around b/c we've put a weight (5-lb weight-lifting type) in the bottom of the box, under the hay in it. He also likes to "redecorate" his ex-pen by strewing hay here and there and then lying in said hay.
After you've eaten the hay and "kibble" in it, the small hay rack makes a delightful noise (if you're a rabbit) when you grab it and bang it against the side of the metal ex-pen. Lots of fun!
Even more fun is to summon Mommy by picking up the large greens bowl (after eating the yummy contents, of course) and banging it on the floor. This seems to be my summons for more chewy sticks, pets, or when breakfast/dinner is later than Mr. Graybuns feels appropriate.
We've also stuffed empty toilet-paper tubes with hay, but he doesn't seem to want these; it took him two weeks to get the hay out of the most recent one.
A couple of weeks after I adopted him, I purchased (!) a chewy with pine cones and a couple of blocks of wood strung together on sea grass cord. It's still in the ex-pen, untouched. He does like to lie down next to it, though, and he moves it around, because I observe it in different places frequently.
skysthelimit
Well-known member
The SF and Jersey Woolies just stare at things like they aren't there. Those are the kind of buns I can put a plastic dish in and it never leaves the spot. The Rex and Angoras are always rearranging things, flipping dishes, pulling off feeders and dancing around the cage. They love to shred anything they can get their teeth on.
My buns have little cat toys in their cages, the kind that looks like a mini whiffle ball, but has a little jingle bell inside it. The kits show some interest, but they're barely played wth.
I also get the rolls our plant labels come on from work. They are about 4" in diameter and six inches long, and made of super condensed cardboard (my 130 pounds doesn't crush them trying to stand on them). It's like a toilet paper tube on steroids. They love to pick them up, throw them, dump them in their water bowls and so forth. I once found my favorite buck with his head stuffed in one end standing on his hind legs and kicking with his forelegs. It like he thought he was a T. rex or something!
A few of my cages came with just mini cow bell style bells in them. They hang on a chain. The rabbits that have these love to grab them and shake them. I wish I could find more so everyone could have one.
Oh, and they love to throw their treat dishes. I'm constantly trying to find those when it comes time to give papaya tablets...
I also get the rolls our plant labels come on from work. They are about 4" in diameter and six inches long, and made of super condensed cardboard (my 130 pounds doesn't crush them trying to stand on them). It's like a toilet paper tube on steroids. They love to pick them up, throw them, dump them in their water bowls and so forth. I once found my favorite buck with his head stuffed in one end standing on his hind legs and kicking with his forelegs. It like he thought he was a T. rex or something!
A few of my cages came with just mini cow bell style bells in them. They hang on a chain. The rabbits that have these love to grab them and shake them. I wish I could find more so everyone could have one.
Oh, and they love to throw their treat dishes. I'm constantly trying to find those when it comes time to give papaya tablets...
PSFAngoras said:I once found my favorite buck with his head stuffed in one end standing on his hind legs and kicking with his forelegs. It like he thought he was a T. rex or something!
quote]
HAHAHAHA!!!!! picturing this just made my day!
Durable balls like plastic ones for cats(throw out any foam ones if you get a multipack), golfballs, wiffle balls. There are a variety of grass hay items like tunnels and hideouts when you feel like splurging a little. Willow objects. Some petstores sell a spikey grass ball they throw around and slowly eat away at. Bird toys with some thought put in to how the various objects will be taken apart and injested. BoBo's playhouse bird supplies has bulk toy making items. We got a 25' grapevine there that has been through 3 species of animals before the chinchillas finally destroyed it. Untreated pinecones. Branches from safe trees like unsprayed apple. There are a variety of chinchilla toys which will be enjoyed by rabbits if purchasing from a proper vendor and not a petstore that may sell you something inappropriate. We just got some various size pieces of drilled pecan wood on a thick all natural rope for the chins to throw about and chew on. Usually I downgrade what the chins have grown tired of to the rabbits because the rabbits are less picky with longer attention spans.
RR MiniSatins
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I have heard that pine is not good for rabbits, are the untreated pinecones OK then? We live in a Ponderosa pine forest with no shortage of pinecones! LOL
amandainohio24
Well-known member
We give our Lionheads toilet paper holders, pine cones, plastic cat balls, and baby rattles.
I give mine tin cans that had the lid removed with one of those new can openers that doesn't leave a sharp edge. The rabbits love tossing them around.
I also stuff alfalfa into old toilet tissue rolls and cut up paper towel rolls (I get 3 toys per roll on the paper towel ones).
My Flemish Giant loves the alfalfa rolls the most and my Californians like the cans. The New Zealands seem to just like the attention, so any toy will do for them.
I also stuff alfalfa into old toilet tissue rolls and cut up paper towel rolls (I get 3 toys per roll on the paper towel ones).
My Flemish Giant loves the alfalfa rolls the most and my Californians like the cans. The New Zealands seem to just like the attention, so any toy will do for them.
The_Dutchess
Well-known member
I gave my rabbits pine cones and they were fine. Toys they loved was a plastic cat ball, cardboard tubes, pine cones, a Quaker oat can, and a phone book or magazine.
Pine bedding is not good for a rabbits respitory tract due to fumes from the pine oils. Pine cones are usually pretty dry and less stinky than the wood chips.
