Apple Stix

[Toki+Pumpkin+Elmo]

Does anyone know how to "home-make" apple stix??  My auntie has an apple tree in her backyard so I’m thinking I can go pick some small branches off of the tree.  But don’t I need to bake it or do something with it? 

I make my own pinecones and I just bake them in the oven for about 20 minutues. Same method?

[Gravehearted]

you don’t need to bake apple sticks, just let them dry and give them to your buns.

[Deleted User]

Do any pine cones work? What about any apple branches? Do they have to be a specific type. I live in oregon and we have TONS of pine cones here. We often have moss on them as well, so how do you get that off?

[osprey]

I gathered a bunch of nice pine cones for my guys from our friends house in Lake Tahoe and they would not touch them.  I am also curious if there is something special you do to them before giving them to your buns.  We did find out, however, that our neighbor’s Golden Retreiver likes them just fine, when he came over last weekend and swiped one

I do, however give my guys apple branches.  I just give them the entire branch, leaves and all.  They go bonkers over these.  I also give them blackberry branches, leaves, stems and thorns, and they love these too.  If you want to keep the branches after the leaves die, simply cut them into manageable pieces and keep them dry.  Use them when you like.

 

[Scarlet_Rose]

Apple branches do not have to be dried, only those fruit trees where the fruit has a pit. They can be dried and store as well too. Pine cones need to be fully dried before they are bunny-safe.

[Gravehearted]

Scarlet_Rose, thanks for clarifying that! I’ve always gotten them already dried, and since I couldn’t find anything online confirming if they were ok fresh.

[Deleted User]

So how do you properly dry pine cones?

[Scarlet_Rose]

Gravehearted, no problem! I actually asked my HRS manager just to be sure and she said oh heck yeah and keep the foliage on!  I’m lucky to have a huge apple tree in my yard that I can just go out and trim a branch or two at leisure so that’s why the question came up as they sell them in their "Bunny Botique" dried.  As far as I know all the other woods need to be dried first because of the sap in them can be harmful to a rabbit.

As for drying pine cones, I saw the oven technique in an earlier post here and I know I saw it somewhere else too.  I’ll have to think about where though.

[Toki+Pumpkin+Elmo]

So does it matter what kind of apple it is? It sounds like any kind of apple trees are okay.
As far as other trees, is there a specific kind of tree that can be harmful to rabbits?

[Hedi]

I posted about the pinecones i think in the toy testing forum. All my buns and the shelter buns luv the pinecones. It has been so long since I have made them (trees apparently do not have pinecones here in the late summer/fall) .

You should cook them in the oven for 20min on 225 degrees and then turn off oven and leave in the oven for an additional 2hrs to continue to dry out.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Any kind of apple trees are OK. Those trees with a fruit that has a pit I would stay away from them period because most poison control centers list them as toxic (you will find places, like my local HRS chapter http://www.coloradohrs.com/articles/adopt_prepare.asp, that state it is OK so long as they are completely dried first).  Here is an informative site that I used recently for research purposes on this very subject (it is based on chinchillas):

http://www.chinchillas2home.co.uk/safewoods.htm

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of it for rabbits but would tend to use it as a guideline.  Generally I stick only with what has always been used (apple) and do not like to venture too far off and use my bunnies for an experiment as I do not want them to get sick. I like to play it really safe so I’m not the best one to ask.

 

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