Seeking Inspired Ideas for Toys, Bedding, Traction...

[Jenk]

I’m feeling rather desperate to find three things that our rabbits won’t be able to eat (or at least not easily):

1) toys

2) bedding

3) extra traction (to cover the laminate flooring)

Two buns currently have only plastic and rubber ball toys to roll around because they eat (gorge on) all other items (e.g., cardboard, phone book paper, carpeting, bedding, plastic toys). All three buns live on laminate without any carpeting/cushioning/traction.

Our two girls each have a blanket attached to their x-pen walls; our boy’s blanket was removed just last night after biting two holes into it. (He presumably ate one of the missing pieces.) I think that he only chewed it because he’d burrowed himself deeply inside of it and thought he was stuck. He’d not chewed it at all in the past several weeks’.

I’m game for all sorts of suggestions. Remember, though: One girl has megacolon issues; her system can’t digest non-food items. And even our male gorges on anything that he shouldn’t, making stasis a scary possibility. Only our one girl is wise enough to simply mouth toys and bedding.



Thank you,

Jenk

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

things ingested can cause problems,,,however if you have access to fruit trees,cut off some branches,twigs,good for those little choppers,and gi tract,/,bags,newspapers are supposed to be ok,/and i use timothy/orchard grasses in the poop boxes and hay bins,..one thing about rabbits is they are consumate,groomers,and chewers,,their teeth are not like ours,,they are constantly growing and require frequent maintenance,,grasses make up 70% of the fiber diet,and low fat quality pellets(1oz.per# of bun),anything else is a treat,,i like to offer a hand full daily of dandylions,clovers,optional grasses,,sincerely james waller

 

[Vixxy]

Do they have craploads of hay? Sometimes "munching" is all they want to do. I can't really say much though, since my bunnies are similar. It took a few tries to get them ok with having carpet in their cage instead of eating it.

 

[mardigraskisses]

Oooh, what about those hay balls/cubes?

cubes
ball

Bayou eats anything he can get in his mouth other than his litter, so they only things I keep in his cage are wooden toys. As for traction, Bayou just has to deal with the plastic since he doesn't understand that eating carpet and blankets will kill him. :grumpy:

 

[Jenk]

Vixxy wrote:

Do they have craploads of hay? Sometimes "munching" is all they want to do.

Yeah, they actually do get "craploads" of hay. Our megacolon girl can't have any litter (she eats it, can't digest it). Plus, she's currently on a hay-only diet (while her gut "resets" itself); so she definitely gets a lot of hay.

Our other (smallest) girl gets a lot of hay for her size (less than 3.5 lbs.), and our boy has a mortar mixing box that's loaded with hay, as well.

I can't really say much though, since my bunnies are similar. It took a few tries to get them ok with having carpet in their cage instead of eating it.

So are you saying that they managed to gobble up a lot of carpeting before they finally stopped eating it? If so, how did their digestive systems handle it? We've just been through so much time/energy/expense with bunny digestive issues, that I'm a bit leery to even trust them with carpeting whenever I'm not around. (I already know that if they have access to a throw rug's edges, they'll chew/eat them.)

 

[Jenk]

mardigraskisses wrote:

Oooh, what about those hay balls/cubes?

cubes
ball

I've not fed them hay cubes. Two of our crew get some pellets, so I don't really want to increase their calcium intake with alfalfa hay. And I always feel leery about the ingredients used to bind the hay into cube form.

I used to offer that same ball toy to our girls. Our megacolon girl gnoshed on it (moreso than could possibly healthy), so it was removed from pen. Her smaller sister twice got it caught on her bottom teeth, so it was then removed from her pen.

Bayou eats anything he can get in his mouth other than his litter, so they only things I keep in his cage are wooden toys. As for traction, Bayou just has to deal with the plastic since he doesn't understand that eating carpet and blankets will kill him. :grumpy:

I can't even trust two of our crew members with wooden toys; I already know that they'll completely eat (not just chew)them. Believe it or not, I've caught our megacolon girl "trapping" a small plastic ball in her pen's corner, so that she could somewhat hold it in place and chew on it. It has a smooth surface, and she still managed to scrape off some plastic! :grumpy:

May I ask what kind of plastic Bayou's on? Is it like Plexiglass?

 

[Flashy]

Wooden toys?

for bedding why not use something like a covered cat litter tray without a cat flap and stuff it full of hay? That is safe for them to eat and they will probably snuggle right down in it.

