Annie and Emmie's Carrot Patch | Toys for your Bunnies!

Here's a list of toys taken from the San Diego HRS, that will keep
your bun amused for his entire life.

Tip:

Toys are more of a necessity than you might think. They provide mental stimulation and growth and keep the buns busy. One of the things I do to keep my buns busy and provide mental stimulation is:

I take a dog toy, like one shown on the left, and I put treats (papaya tablets and raisins) in it. They toss it and nudge it until the treats come out.

• Cardboard box filled with hay. Cut two little holes in opposite sides
and Bun will generally chew on the hole areas to make them bigger and
then jump in and play and dig, or simply destroy the box. Oh well, that's
what it's for.

• Plain paper bag, on its side. Grocery bags are great for this. Add
some hay inside as an extra enticement to enter.

• Large cardboard concrete forms from the hardware store. These
tubes resemble a burrow and Bun will love to dig in, sleep in and run
through them.Put one end of the cardboard form into a box and Bun can
run up the tube and land in the box.

• Untreated wicker baskets are good chew toys. Fill will hay, pine
cones, phone books, toilet paper rolls or other chewable items.

• Plain, untreated, woven-straw paper-plate holders are also
excellent chewing toys.

• Toilet paper or paper towel cardboard rolls. Fill with hay so it's
sticking out the ends, or serve up a la carte as objects to nibble. Round,
empty oatmeal containers are also fun to push around and chew. Ever-
popular, plentiful and economical.

• Cardboard cat condos, available at many pet supply stores, provide
climbing and chewing entertainment. These inexpensive items have many
levels from which Bun can enjoy the view of the household. The "Little
Tykes" gym from Toys-R-Us is the same concept as the cat condo, but
made out of hard plastic and designed for children. This gym is good for
backyard play if your rabbit has supervised time outside. People have
even been known to put this climbing apparatus in their home. Now
that's dedication!

• Sea grass mats, untreated, from Pier 1 or Cost Plus Imports are
meant for floor covering, but rabbits love to chew on them. Available in
individual squares or sewn together in larger pieces.

• Towels in the cage or a box are irresistible to the dedicated
rearranger; she will love to push and pull the cloth.

• Some cat and baby toys are also good for rabbits. Hard plastic baby
toys, such as rattles and plastic keys, and plastic cat toys, such as one-
inch barrels with a bell inside, are great toss toys because Bun can grip
these with his front teeth and fling them. (Yes, it is normal for Bun to
continually throw these directly into his water bowl!) The larger metal cat
ball is also a good toss toy. Large parrot toys that hang from the top of
Bun's cage are good for making noise and bumping into.

• A canning jar ring is good for tossing. Just be sure the ring is either
way too small for your rabbit to get his head stuck in it, or way too big
to strangle Bun.

• Newspapers secured under a table leg will provide hours of tugging
and shredding fun. Old phone books are also favorites to shred. Don't
worry if you can't account for all the paper later. The paper itself is
cellulose and digestible; and modern printing inks are made from
soybeans, not petroleum products, so they are not poisonous in these
small quantities.

• If you have stairs, can you make at least several steps available to
your rabbit? They love to run up and down stairs, an excellent workout
for strong "abs." Use a baby-gate to seal off the area at the end of the
stairs where you don't want them to go. Being ground/underground
dwellers, rabbits generally have an innate fear of heights (just watch their
eyes go wide when you hold them high up), so they aren't likely to crawl
through stair rails and take a dangerous leap to the floor far below.

• Ramps up to another level (the sofa or upper level of the cat condo)
can be fun. Keep the incline less than about 30 degrees and cover the
ramp with a piece of carpet for better traction.

Move the toys around

Keep Bun amused and involved by rearranging his toys--offer them in
different places, stack them, move them around. He may see the items in
a different light, trying out some toys that previously had not interested
him. And your moving things around may prompt a fit of orderliness in
the rabbit who thought things were arranged just right beforehand.

Words of caution

When experimenting with toys for your rabbit, make sure Bun cannot
swallow and choke on parts of the toy. Beware of rubber items, and
parts that could fall off or be gnawed off and ingested. Cloth items, such
as dish rags or fabric pieces, could potentially cause harm if Bun
swallows the hard-to-digest threads. Plenty of fresh hay is a big help in
moving anything eaten through Bun's digestive system. Finally, be sure
any chew holes are big enough the Bun cannot get his head stuck--
panic and struggling to get free could lead to strangulation.

Annie and Emmie's Toys

@a sisal monkey fist from their Christmas stocking from Bunny Bytes

@a doggy Kong ball, that I fill with raisins or papaya tablets, as a mental stimulation

@an untreated wicker basket

@two sets of keys:

one from their Bunny Bytes Christmas stocking with wood and a bell

HARD plastic baby keys

@a washcloth for scooting and bunching

@a cat toy with a bell in it

@a metal tin for tossing

@paper towel and toilet paper rolls for chewing and nudging

Some Bunny Tous Manufacturers:

@Bunny Luv

@Busy Bunny

@Bunny Bytes