How do you play with your bunnies?

[Tweetiepy]

I'm a little perplexed as to how to play with my bunny. She doesn't really play with anything in her cage, she mostly sits with her butt ina corner or lays in her litter. She sometimes runs around in there and sometimes she rips up her newspaper.

Sometimes if I open her cage door, she comes out briefly but then goes back in her cage. I have a knit blanket that I lay on the floor (I'll sit with her) she'll dig in the blanket, binky around a lot and then do flops. but I'm not sure HOW I should play with her. Iget nose to nose with her and pet her but apart from that she doesn't play. I mean she won't run after a ball or toy. :coolness: How do you play with a bunny?:?

 

[elrohwen]

It sounds like she is playing! She's running around and binkying, which is how bunnies play. Do you have any loud toys? Like baby keys or rattles? Some bunnies will take them from your hand and fling them to make noise. But many bunnies just like to rip things up, dig, and run around as their form of play.

 

[Amy27]

I stack things up and my buns love to tear it down. I will set a paper towel roll so it is standing up or I have some wooden blocks that I will stack up. I also hand them toys that they throw that make noise such as balls or keys. I have a ton of boxes for them that I cut holes in that they run through and chew up.

My buns also love to sit next to me while I talk to them. I will just talk about anything and they will sit by my like they know exactly what I am saying.

 

[jcottonl02]

Lol my bunnies LOVE to snatch things from my hand, wave them around, and then throw them, especially if they rattle. Then sit and wait for my to pick it up again, and then repeat the process. Add a head binky and they're all happy as can be haha!!

Sometimes they will nose a ball around for a few minutes, but they usually quickly lose interest in a ball.
BUT they LOVE the balls with holes and grooves in so they can pick it up, throw it, and then it will keep rolling and jingling and stuff lol.

Digging on, and snatching, my work out of my hands is also a favourite pass- time :/ lol

Jen

 

[kirsterz09]

Leo loves to play with rattles, though he did eventually manage to destroy one, I gave him one that had a rabbits head on it and found out that he'd decided to gnaw it's ears off! He loves to chick them about and Blue loves to push them around. Clover and Fiver also love to chuck there toys around, espcially a dumbell rattle that makes alot of noise.
The other week they got introduced to a totally new toy a cardboard box!!!!! I put it in the run and it was a big hit with the boys and Clover and Fiver, there was a point when Leo was in the box and blue tried to climb on the front trapping Leo in the box, I don't think he was too impressed with this and ended up chasing Blue around which, eventualy became a game for them lol! Even Eclipse checked it out which is rare as usually she tends to lie down as she is an old lady now, but she was doing mini binkies around it!

 

[elrohwen]

My bun loves those little rattles with the rabbit head too. Haha.

 

[nicolevins]

My girls love to chase me!
I do that all the time with them

They're favourite "toy" is the dogs football
They poke it with their noses because of it's light weight

Anything that they can jump on or move, they love

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Closed cardboard box, with two openings makes a great fort

My guys like a Tim Horton's paper coffee cup, cut in half. They like to pick up the bottom and throw it around. Same goes for the tops of 2L pop bottles. I toss it to them ,they grunt and throw it back.

Hay in a paper bag, tied up with some sisal.

Old telephone books for shredding/killing... When I rip a page, you should see their ears perk up!

Slatey has some interest in cat ticklers... those strings dangling from sticks. He charges and huffs at them... maybe not the most positive interaction, but he gets some exercise anyway

 

[delusional]

Some of my bunnies will ignore any attempt I make to 'play' with them whilst they are out. I think they've decided humans are not worthy to play with the Bunnish kind. =P

Others will knock things over (a favourite for that in this house is cola bottles), or move things which I put in front of them.

I have a couple, however, that I've taught to 'play' properly. Milo will pick up a jingly ball that I roll for him, and drop it in a dish that I've set at his side. I'm working on teaching him to 'fetch' and bring it back to me, but he seems to prefer dumping it in his bowl.