I use fleece with mine and many of the blankets have mouth shaped holes in, but I find the pieces around later mostly, although some has been ingested (although mine have healthy guts not megacolon guts).

 

[Jenk]

Flashy wrote:

Wooden toys?

Zoe and Pink will eat them, no question about it.

for bedding why not use something like a covered cat litter tray without a cat flap and stuff it full of hay? That is safe for them to eat and they will probably snuggle right down in it.

Zoe will likely chew the edges of such a box (both where the top/bottom meet and also the edge of the box's opening).She's still recovering from ingesting a ton of plastic from a litter box back in April.

Pink, though, might be semi-trustworthy, but he'd require a big litter box. And I wouldn't want to fill it with a ton of hay due to hay costs. Granted, he might lie in it with little hay as an incentive.

Still, I should mention that Dear Hubby's surpassed the frustration point in terms of spending money on things to try for the rabbits, since nearly everything fails (and, thus, is money wasted). If the vet bills didn't stand where they do, he might not feel as upset about the wasted funds.

I use fleece with mine and many of the blankets have mouth shaped holes in, but I find the pieces around later mostly, although some has been ingested (although mine have healthy guts not megacolon guts).

Yeah, I can't risk Zoe eating even small pieces of cloth. I'm not sure what Pink would do with it.

 

[Flashy]

Remember that what you do for one you don't have to do for/with the others.

So if 2/3 can't have one toy but one have then maybe offer her that toy, if Zoe can't have material, but you think Pink might be able to, then maybe try him with it.

All of mine have different needs and different things in their cages based on those needs.

What about willow balls? What happens if they eat the wood?

Dig tray?

Noisy toys?

 

[Flash]

I bought the circular cement tube at Home Depot and cut it in half so Sophie can chew and go threw it. He loves to chew on it.

I use either a thick cotton blanket I bought at Pier One, it's quilted and covers half his pen area and he hasn't done any damage to it. I also found a few throw rugs and I cut off the tassels and they seem to work too.

What about toys they can throw around like plastic keys.

 

[Jenk]

Flashy wrote:

Remember that what you do for one you don't have to do for/with the others.

So if 2/3 can't have one toy but one have then maybe offer her that toy, if Zoe can't have material, but you think Pink might be able to, then maybe try him with it.

True; I still feel guilty that two of them have such a bare-bones setup.

What about willow balls? What happens if they eat the wood?

I wouldn't trust Zoe's gut with them (since I know that she'll eat them). Emma's not a real concern (I don't think). In the past, Pink has demolished (i.e., eaten most of) them. He fecals turned dry, and he wound up with a brief stasis bout. We don't know if ingested fur was the main issue or not. But something that looked calcified was found in his system (which has since disappeared). I don't know if it could've been willow, or not.

Dig tray?

Do you put clean dirt in the dig tray? I wouldn't trust Zoe with dirt; I don't really want to clean up dirty bunnies, either.

Noisy toys?

What kind of "noisy toys" can't be ingested? Emma now has the ball with the bell in it. It was once Zoe's favorite--until she started eating it.

It's my wish to somehow manage toalter their pen setups, so that Dear Hubby and I needn'tspend 1-1.5 hours' of literally following them around daily while they exercise outside of their pens. It would be lovely to at least have a one-night-a-week break from that routine. Zoe and Pink are horribleabout eating baseboards, carpeting, etc. And Zoe, with her ultra-sensitive gut flora balance, literally licks the floors, walls, doors, etc. Oy, vey...

 

[Jenk]

Flash wrote:

I bought the circular cement tube at Home Depot and cut it in half so Sophie can chew and go threw it. He loves to chew on it.

I can't trust my guys to not eat cement and would have a cow if they did (esp. our megacolon girl).

I use either a thick cotton blanket I bought at Pier One, it's quilted and covers half his pen area and he hasn't done any damage to it. I also found a few throw rugs and I cut off the tassels and they seem to work too.

At least two of my bunners are not at all trustworthy around fabric spread out on the floor.

What about toys they can throw around like plastic keys?

One throws them around; the other two literally hold them down and ingest the plastic. Even if I hang them from the pen walls, they manage to detach them and then eat them.

 

[Flash]

The cement tubes are made of heavy duty cardboard, so that when they pour cement in them it holds. They can chew cardboard right?

