My rabbIt is eating the cardboard??

[smolbun221]

For some strange reason, my rabbit eats his toys, like ingests it. So I have to constantly take it away. I do feed him enough daily and I make sure he gets enough water but even with that he still eats it. I want him to have fun instead of just sit in his play area doing nothing the whole day, but I don’t wanna risk him getting a blockage. How do I prevent him from eating it and just chew it?

[kanin]

Hi!

My old bunnies used to love destroying and eating cardboard. They didn’t have blockages but we kept a very close eye on them while they chewed up the boxes we gave them. Some rabbits just eat cardboard, and I don’t blame them – the texture must be very nice!

You could try other alternatives like wood block toys, sisal or seagrass toys – the wood might not be as appealing to eat and the sisal/seagrass will probably be digested better. Good luck with this, some rabbits just really like destroying everything in sight. At the very least you won’t have to worry about his teeth being too long!

[Bam]

If a bunny eats cardboard it could mean it gets too little fiber from their diet. Does you rabbit eat hay? I think kanin’s suggestions are good. Most rabbits just tear and rip cardboard and that’s ok (even though it sometimes can be a sign of a dental issue), but some rabbits do eat the cardboard and that can, as you are saying, have bad cosequences. It’s very difficult to teach a rabbit not to eat cardboard if it has gotten the idea firmly into it’s head, so I’d remove the cardboard for now and substitute with for example a wooden house and lots of apple twigs (pestice free) and/or willow toys or twigs, sisal toys, wood chews etc. A rabbit can absolutely eat a wooden house or a wood chew toy as well, but it takes much longer, so the amounts of wood the bunny eats per day as a rule don’t get alarmingly high.

[Boing]

I’d try non-cardboard toys. Cincinnati eats cardboard. He can’t have cardboard toys, because he will eat them in lieu of hay, especially, but also everything else. I think it likely has to do with what they grew up eating. Anyhow, he gets wooden toys instead. I’m not sure this behaviour can be unlearned. Rabbits can be very stubborn!

[LittlePuffyTail]

My Elara eats cardboard too. I can’t give her cardboard hidey boxes like I did all my other buns.

[Snickerdoodle & Oreo]

I also have another bun that likes to chew on and eat cardboard. I opted out for timothy hay grass mats. She loves them and will take her time destroying them, but super healthy for her. I also noticed she loves to tear up (but not eat!) towels. So I’ll hand her one and she’ll go to town, “remodeling”. Obviously, that can get a little expensive, but it must have something to do with the texture. Some bunnies just love to chew while others love to dig – it’s up to their personality.

[LittlePuffyTail]

My Elara sounds just like your bunny. She loves her grass mats and makes holes in blankets (and our couch!!!) but won’t eat the fabric.

[MiniRexMom]

This is great. I’ve read it’s safe for them to eat some, just not a lot.

Does anyone know about those wooden doll beds (IKEA I think)? Lately, mine have been going to town on it and yes, they eat it.

Pretty soon I’ll be out of stuff for them to play with!

[Author]

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