Bored Bunny?

[TrixiePie]

I have a male Holland Lop named Trix who is over a year old. I am worried that he gets bored or lonely through out the day while I am gone. I have tried to give him numbers of toys but he is never interested or plays with them and never really has wanted to. I have given him numbers of toys for bunnies at the pet store but he still never plays with them. Do some bunnies just not want to play at all? He just sits there and stares at the wall so it sure seems like he would be bored. Any toy ideas for a picky bunnie??

[lashkay]

I’m up against the same thing, I fear. I did notice on eBay a number of vine balls fillled with timothy hay under “bunny hay’ Any of those willow balls filled with hay are usually a smash at my place. For the short time they last. I suppose you have tried giving your bunny a soy-ink based phone book, a diggy box with holes cut out and filled with wadded newspaper, a toilet roll tube stuffed with hay your bunny likes. Those are always the first things to be suggested on this forum for a bored bunny but some bunnies don’t go for those either. My bunny Petie has a wire cat ball with a bell inside that he usually picks up and drops or flings at least once a day. Hope some people post some good ideas for you! …What are your ideas, BBers?

[lashkay]

Welcome! I see this is your first post! Hope to see some pics of your holland lop bunny soon!

[TrixiePie]

Thank you! I just joined today in hopes of understanding my bun a little better and to hopefully improve things for him. Everyone on here seems to really care and love their buns so hopefully I can learn a thing or two. The vine balls sound like a great idea! I will definitely have to check them out. As for the phone book idea I had read about it on other websites but I wasn’t sure if the ink would make him sick or not? I don’t know how to tell if it is made out of soy-ink or not. I have tried the toilet roll tube stuffed with hay but it only takes him about a minute to get the hay out and he is done with it and back to staring at the wall. I have also tried the cat toy balls and he doesn’t go for those either. Thanks for the ideas! I will definitely be posting some pictures as soon as I figure out this whole website!

[lashkay]

You’re sure to find the BB site very useful. I searched the forum for “toys for bored picky bunnies” and several pages worth of ideas – not all related – came up. Another one is, if you can find them, HARD plastic baby keys. I’ve heard several members say their buns love tossing those around. I understand the ones from China can be toxic but don’t have details yet, it was just mentioned. Don’t know if it’s the plastic or the paint or what, just stick with old used hard plastic baby keys that maybe you can find on eBay and those are bound to be the good ones. Boil them in water before giving to your bunny to sterilize them. You might want to check out of course, the BB store for toy ideas and bunnybytes.com is also a good place to look. Hard plastic 4″ wiffle balls or similar type balls can be fun to roll around, my bunny does this now and then, just infrequently. The timothy-filled vine balls sound like a good bet. Good luck!

[lashkay]

Another “hit” I just thought of is the cat treat balls with adjustable holes that you can drop some rabbit pellets in and let your bunny roll them and nose them around, trying to get the treats out!

[TrixiePie]

Thanks! I will definitely check out those stores and hopefully find something he will like! He already has a bunny toy from Petsmart that is just like the baby keys but instead of the keys on the key ring there were wooden carrots. He was does not care for it at all! I think he will definitely love the cat treat balls idea though! Haha bunnies love their treats!

[lashkay]

Great! Is that TrixiePie’s photo in your avatar? He is adorable. At first I thought he was wearing some sort of hat – members like to post pics of their bunnies in adorable hats & there are some great ones – but I see it is a red house or similar object in the background behind him. The more pics, the better!

[TrixiePie]

It is Trix in the picture! I tried adding some but I don’t think it worked? I see on the site that it says the photo uploading will be messed up until August when they fix it. Are you able to upload pictures? I uploaded one last night but I don’t think it worked

[TriBun]

Trix is sooo cute, I love lops.  I have one idea you could try.  I have a big fluffy cat bed that I stuff dried fruit in the cracks for my bun to dig out.  My bunny has a need to dig so this was perfect for her.   I use freeze-dried fruit that has nothing added (you can find it at the grocery store in the dried fruit section, they’re in little packs made for kids).  This is her favorite treat, that she only gets a couple times a week, so she really goes after them.  You could probably use a blanket just bunched up with his favorite treat hidden in it.  

Pictures below.  I wish I could have got a picture with her head really down in there, but she moves too fast.  

[TriBun]

 By the way, I’ve noticed that sometimes you can load photos and sometimes you can’t.  The size of the photo really matters.  I had to shrink the ones I posted earlier.

[TrixiePie]

Thank you! Your bunny is super cute too! Your idea sounds great, I am going to have to try that out especially since he keeps trying to dig on the couch when he is out so hopefully that will help fulfill his digging needs. I will also try shrinking my pictures and we will see if that works. Thanks for your input!

[TrixiePie]

Your idea of shrinking the pictures worked! I was finally able to get some up!

[KatnipCrzy]

Have you tried any rabbit toys NOT sold thru a typical pet store? My bunnies love the willow balls and baskets that are sold thru bunny supply places like Binky Bunny, Busy Bunny, etc. typical pet stores carry what the public will buy- not necessarily what the bunnies like best or what is best for them!

[LoveChaCha]

cardboard boxes, willow toys are a HIT with rabbits. The binkybunny store has HUGE willow toys. I was shocked at the size of the ball o_O!

[TrixiePie]

I am thinking about ordering some of the toys from the Binkybunny store, they seem more like something a rabbit would like as compared to the toys sold in typical pet stores. The only thing I am worried about with the card board boxes is that he tries to eat them and chew on them. Is it safe for a rabbit to eat cardboard?

[TaraMichele]

Cady tears apart cardboard boxes, but Im 99% sure he barely eats any because Im always cleaning up the pieces. I think he likes the tearing sound, especially when Im trying to sleep

[TriBun]

 Yeah, I don’t think mine ingests a whole lot of it either.  She does love her some cardboard though.  I think you’d be really happy with some of those toys.

[OhMommaButterGrits]

Um TriBun…that cat bed idea thing is like genius!!!!! I can’t wait to try it!!!!!! My Bunnies all love willow balls, unfortunatly they are destroyed like within a day or two, maybe I’ll have to start ordering them from Binky Bunny if they really are as big as you say ChaCha.

[jerseygirl]

TrixiePie, are you sure your bun is not sleeping when he’s “staring at the wall”? Lots of rabbits do this throught day, short bouts of eating or rearranging the cage then napping (eyes open) for the most part.
Do you notice any times when Trix is more active? What does he get up to during those times if anything? i.e. his play style.

@Tribun, I’m loving seeing more pics of Rosy! <3 She's like a brown agouti version of TimTim.

[luvmyhunybuny]

Tribun, where did you get that cat bed? I have been looking for a fluffy one like that and have yet to find one.

[TrixiePie]

He might be sleeping… I don’t know he doesn’t really do much when he is up and moving around. He pretty much eats and then tips over his food bowl, he completely ignores his toys and then it’s back to laying down or staring/sleeping.

[TriBun]

 I found it at Petco.  It was on clearance so I hope they haven’t discontinued it.  Look for one that the middle comes out.  Hope this helps

[TriBun]

 awww, I wanna see TimTim!  My computer’s not letting me pull up your photos.  Guess, I’ll check later

[Author]

Messages