no interest in toys?

[BrownietheBunny]

hey everyone,

I noticed that Brownie doesn’t really touch her toys. Before we adopted her, she was living in a really tiny cage for 4 years with only one tiny toy. I was wondering if this may be the reason why brownie doesn’t seem to interested in toys as her brain wasn’t very stimulated last time. I went to get many different toys for her, and sometimes even hid treats inside them. However, after a while of trying to get the treats out, she just gives up and sits there. She doesn’t misbehave and is very chill, never bites, nor scratches. Is this because of her personality or is this because her development of her brain wasn’t as developed because she was stuck in a cage and had little enrichment?

[DanaNM]

Aww poor baby. How long have you had her? It can take a bit of experimenting to find toys that bunnies actually like. Many of the toys that look super cute are completely ignored by my rabbits! They tend to like things they can chew on. Other buns like to throw things around, so baby keys and stacking cups are fun for them. My bun that loved throwing things also really liked the “barrel roller” toy, but my other buns ignored it.

Some favorites for my buns are the fresh willow wreaths sold in the Binky Bunny store, organic palm plates (I order these online), grass or hay mats, willow baskets, paper towel tubes stuffed with oat hay, and apple twigs (if they are fresh). Any fresh willow or apple twigs are eaten very quickly! If you live in a place with palm trees, you can also give buns a palm frond that’s fallen down (although this is a bit huge and messy LOL).

Hiding treats is a good idea, but with food puzzles it helps to start with easier puzzles and then work up to harder ones as the bun learns. So to start you could put some pellets in baby stacking cups and make sure she can see them.

A lot of buns also really like to tunnel and burrow. Whenever I have extra brown packing paper from a package I stuff it in my buns hides and tunnels so they can dig around in it and “excavate” it out.

Buns also settle down a bit as they age, and she may still be settling in to her new home.  Since she’s at least 4 she won’t have as much energy for playing. Have you had her checked out by a vet just to make sure she doesn’t have any underlying medical issues?

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[snowstorm1996]

Does anyone recognize this exact toy? After trying dozens of fling and block toys, this is the only one they ever cared for but I can’t find it for sale anywhere and I’m not sure where it came from—the adoption agency sent us home with it years ago and all that’s left is a little stub of wood. Yet, in a sea of mostly ignored blocks, they chew on this remnant almost exclusively.

Mine too could care less about flings, cups, etc. They do like to paw at hanging towels, blankets, and drapes so many you could get creative.

*Edit: WP wouldn’t let me attach the photo so I made it my profile pic/avatar.

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