Imported Seagrass mats/willow balls

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Azerane

Azerane

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I have a question regarding seagrass mats, which I suppose is relevant to willow balls as well.

We have seagrass mats at the store I work at, however they're made in china. They look a lot like these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006X3GU0C/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 but I suppose most seagrass mats look the same. The thing I'm wondering is, because they come over from china, I'm assuming that it was treated in some way before entering australia for bugs etc because of quarantine. So does this make it unsafe to give as a chew toy? I haven't been able to find seagrass mats in any pet store, and nobody seems to have willow balls here either and I really want to find Bandit something like that that he can chew on. For those of you who do buy seagrass mats, do they come with a tag to say where they're made, and if so? Are they imported and do your bunnies eat them?

I'm just struggling to figure this out, because even if I buy seagrass mats or willow balls off of amazon, I don't know what happens with quarantine, do they just let them through? Does anybody know?
 
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We've gotten both from amazon with no problem, but now I'm wondering about the China connection. There have been all kinds of problems and dead pets from Chinese product bought at WalMart, so I make sure all the treats and food I get for my pets is made here. Generally, most of the stuff used to eradicate insects should be at such a low dose that it won't effect larger animals, but now I'm worried too. Before we moved here, I used to save trimmings from my apple and pear trees and my neighbor had a huge willow and told me to help myself. Fresh is best, for sure.
 
If I knew someone with an apple tree things would be much easier. I don't know what time of year they prune apple trees, but maybe I should ring up an orchard, lol, but then they'd be spraying their trees for pests and things anyway...

The trouble I'm having is that any wooden and woven toy/basket I find in pet stores etc, always seems to come from overseas, even something simple like those wooden bird ladders that are untreated, I'm assuming they're made out of pine dowels, but then I'm told bunnies shouldn't be chewing on pine. I suppose I could always try ordering from amazon just one small willow product and then see what happens with the quarantine. I did find another random forum thread somewhere online where a vet suggested to someone to buy the seagrass mats I've been looking at, but I just can't bring myself to do it.
 
Those grass mats and willow toys are fun for them, but they pretty much destroy them in a day. I've found my homemade chew toys work out better. Pine is actually ok as long as it is completely dried out. I cut up pine 1x2's into blocks and made them into hanging chew toys, I use dried hard pine cones, prunings from grape, raspberry, and blackberry plants, prunings from willow and apple trees. Do you have willows where you are? If you drive by one, if it's ok, just chop a few branches off. I think a lot of the willow toys might come from the UK, buy yeah, it is hard to find things that aren't all made in China now. But I find homemade is better and cheaper, since it's just going to be destroyed anyways.
 
I've read people mention that only kiln dried pine is ok? So it doesn't matter, so long as it's completely dry. So I can buy some pine dowel etc from the hardware store and make my own like I originally wanted to. We do have willows, but they're an invasive species, which isn't a problem, but a tree may have been poisoned by a council or somebody without me knowing and I don't want to take branches from a poisoned tree.
 
When it comes to items like pine and cedar and other softwoods you do have to be carefull...
Generally its the shavings and others forms of those woods when their mulched up that we want to stay away from
Look at how many rabbit hutches are made from red cedar.
Generally when its in a large hunk its fairly safe for your bunnys... its when it gets chopped up into a million slivers or particles that it because unsafe as thats where your phenols are more likely to leach, more surface area, more irritation and issues etc etc. A fresh bag of shavings usually smells good right? Thats what you dont want but thats why people like those products. Even kiln dried has the potential to cause issues in that sense but yes when you look at items like dowels and 2x4's as just chew toys, kiln dried pine would be fine. If you are still worried... theres tons of other woods at hardware stores you could purchase and use :)
 
That's too bad about the willows. It's one of my rabbits favorite woods to chew on.

From everything I've read, the heating process seems to get rid of the phenols in the pine, that cause the problems. That's why pelleted pine litter is ok, and why kiln dried shavings would also be ok, the same as the pellets. It seems the same for blocks of wood that have had sufficient time to dry out. The newer cut the wood is, the stronger the pine smell is. The more dried out the wood is, the less it smells like pine. If you're concerned, you could do some research on it. There are always varying opinions on things, but from everything I read, I felt ok giving it to my rabbits. It's not their favorite wood to chew on. They do chew on the wood blocks, some more than others, but they seem to like the willow and apple branches the best. If they are small enough, they devour the whole thing. So if you can find some that haven't been sprayed, your bun may like those better, but every rabbit is different in their preferences too, so maybe your rabbit will like pine best.
 
I use plain pine 1 x 3 in front of our baseboards in a couple places where bunny wanted to chew the baseboards. Now they can chew away and I don't have to worry about the baseboards being destroyed.
 
