Narrowing down personality / toys

[mia]

Is there a list of toy types to help narrow down the personality / what kind of toys to get for a certain bunny? Obviously I don’t want to buy one of everything under the sun to test out. For example, getting a willow ball can help in narrowing down if your bunny likes balls and/or willows.

I have a bunny who seems disinterested in everything I’ve given him except food… he only likes food and being a bum. It’s a toss up if food is in a bag. Maybe it’s yummy enough to get to, maybe too lazy to try.

[mocha200]

Try a treat ball that is made for cats/dogs that has little holes in it so when they role it around the treats fall out. You could put treats or pellets in it. Then he would have to role around the ball the get the food out.

[RabbitPam]

Here’s a good article from the HRS website. Basically the concept is this: whatever your bunny likes to do, find a toy to match. They usually like to either dig, chew, jump, climb, toss, shred, etc. My bunny hates heights, so platforms are useless. She won’t dig, but LOVES to tunnel and hide, so she goes under things and drags her toys in there with her. She chews peep holes to decorate and spy out of. Cardboard and wicker do the trick.

What are good bunny toys?

  If you find your rabbit ingesting plastic or cardboard toys, switch to a different type of toy that the rabbit is not interested in eating.

Some good toys to start with:

• Paper Bags and Cardboard boxes for crawling inside, scratching, and chewing. Bunnies like them much more when there are at least two entry points into the boxes. Chris Rosenzweig has some Great Tips on Building Bunny Box Toys
• Cardboard concrete forms for burrowing
• Cardboard roll from paper towels or toilet paper
• Untreated wicker baskets or boxes full of: shredded paper, junk mail, magazines, straw, or other organic materials for digging
• Yellow Pages for shredding
• Cat toys: Batta balls, and other cat toys that roll or can be tossed
• Parrot toys that can be tossed, or hung from the top of the cage and chewed or hit
• Baby toys: hard plastic (not teething) toys like rattles and keys, things that can be tossed
• Children’s or birds’ mobiles for hitting
• “Lazy cat lodge” (cardboard box with ramps and windows) to climb in and chew on. Also, kitty condos, tubes, tunnels, and trees
• Nudge and roll toys like large rubber balls, empty Quaker Oat boxes and small tins
• “Busy Bunny” toys
• Plastic Rainbow slinkies
• Toys with ramps and lookouts for climbing and viewing the world
• Dried out pine cones
• Jungle gym type toys from Toys R Us
• A (straw) whisk broom
• A hand towel for bunching and scooting
• Untreated wood, twigs and logs that have been aged for at least 3 months. Apple tree branches can be eaten fresh off the tree. Stay away from: cherry, peach, apricot, plum and redwood, which are all poisonous.
• Untreated sea grass or maize mats from Pier One or Cost Plus
• Things to jump up on (they like to be in high places)
• Colorful, hard plastic caps from laundry detergent and softener bottles. They have great edges for picking up with their teeth, make a nice “ponk” sound when they collide, and the grip ridges molded into the plastic make a neat “rachety” sound when rabbits digs at the cap. The caps are nice for human-stacks-on-floor and bun-knocks-down kind of games. Note: Be sure not to choose caps from caustic material bottles (e.g.drain uncloggers, bathroom cleaner bottles) since a residue of the cleaner might remain no matter how much washing off you do.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Great list RP!!

So what does your bunny do if you rearrange things? Investigate and hop all over? Sometimes for those especially lazy bunnies messing with the furniture is a good ‘toy’-i.e. they spend the next few hours investigting the layout and practicing their ‘up/down/around/over/under’s

[Elrohwen]

I think that things they can dig and shred seem the most fun – mine like cardboard boxes and phone books the most. They never play with any actual toys except a stuffed toy that Hannah will groom and carry around the cage.

[mia]

The treat ball should be arriving today so I’ll be trying that out soon.

I’ve already seen the list above and have tried most of the items on it. I was hoping there is something that is more categorized so you only have to try one in each category to narrow it down. Good thing I have two so I don’t have to “waste” as much but there are still many “wasted” toys. If only there was a depot where one could return toys that were not of interest…

My boy bunny doesn’t do anything if I rearrange things. He just comes over to sniff my hand. Upon finding out there’s no food, he goes back to spacing out, er, sleeping. He doesn’t dig, shred, chew, doesn’t care for rattles, and only likes jumping in the condo but not outside of it.

Oh, he likes to try to escape the x-pen… but obviously not something I want to encourage.

[OskarAnnie]

Posted By miaeih on 05/12/2011 08:59 AM

The treat ball should be arriving today so I’ll be trying that out soon.

I’ve already seen the list above and have tried most of the items on it. I was hoping there is something that is more categorized so you only have to try one in each category to narrow it down. Good thing I have two so I don’t have to “waste” as much but there are still many “wasted” toys. If only there was a depot where one could return toys that were not of interest…

My boy bunny doesn’t do anything if I rearrange things. He just comes over to sniff my hand. Upon finding out there’s no food, he goes back to spacing out, er, sleeping. He doesn’t dig, shred, chew, doesn’t care for rattles, and only likes jumping in the condo but not outside of it.

Oh, he likes to try to escape the x-pen… but obviously not something I want to encourage.

 

He could just be a jumper! My Oskar loves it when I make obstacles for him (usually out of regular cardboard boxes) and he hops around them everywhere, whenever he gets to the higest position he just jumps down and starts all over. Oskar was never really into toys, but he does enjoy that

[ImSoHoppy]

Our Jake is pretty much the same way. He will occasionally run around the room once or twice, but then he spends the rest of his time sitting in a box. He never plays with anything. He just sits. He’s not always that interested in food either. We’re hoping he’ll bond with a fairly energetic bun we recently adopted and then get more exercise. He seems happy in his own way, though.

[MimzMum]

Wow, that sounds like my Mimzy. All disapproval and no action. Except lately even his interest in food is mercurial.
He loves to just nap. Or stare. He’ll get perky if I am there with a treat, but for the most part, sometimes I think even my presence is an intrusion on his personal ‘bum’ time. lol….
The only thing Mimzy will do if I get a bug for some home improvement is that he’ll angrily toss what has been removed from it’s usual place…mostly the litterbox. Then I have a mess to clean up. But some of those ideas are worth trying. I’m going to give them a shot.
The other thing I am guaranteed to get a rise out of him with is anything fabric in his pen. He won’t be happy till he’s completely shredded it…and possibly ingested some as well. So fabric toys or bedding is out for him.
If you do find somewhere that refused toys can go to be played with, tell me. I have probably amassed a boxload, for want of a more colorful word, that somebunny could enjoy!

[mia]

Posted By MimzMum on 05/18/2011 06:11 PM
If you do find somewhere that refused toys can go to be played with, tell me. I have probably amassed a boxload, for want of a more colorful word, that somebunny could enjoy!

I was actually wondering if there was a toy depot where you could buy and try toys. If your bun doesn’t like it or only touched it a couple times, just return it for another bun who may like it.

[Author]

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