I have a bunny who loves to dig in the sand box; if I dig along with him he'll get very competetive, and dig faster, or come over and shove me out of the way to dig in my spot! I think if you want to play properly with your bunny, you have to find out what she likes doing, and just do it with her! If she likes to rip up newpaper, get a box of newspaper and wait for her to start ripping, then join in and see what she makes of it.

 

[Kindred Spirit]

LOL, What a great idea, with the cardboard box!

Fred's got a favorite stuffed animal, a stuffed white rabbit of course!! He'll nose it, paw it and I'll hold it up for him and he'll go on his hind legs(very cute). So we'll play like that, because otherwise the toy just sits there until I start playing with it and him.. so give a stuffed animal a try.

Or even a towel, he loves to play the same way with just an ordinary beach towel!

HTH!! and have fun!!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

our bunnies love cardboard boxes, so we have all shapes and sizes that they can run thru and chew on. The also like to throw things around. Paper tubes seem to be the number 1 choice. They love to shred newspaper too, so we have some large litter pans full of shredded (by hand) newspaper. They like to dig and generally hide in there--Coal will get completely submerged and then pop up like a jack-in-the- box. The one that was really a kick was Ted--he would fetch a wicker ball with a bell in it when you rolled it on the floor and bring it back and drop it at my feet. I didn't teach him this, he already knew it or just did it--I sure do miss my big boy.

 

[MCatCar]

Can you give buns those cat balls with the grooves/wholes in it? I saw them for like 35 cents at a pet store!

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Yup, you can give them cat balls that have very hard plastic... weak plastic tends to get nibbles at my house. They will throw them around like crazy

 

[BumbleFuzz]

I made a rattle toy out of an old mini hamster ball with an empty plastic thread spool in it. It makes a loud hollow noise when she even accidentally bumps it. Pandora likes to roll and rattle it around when shes out of paper things to throw or phonebooks to dig at. She also likes when we lie on the floor with her and drum our fingers a foot or two away on the floor. She jumps forward to pounce on it and then boofs us in the face with her head XD More often than not though her favorite "playing* is just getting her ears buffed and generally lazing about watching us. Her pen is open anytime we are home, she just lazes about the entrance and supervises us.

 

[Rabbit Hero]

Shino's favourite game is stealing things from my bedroom. So I purposely leave envelopes and the like sticking out of drawers where he can reach them. He'll run in, grab run, head binkie for a few minutes, then tear around the house with his prize. He'll do this a few times a day if I leave enough ou for him to "steal"

he also loves ribbon, and a plastic cup.

 

[Tweetiepy]

Well these all sound like fabulous ideas! Unfortunately my boy Peaches will mostly binky and run around - I've seen him pick up his toys and move them around but mostly he just runs in his cage (he's nuts) and I can hear him play with the newspaper. He doesn't "play" with anything really. I've also seen him move his hay rack around (which I've had to tie down) but otherwise he doesn't seem to play. However, when I go see him in his cage, he's often flopping or sitting with his back to a corner. I kinda feel bad for him being all alone like that

 

[Dustiechick]

Another good "toy" for them is to take a toilet paper roll and stuff it with hay and a few treats. My bun loves to rip at it and roll it around to get the treats.

 

[Acacia-Berry]

All great ideas! Acacia loves cardboard houses as well. She will play with rattles with me, I taught her to "toss it" and she loves this game. Outside her cage she want nothing to do with me, only in her pen can I play with her... I'm like that friend some people only have on certain days when all the cool kids are on the pip :/ Im okay with that....
Akina does not play, in her old home she had nothing so she grew up with nothing. I give her cuddle bunnies and rattles but she ignores them, preferring instead to get a massage.
I found a cat toy in the pet store for overweight cats. Its like a hamster ball but much much smaller with holes you put cat food in it and entertain a fat cat by making it roll the ball around to get food... Used to make em lose weight but I picked it up for Akina's treats so it gives her something to do in her spare time. (Note, its NOT always filled with treats!)

 

[Rabbit Hero]

Another good one is a box filled with shredded paper. Shino loves to bury himself over and over. So cute.