First thing you need to do with a tunnel … make a second exit.

I’ve been a bit busy with work and enjoying the warm weather in the garden. Scamp on the other hand is still busy trashing the kitchen. He’s perfected the art of jumping from floor to worktop and demonstrated by eating the electric wire to the microwave (cut out the power but didn’t zap himself – how do rabbits do that?). We are presently experimenting with nets, so far this has resulted in a net with even bigger holes and a rabbit napping on the bread board. Maybe the tunnel will distract him.

After ignoring the sticks, the vet kindly gave him & Gypsy as a Christmas gift, for a whole month, Scamp has decided he will chew it if, and only if, you hold if for him. If you don’t he’ll eat the skirting or his litter tray instead. Yumm, stick…

And a video of stick eating. It’s not particularly riveting, but just be thankful you weren’t the one holding it for the other 20 minutes or so not on camera!

a great big ball of fun…  Pets will nibble and gnaw this wooden chew toy to reach an all natural surprise inside – a real walnut! … a perfect chew toy for rabbits

I thought this was going to be a hit. It got quite a bit of initial interest and a few nibbles but it soon became another of those chew toys that get totally ignored. A walnut might be a great motivator for a pet rat but I’m not sure natural, walnut, and rabbit are really words that go together?

I think the problem with wooden chews is by the time the woods been dried, shaped, coloured blue, and wrapped in plastic it’s so far from an actual tree it’s lost all its tastiness. The bark also seems to be a rabbit’s favourite part and most toys don’t have any.

A nice fresh apple branch gets much more interest. This ones had all its bark stripped:

If you don’t have your own apple tree then ask around and see if you can find a friend/neighbour with one or ask on freeads/freecycle. Just make sure they don’t spray with pesticides.

That’s carrot, sprouts and parsnip, then there is broccoli today to add to that. The parsnips are home-grown, my first try at parsnips, so we saved them for Christmas. It dig take a bit of work to get them out of the frozen ground but they tasted great. Here’s a piccy, yummm….

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your having a good time

Left to right: Cotton reel, puzzel ball, blocks.

I think the cotton reel is self explanatory. The ball is a puzzle toy, unfortunately Scamp doesn’t seem any better than me at lining up the colours, but it’s made of hard plastic so bite-proof and easy to nudge around. The blocks are some version of giant lego. Again, hard plastic so fairly chew resistant and they have nice edges to pick up and throw (see outtakes below).

What random household objects does your bunny have to play with?

Outtakes

Scamp has a little bit of a hang up about toys on his rug, namely the only toy allowed on it is his treatball (which is generally not allowed off it). There is possibily some very logical scientific/food related reason for this related to the extra friction making the treat ball move at optimum volocity for treat removal, or he could just be a fuss pot. Anyway, he was not impressed by my attempts to line up his toys for a photo.

It’s a very simple toy; a wire ball with a chain to hang it up and a bell on the bottom. One side has a section of wire missing so it’s easy to fill with goodies. It’s too small to hold enough hay to be useful, but it is perfect for stuffing with veggies.

The wire restricts access so that food has to be nibbled as the ball swings and you can adjust the height to make the activity more easy or difficult as required. If your rabbit is really clever, hang the ball up high so it’s only just in reach or only in reach when stood on a box.

Making rabbits work hard for food is great enrichment. It stops them getting bored and eating your wallpaper instead, and it also encourages them to be active, stretching and jumping to get what they want.

In this photo I’d wrapped Scamp’s veg up in paper before putting it in the food ball to make him work extra hard. As you can see, shredding the paper to get the treat is giving him a good work out.

Tunnels can be round, rectangular or triangular. I’ve gone for triangular here as they are less prone to collapsing than rectangular and easier to shape than round.

Just fold your piece of cardboard into shape and fasten with cable ties (or tape if your rabbit is not a chewer).

You can join tunnels together, cut a hole in the side of one to match the end of another, or join them to boxes to make dens.

It is tasty, if you are a rabbit, and will often tempt rabbits who turn their noses up in disgust at hay. It is also high in fibre, great for wearing down teeth and the rabbit digestion system has been perfected to digest it.

So why do many rabbits never get to eat it?

There is often a worry among rabbit owners that fresh foods can upset the gut and cause diarrhoea. It’s true, if you suddenly gave your rabbit a large pile of grass it probably would upset their gut, but a large pile of a different brand of dry food or treats would have the same effect. New foods need to be introduced to rabbits gradually. Start by feeding small quantities of grass daily and build up the quantity gradually over10 days of more.

If you are picking grass, rather than letting your rabbit graze, then use scissors or pull it up. Do not feed lawn mower clippings. The heat and crushing action causes the grass to start fermenting which will upset the gut if eaten.

Don’t have a lawn? No problem. Grass is easy to grow and can be grown in trays, window boxes or pots on your window sill.  Put some general purpose compost (available at garden centres/DIY shops) in a tray or pot and sprinkle grass seed on top. Water if it gets dry and wait.

You can either cut the grass or put the whole tray/pot in your rabbits pen.  If you put the tray in your rabbits pen take it out again after they’ve eating it and allow it regrow. In a few weeks it will be ready for them to eat again. As well as being tasty it is an excellent form of enrichment to prevent your rabbit getting bored.

Normal lawn grass seed is fine to use but you you can also buy Timothy grass seed or seed/weed mixes that contain other plants such clover, dandelion and thistle (as shown below).

The different plants help provide different vitamins & minerals, mimicking a wild rabbit’s diet which contains a varied assortment of plants in addition to grass.

You are not likely to come out on top of any attempt to stop your rabbit digging. Digging is what rabbits do. Instead you need to redirect the behaviour to a more appropriate outlet, are here is one solution…The Yellow Pages (or any other handy telephone directory). If you don’t have a spare to hand then a pile of newspapers might work as a stand in.

If you put the yellow pages in a box it will help to stop your rabbit just digging it out of the corner and caring on with eating your flooring. I’ve used a washing up bowl.

So, take one box/bowl, put it in the corner your rabbit digs, add one yellow pages and one rabbit:

Leave briefly unattended and return to:

If you prefer a little less mess then use a bigger box, a large cardboard box with just an entry hole might help keep some of the mess down.

One crate full of shredded paper for the compost bin, ready for growing rabbit greens:

The other type of treat ball is sold in various sizes for rabbits, cats and dogs. They have an opening at the top which can often be adjusted to control the amount of food that falls out. If your rabbit is a chewer avoid brands with raised patterns around the ball that could be chewed off.

What to Put in Your Treat Ball

The name treat ball is a bit misleading. You should not fill your rabbits ball with extra treats, otherwise your rabbit may get fat! Instead put your rabbits normal dry food in to the ball. This should be a portion of its normal amount, not extra. Once your rabbit has the hang of it, you can put all your rabbits dry food in the ball – and throw out your food bowl.

Teaching Your Rabbit to Use It

Some rabbits are quicker at others to pick up how to get get the food out of a the ball. Start by placing the ball with the hole down and a few pieces of food next to it. As your rabbit tries to get the food the ball will move knocking more food out. You may have to help your rabbit a few times until they understand what they need to do. If the opening is adjustable start with it on the widest setting. Once your rabbit has the hang of it they’ll soon be chasing it around super-fast!