A new toy for Tashi

[tashibun]

 Tashi loved the fruity chew blocks from BB.  I think they were easy for him to find, and deliciously chewy.  With this in mind I took an old egg carton (the paperboard type) and soaked it in apple juice (the kind that is just juice without sugar or anything, and not from concentrate).  I baked it in the oven for several hours on low heat until it was thoroughly dry.  I gave him a single ‘cup’ this morning; it has disappeared.  I think he likes it!  I have a tub of blueberries — I’m thinking of boiling some down with water, filtering the results and trying blueberry cartons next.

[mocha200]

thats cool

[mocha200]

how do you do it? like could you give me the recipe or what ever you would call it?

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Cool! I did something similar, except I soaked bulsa wood in grape juice – don’t soak bulsa wood in orange juice – it goes moldy! I soaked it and then baked it, but the buns only eat the outside because the juice is not soaked all the way through.

[tashibun]

Mocha200 — I haven’t tried using real fruit yet (that’ll have to wait for the weekend). The apple juice was really easy. I just used the bottom (the egg-cup) part of the carton. I poured a little juice in each cup, sloshed it around a bit to get it up on the sides and whatnot, and then let it soak through until it was thoroughly damp. I put it on a cookie sheet in the oven at the lowest setting (I think my oven is 175F, but it would be OK a bit higher) and ‘baked’ it for several hours until it was thoroughly dry. I hope that heating it up not only dried it, but killed any little nasties that might want to turn into mold.

Moonlight Wolf — where does one find balsa wood? The only kind I’ve ever had was the very thin stuff for making models, and I wouldn’t think that would be such a good choice to give to a rabbit?

As I said, it was quite popular. I don’t want to give him a cup every day, because I wouldn’t think eating so much cardboard would be good for him. So I’ll try again in a couple of days and see if he is still as excited. Today he discovered apple wood….

[tashibun]

Well, I had to wait around for an electrician today so I decided I’d try the blueberry carton. I simmered a couple of handfuls of blueberries in a bit of water until they were all mushy. I poured the mixture through a sieve. It was still pretty thick; perhaps, in retrospect, too thick. I ended up painting it all over the inside and outside of the carton with a pastry brush. When it seemed thoroughly covered I put it in the oven at 200F. It was in for about an hour by the time the electrician was done and I had to go back to work. I left it in the cooling oven until I got back home, but it still wasn’t dry so I turned the oven on again for another hour or so. I’ve just handed Tashi a cup, and he has more or less demolished it. I think the blueberry version is a hit. If I do it again I’m adding more water, though.

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