Suggestions?

[AbbyGirl]

I’m trying to find ways for Hugo to play.  He’s as picky about playing as he is about his hay! 

He doesn’t really dig or chew at anything.  He will sometime dig at a towel.  Usually only right when I put him down after grooming him.  (He doesn’t like it much)  He has only ever chewed on my chenille blanket tassels.  He doesn’t like cardboard, toilet paper rolls or phone books.  He doesn’t even really chew on his sticks.  He’s so big he doesn’t really go through things.  I put a laundry basket out upside down earlier but he hasn’t even given it the time a day.  I did that because I found him in one on top of all my clean close the other day. 

I setup my 2 step stool yesterday to get something down and he seems to enjoy going under it.  He also likes to jump over and run under the wood of the dining table.  Today the girls were chasing him around.  I thought he didn’t like it until he did a binky!  I was laughing so hard.  He got all 4 legs at least 6 inches off the ground.  He’s such a big boy to do that.  He even did another one.  He then decided to jump on my couch and explore that for about 20 minutes.   I also gave him a tissue box filled with ahy yesterday.  He doesn’t seem to hate it too much.  He sometimes munches on it but usually throws it out of his way to lay down.

He’s such a silly boy.  I can’t seem to figure him out.  Does anyone have any suggestions on what other types of things I can try for him? 

[eyorelop]

Welcome to my world, my bunny is also not a chewer and does not like toys. He is more of an explorer which sounds like Hugo is so I think it sounds like you came up with some great stuff that fits what he likes. I did get one of those hay balls that you stick hay in and Eyore liked. You might get one of the mazes and just keep finding stuff for him to go into and check out, maybe one of the cardboard tunnels he would enjoy from Home Depot or Lowe’s. Binky’s are funny fr. big buns mine is 10.5 lbs and they look more like donkey kicks from him. He actually got air borne last night and it cracked me up.

[GrumpyBun]

What about cardboard boxes with holes cut in the sides? You could rearrange them, take bits away, put new bits in to keep it fresh and interesting? I’ve got them tied together with string for my buns. He might like exploring them and you should be able to get them free from pretty much any store. Once his tummy has settled down you could put little bits of treats here and there in it for him to find.

If he likes running through things maybe something like those things dogs run through? Few strips of pine in a zig-zag pattern and garden canes mounted into it shouldn’t be that expensive to put together. You’d want cane toppers for the tops though – protect people’s eyes.

How much space have you got to play with? Would you need to be able to pack toys away?

[AbbyGirl]

Well, he doesn’t have a room to himself and we have a 2 bedroom apartment. It’s around 1,100 sq ft. His spot is the kitchen right now and when he’s under the table we don’t bother him. He plays in our living room. In our new house we’ll have 800 sq ft on the main level and 400sq ft on the upper level. So I don’t have a ton of room for boxes (especially big boxes for him) and leaving things up. Plus he has to share his play area with my 5 & 6 year old daughters. We’ll have more room once we finish the basement though.

I have put up boxes for him. He hops in them once and then doesn’t look at them again. He likes to go around and mark all the cardboard boxes in the house with his chin. We have a lot right now since I’m packing things we don’t use. It’s sooo cute. Reminds me of how my first bun use to mark me with his chin. =)

[AbbyGirl]

OK. I think I found what Hugo likes best. Yay! Now to figure out what I can do for it.
So, I built some cardboard houses and connected them with a square tunnel. He goes through but prefers to chew on it. What he likes best is to jump on top of it! Unfortunately, because he is so big the big cardboard houses collapse under him and then he falls off. He has also been jumping on to the couch today. I know buns like cat condos but would that be safe for a bun as big as Hugo? If jumping is what he likes to do best I’d like him to be able to do it.

[Beka27]

You’ll figure out soon enough what he likes. And don’t over think it. If my buns are looking bored, I can pull out a scrap of junk mail and toss it at them and they’ll go to town on it for 10 minutes. Afterwards, I clean up the pieces and we all move on. Toys and entertainment don’t have to be permanent or expensive or elaborate.

[AbbyGirl]

I threw a piece of paper on the floor the other day and he laid down on it!

[Beka27]

LOL! Well, maybe he doesn’t have a career as a professional paper-shredder!

[Bumblebunny]

You might need to consider number of different items and areas. The interest of mine seems to go in cycles. For a while he will go to a corner where I leave on old phone book and spend some time shredding. Then he will leave that for several weeks and go into a paper recycling bin in another room and shred. When he stops that he has an area between the sofa and end table. The sofa is protected by NIC squares so he can’t chew on it or get behind or under it. I have a flannel sheet folded to fit over the carpet in that area and he plays with the flannel sheet. I have had him for almost two years and find it amazing how he picks the area and how he goes from one to the other when HE chooses to.

[Dreya T]

One of our buns doesn’t chew or play much – his favourite thing is the roll of carpet we’ve got down the back of the sofa to stop him digging – he’ll run in and out of that at ridiculous speed and spend the rest of his time sat in it.

My husband hates the thing – it’s quite a challenge to get him out at times!

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