It's gnawing time!

[naturestee]

I'm looking for ideas for different chewtoys. After all, they can only chew so much wicker, fruitwood(I think it's gooseberry, have to check the package), and pine beforethey get sick of it! And I think they are- that's whatchewing on the furniture usually means with Mocha. I trieddoing a Google search and the sites I found either talked aboutbuilding hutches or said "give them rabbit-safe wood to chew on"without explaining what is safe.

I would like to get them twigs and small branches from local trees, ifI could. I think they would like the bark. The onlypeople with apple trees around here keep them heavily sprayed withpesticides, so that's a no go. What about aspen, birch, oroak? Could I give them fresh willow? There is ahorse chestnut outside my apartment, is that okay? Do I haveto bake the branches in the oven, or can they eat them fresh?If I have to bake them, how do I do that?

 

[aurora369]

I found this quote from http://www.rabbits.org in their toys section.

"Untreated wood, twigs and logs that have been aged for at least3 months. Apple tree branches can be eaten fresh off the tree. Stayaway from: cherry, peach, apricot, plum and redwood, which are allpoisonous."

They also say it's safe to used untreated willow baskets.

You could also try untreated grass matts for them to chew, dig, or ripapart. And also, I've never tried this, but many peoplesuggest giving your bunnies an old telephone book to destroy.

I also saw a reference to dried out pine cones onhttp://www.islandgems.com, sothose might provide a good chewing alternative as well.

I hope this helps!!

--Dawn

 

[Shuu]

You might consider joining the Rabbit Secretse-book mailing list. Just today there was info about safe toys. I'llcopy and paste what it said.


3. Wood
The subject of wood safety is complex and should be left upto the experts. There are some woods listed as safewhen they are in fact dangerous and their are some listed asdangerous when they are in fact safe.
Example: Cherry wood always seems to make thedangerous list. However, cherry wood is notdangerous, it is the SEEDS, LEAVES, and BARK that aredangerous. So never give your bunny a cherry limbdirect from the tree but cherry wood without the bark is justfine.
See, gets a bit confusing!
It took us years to determine which types of woods were safeand which were not. We compared many lists and did a lotof in-depth research. We now have a list of woodsthat we have found safe and non toxic.
Here are some on our list : Willow, Maple (not red), oak (w/obark), apple, pear, ash, birch, hickory, and kiln driedpine. Never use fresh pine (or any evergreen for that matter)or bark covered wood from pit fruit trees.
Remember this is not an all inclusive list and if you do not know what the wood is, DO NOT USE IT!

-From http://www.rabbitsecrets.com/AltA.htm mailing list.

 

[cirrustwi]

I'm not positive on this, and please point me to where I can read it if I'm wrong, but:

From what I've learned, pine isn't safe! I have reptiles andyou aren't even supposed to put it in their cages to bask on.The bedding from the store isn't great, but it's been kiln dried, soit's somewhat safe to lay in, but not really to consume. Pineoils can be poisonous.

Jen

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

I have a massive conker tree ( don't know it'sreal name, i think it's called a horse chestnut tree) at the bottom ofour garden so i give my bunnies twigs from there. I gave themthose twigs before i read that some wood isn't bunny safe but they'vealways been fine eating that stuff. I might accidently picking up twigsfrom the other massive tree next to it but i don't know what that oneis called, lol.

 

I like to useMaple branches , for my rabbitsbut keep in mind Maple is asyrup producing tree so High in sugars .,They love the sweet taste and will redilychew the little buds off first. Its also kinda neatto watch them strip off the barkand discard it to gettothe sweet tender inside .

 

[FreddysMom]

do you have evergreens by you? i had posted athread on pinecones about two weeks ago..... they are allowed to chewand eat them but you first have to really scrub and wash 'em and thenbake them at 250 F for and hour. a lil time consuming at first, buttheyre free and you can do a whole bunch at once.

 

[FreddysMom]

oh ... I gave freddy a willow chew ... thiscompany called the "Busy Bunny" makes willow wreaths for them two chewon .. it was only like $2 in the store and its one of the few things hewill consistently chew on.

they also have a website you can buy stuff from

http://www.busybunny.com/baskets/toys.html

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

Wood from Apple trees is best because therabbits go crazy for it. Also, sugar maples areo.k. I had a sugar maple tree in my backyard and everytime astick or branch fell I gave it to the rabbits. They loved it!

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Starlight Rabbitry wrote:

Wood from Apple trees is best because the rabbits go crazyfor it.

Pebbles loves the wood and leaves from apple trees.It's almost as bad as craisins. She chews off thebark, and plays with the sticks.

You can see the left over apple branches.......



Rainbows!

 

[naturestee]

Thanks, guys! I'll have to try themaple. They already have plenty of peeled willow(baskets and such), with more on the way from Brimmhere!Spoiled rabbits.

 

[CorkysMom]

Mine love the toys I have made...they go nuts over em.....

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=9521&forum_id=1

 

[Mr. Stee]

Bunnys_rule63 wrote:

I have a massive conker tree ( don't know it's real name, ithink it's called a horse chestnut tree) at the bottom of our garden soi give my bunnies twigs from there. I gave them those twigsbefore i read that some wood isn't bunny safe but they've always beenfine eating that stuff. I might accidently picking up twigs from theother massive tree next to it but i don't know what that one is called,lol.

My wife didn't tell me about this post till now and I have always beentold that horse chestnut trees are poisonous to most pets. Iknow for a fact that the chestnuts from horse chestnut trees are deadlyto all but the hardiest of animals (and humans). Don't getthem confused with the normal harmless chestnut trees (which I don'tknow if those are good or bad to animals)

 

[bluebird]

My rabbits always get to chew on pine, kilndried.have for many years.they prefer fresh apple wood with the barkon.Im going to the fair saturday.bluebird

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

Mr Stee, thanks for telling me that. I'm notsure which type my tree is, we have those two massive ones then loadsof smalldifferent treesin our garden so it's hardto know which ones i'm picking up. Thanks for telling me that i willremember to leave that tree just in case!

 

[Carolyn]

Toxic Plants: http://adoptarabbit.com/articles/toxic.html



:sunshine:

-Carolyn

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

Thanks Carolyn!:kiss: