Questions about toys and nibbling

[Orchid]

Simon is an 8 week old rex, mini lop, lion head.
We have had him about a week. I have bought an assortment of entertainment for him that he seems to have no interest in.
Apple twigs, willow ball, chewy toys in general. He pretty much leaves them all alone.
He does of course eat his pellets and hay..

Just wondering if this is ok...will his teeth be alright just eating the pellets and hay?

He does like to nibble on me as well, but is getting better about that. I tell him no in a firm voice and he lays off...he has started going towards licking every part of my skin he can get his tongue on though..lol

 

[Marietta]

By licking you, Simon wants to show you his love and affection. This is the top bunnylove gesture and you're very lucky he's soloving!He's one sweet little bun! Eating hay is the besta rabbit can do for his teeth. This is because rabbits consume more time in chewing hay (compared to pellets), which is very beneficial to their teeth, because the side-to-side chewing movement wares the teethdown in the proper way. So, hay is number 1 for dentaland GI tract health.

As far as toys are concerned, some buns love to chew, others don't. Yours can be a little climber, like mine is. Or a little digger. Or maybe he likes arranging towels (beware, he shouldn't ingest fibre, it could cause a GI blockage). In the Library section and relevant threads (with photos) here in RO there are ideas for toys that rabbits like and are also cheap. E.g. an empty paper roll stuffed with hay would be a chew toy that would be hard to resist!

Marietta

 

[monklover]

As long as he is eating lots of hay, his teeth should be just fine. Hay helps ware down the teeth. I would reccommend giving him different varieties of hay. Pellets also help ware down teeth.

Keep checking his teeth every once in a while though to make sure they are not getting too long.

Megan :biggrin2:

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Yeah, some buns just don't have any interest in toys and that can change with age as well. You could also try changing it up, like take a toilet roll and hang it in the cage instead of laying it in the cage or stuffingone with hay and laying it there will maybe get him to start tossing it or maybe just eating more of it or both. Changing toys up sometimes gets their attention more. Oh, and the free ones seem to be the best ones (like an empty toilet roll or empty water bottle).

One toy that Snuff really likes to toss, are baby keys that I got at Walmart for under a dollar!

 

[EileenH]

Slinky's are also fun from time to time:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq9QsEVb_wg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq9QsEVb_wg[/ame]

 

[Orchid]

Thanks to everyone who has responded.

I am thinking perhaps because he has not been feeling well, he doesn't care so much about toys. I don't know though.
He does enjoy being higher up than the floor. Loves to jump on the couch. Don't know if that makes him a climber. Time will tell I suppose.
He did decided to tear up the swiss miss box I had holding his hay last night.
He also seems to toss his play carrot around some. Not often but every now and again he will fling it. It makes me smile to watch. Much of what Simon does makes me smile...man I never knew how awesome it would be. He is just so awesome.

 

[EileenH]

My bunny doesn't really play with toys. He likes his keys, but only tosses them once or twice, even if I play with them with him.
I don't give him many chew things, since he is not a big chewer and I'd rather not point him in that direction.
But overall, he's a happy boy, just doesn't like toys all that much.

It's a very individual thing; each bunny is their own "person".

 

[naturestee]

Mocha didn't care about toys when she was 8 weeks old. I think she started playing with them more around 3 months when she hit puberty. Suddenly every single toy in the cage would be in her water bowl every day...

 

[gentle giants]

naturestee wrote:

Mocha didn't care about toys when she was 8 weeks old. I think she started playing with them more around 3 months when she hit puberty. Suddenly every single toy in the cage would be in her water bowl every day...

Don't you love that? Duke has a thing with putting his jingly ball in his water dish. What is really fun is when they take a soft chewy toy, roll it in the litterbox/pee corner, and THEN drop it in the water dish! Ugh!

 

[Orchid]

When I had Simon out today, he was trying to chew on everything in site..lucky me that I have bun proofed his area rather well. Only thing is I have his bag of food in the corner there. No where else to really put it and man he was intent on trying to get into it today. Just not fun for him unless he isn't supposed to be doing something.

Though he does seem to be liking his toy carrot today. He has been picking at it, rolling it, digging at it and throwing it.