Thanks for all the feedback and info, I'm still trying to find someone I know who has an apple tree, but no luck yet. I am going to try some pieces of pine for him though, not sure if he's going to go for it, but we'll find out.
 
Thanks for all the help guys. I'm going to keep looking around for willow and apple, but for the moment I bought some pine dowels, Bandit loves them. I cut the dowel into shorter lengths then inserted them at different intervals through a toilet paper tube to make a neat little toy. When I gave it to him he started chewing straight away. I only let him have it for a minute as I didn't want to overwhelm him with something he was unused to. Unfortunately, my hardware store in small bits of timber like that, only has pine and tasmanian oak (which isn't oak at all, it's eucalyptus, which is poisonous).

I also bought one of the seagrass mats, am going to wait on giving that to him, but when I do I'm definitely only going to let him have it for a short time as well, just to make sure it's safe. I did some more searching online and found a site where someone mentioned giving them to their rabbits all the time, so it should be fine, just want to take it easy. I also bought some sisal rope to make toys with, however after opening it I believe it to be treated. There was some paler sisal there which probably isn't treated, only reason I didn't buy it at the time was it only came in thicker widths. I'm thinking maybe a craft store would sell plain sisal.
 
I have had great luck with getting parrot chew toys for my bunnies. I get the ones that don't have plastic in them, just the vegetable-died wood blocks. Lots of catalogs sell them, as do local bird stores, and even Petsmart. The bunnies love them ! I hang them so they have to work to chew on them, usually from the bottom of one of the levels in my NIC cage. They last quite a while.

So I have a question about apple/peach wood. I have an orchard nearby and they have just trimmed their trees. But, they spray the heck out of everything all summer long. Is this wood safe for my bunnies ? People do pick peaches and apples from these trees for eating.
 
^I honestly don't know about sprayed trees and the resulting wood.

So I ended up buying one of the seagrass mats from bunnings that originates in china after reading a few posts online from people saying their bunnies loved them. I only let him try a super tiny piece on the first day, all seemed fine (behaviour, poo etc) so I let him try a tiny piece again for a few days, with no adverse reactions to that I let him have a bit more etc, then two days ago he devoured a reasonable chunk from one corner, and he's completely fine. I was really careful because I didn't want to be the reason he got sick because I gave him something that was bad for him, but it seems that the mats are safe. Whatever they treat them with must wear off after a period of time, if you think about how long it would take from them being treated on arrival in the country to be released from quarantine, getting delivered to bunnings distribution center, then going to each of the stores etc. He quite enjoys chewing and pulling on it now, whenever he's naughty and chews the carpet, I try to divert his attention to the sea grass mat instead.
 
Have any of you ordered willow toys from http://store.busybunny.com/chews--toys-c10.aspx ? The owner says it is from China (can't find willow in the US for commodity) and can't guarantee there isn't low level of arsenic or whatever in it. My girl doesn't devour the willow ball, large square, and basket but will nip some on them every day. It's natural and untreated but she can't guarantee nothing bad is in them. What do you guys think?

Anyone found a website that sells willow toys that they have used for a long time with no adverse effects? Please help. Thank you!

PS I'm in the US but am willing to purchase from websites that take the US dollar.
 
Some people with wire cages use sheetrock which is gypsum for the rabbits to sit on and destroy. You can buy a huge panel for cheap and cut it up. We also use pinecones. Pine boards are ok because they are dried and there is less surface area. Look at the surface area on shavings to give off phenols versus a board. Plus the outside of the board seals itself off. That's why you can even use cedar to build hutches but you can't use the shavings. A dried board that's been sitting around the store will have sealed the outer layer off.
 
Artista said:
Have any of you ordered willow toys from http://store.busybunny.com/chews--toys-c10.aspx ? The owner says it is from China (can't find willow in the US for commodity) and can't guarantee there isn't low level of arsenic or whatever in it. My girl doesn't devour the willow ball, large square, and basket but will nip some on them every day. It's natural and untreated but she can't guarantee nothing bad is in them. What do you guys think?

Anyone found a website that sells willow toys that they have used for a long time with no adverse effects? Please help. Thank you!

PS I'm in the US but am willing to purchase from websites that take the US dollar.
Click to expand...

Anyone know?
 
I don't know about those willow balls, but I know the ones I got were pretty much destroyed in no time at all, and didn't really seem worth it to me. There are other types of toy balls that last longer, natural kinds and plastic wiffle balls If you want willow and have a weeping willow tree nearby, you can cut the thin flexible branches and easily weave the branches into rings that bunnies love to chew on, and they are free. If you still want to try a willow ball, maybe look on UK sites. They may have willow products that are specifically made in the UK.
 
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