 

[Jenk]

Flash wrote:

The cement tubes are made of heavy duty cardboard, so that when they pour cement in them it holds. They can chew cardboard right?

But that's the distinction that I'm trying to make: My bunners (at least two of them) actually ingest, not just chew, cardboard. And our megacolon bun's digestive system can't deal wellwith non-food items.

 

[massie777]

It is alright if your bunnies digest some of the cardboard and wood if you give them wooden toys, my bunnies do it all the time but its not enough to block them. I would just try the cardboard tubes that you can get at home depot. they are really think and very hard to chew threw, even if they did chew some off its not enough that it is going to harm them.

I also give my rabbits wooden spoons which they love to chew and yes some do digest some but its what bunnies do. i have never had problems. If you have less stuff in their cage they are going to get very boarded and that is why they chew when you let me out of their cage. They need things to chew or there teeth are going to keep growing and not wear down right.
Maybe that is why they chew everything b/c they have been bored for so long, maybe over time if they have more toys in their cage they will stop eating them because they wont be bored anymore

 

[bunnylove817]

Have you tried the edible logz? They are "wood" toys made out of alfalfa so they are hard enough to chew on (like wood) but still safe if they ingest them. I dont like to give my bunny anything with alfalfa in it because I dont think its good for them, but it was my only option (He either eats everything -cardboard, paper, wood- or he wont play with it at all -hates anything plastic!- all leading to a very bored little man. However, he seems to love the edible log!

good luck!!

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Respectfully, I disagree with the above post.

Alfalfa is suitable for younger bunnies (under 1 yr.), pregnant does, and high-activity animals. Timothy is a better choice for older , more sedentary rabbits.

It has more to do with food content and resultant energy output.

I would suggest that folks be careful with false woodlike items... Many contain syrupy sugars as a binder, which may throw bunny stomachs off significantly.
I believe we discussed security challenges with such logs in an older post...

I'll post if I can find that thread.

In the meantime, I suggest use of edible logz and huts only under close supervision.

 

[Jenk]

NorthernAutumn wrote:

I would suggest that folks be careful with false woodlike items... Many contain syrupy sugars as a binder, which may throw bunny stomachs off significantly.
I believe we discussed security challenges with such logs in an older post...

...I suggest use of edible logz and huts only under close supervision.

I once read the ingredient list of such an "edible" log and noticed the sugar contents. For this reason, I don't dare offer such products to Zoe; her gut flora becomes imbalanced much too easily to risk it.

 

[mardigraskisses]

Jenk wrote:

mardigraskisses wrote:

Oooh, what about those hay balls/cubes?

cubes
ball

I've not fed them hay cubes. Two of our crew get some pellets, so I don't really want to increase their calcium intake with alfalfa hay. And I always feel leery about the ingredients used to bind the hay into cube form.

I used to offer that same ball toy to our girls. Our megacolon girl gnoshed on it (moreso than could possibly healthy), so it was removed from pen. Her smaller sister twice got it caught on her bottom teeth, so it was then removed from her pen.

Bayou eats anything he can get in his mouth other than his litter, so they only things I keep in his cage are wooden toys. As for traction, Bayou just has to deal with the plastic since he doesn't understand that eating carpet and blankets will kill him. :grumpy:

I can't even trust two of our crew members with wooden toys; I already know that they'll completely eat (not just chew)them. Believe it or not, I've caught our megacolon girl "trapping" a small plastic ball in her pen's corner, so that she could somewhat hold it in place and chew on it. It has a smooth surface, and she still managed to scrape off some plastic! :grumpy:

May I ask what kind of plastic Bayou's on? Is it like Plexiglass?

I think Bayou eats the wooden sticks he chews on. :shock: His teeth were just getting way out of hand though so I had to give him something.

And the plastic mat I use is called a rug runner I believe. I think you put it under office chairs so that they slide easier? My dad brought it home from work, it was thicker than the normal kinds and twice the size. Military rug runner. :biggrin2:

 

[Jenk]

mardigraskisses wrote:

I think Bayou eats the wooden sticks he chews on. :shock: His teeth were just getting way out of hand though so I had to give him something.

Our megacolon girl did that once (at all the bark off of a chew stick in one sitting); a few days' later, her fecals began to dry out, and her overall fecal passage began to slow down. She wound up at the vet's within a few weeks' after that because her system couldn't jump-start itself.