Toy Question

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maherwoman

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Hey guys. I've noticed that Flower will play with anything she can fit that big ol' bunny muzzle around, whereas Maisie just won't play with anything. So we never buy her any toys, really. She has quite a few in her cage that we bought her quite a while ago, but she's just more intent on shredding newspaper as floor bedding (not litter), and going into her little hidey spot behind all the shreddies. She just never wants to play. I've tried quite a few kinds of toys, but can't seem to get her interested...whereas all I have to do is make Flower's little stuffy friend run around, and she goes CRAZY and has him chase her around!

Am I doing something wrong? Is it just Maisie's hormones? Flower is now the age Maisie was when she really underwent (is that a word? lol) a personality change due to hormones, but Flower's not displaying any sort of change like that at all. (She's still VERY clean with her house and as sweet as ever.)

I feel guilty bringing home toys for Flower and not really any for Maisie, but I know she won't play with them, so it's hard! For instance, I bought Flower a stuffy friend, but I didn't give one to Maisie because she's so dang territorial I thought for sure I would come home to stuffy parts all over her cage! (Is that a silly thought?)

Anyway, don't think I purposely don't give her toys, it's just that I've tried SO MANY things, and she just doesn't seem to be much of a playful bunny. Am I trying the wrong things??

Anyone have any ideas? :?

We did buy one of these, and Maisie threw it once, but the bell inside scared her a bit and she hasn't tried since. Maybe we should keep trying...

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Flower never plays with it because she can't seem to fit her muzzle in the spaces...lol...my big little bunny!! :)

Anyway, later today (Wed) I'm going to go to a pet store near us and check out the bunny toys to see what I could get her. Anyone have any suggestions?
 
Don't worry, alot of rabbits will turn their noses up at pet shop toys! My girls don't like plastic toys but love anything they can shred or chew. If she likes shredding you could put some newspaper in a cardboard box for her to shred up, or maybe give her a paper bag or phone book or seagrass mat. Also If there are any straw plaits in your local pet shop these are great for shredding. Have you tried Maisie with chew toys? If not try her with apple twigs or willow/vine balls, they are a big hit in my house! You could also try making her a bunny playground to play in out of boxes and tunnels to run through and hide in.
 
Misty is the same as Maisie - won't touch toys from the pet store. But she LOVES to dig and shread, so cardboad is a big hit in this house. Also towels - she will spend hours arranging a towel and then rearranging it, then arranging it again. Sounds like Maisie is a shredder, so bunnys_rule gave great shredding suggestions. Misty also has a phone book she has been working on and grass mats are another of her favorites.

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Nadia
 
Before I got my bun, Nibbles, I spent too much time and money on toys. I've found out since then that her favorite playthings came (more or less) free - paper towel tubes, newspaper, cardboard boxes (including shoe boxes and shoe box lids). I've also picked up some untreated wicker baskets and trays at Goodwill, and she loves those, too.

The only toys I buy now are grass mats for shredding + wicker/willow items. Nibbles also has a couple of "fleece" baby blankets (3-4 bucks at K Mart) for digging, bunching and flattening. I've gotten a couple of concrete forms - she loves to run through those, also to hide in them and dig at newspaper and her baby blankets.

Lots of people do get baby keys for their buns, or untreated wood items like wooden spoons. The keys are great "toss" toys, and the wooden spoons can be for both tossing and chewing.
 
Lol...those are all exactly what she does! I give her a stack of newspaper (just like three sections of the LA Times), and she goes to town! I also give her an untreated wicker basket and then buy a new one once that one's all chewed out. I also give her boxes that she loves to shred.

I guess I just never totally considered it playing...boy, was I wrong! Lol!! In fact, she's jumping around and creating new shreddies as we speak! :)

As far as blankets, I gave her one once and she peed on it (as she does with most clothing-type items), so we haven't gotten her a new one. I've learned since that we should have just washed it, so we're trying to remember to pick her a new one up at Target (or some such) when we're there. They're only about $3 there for a pack of two.

I guess it's just more witness to the fact that Flower is just so darn happy to have a home, she loves ANY toy! :) Such a content little baby! :)

Thanks, guys!! :D
 
My boys aren't too keen on plastic, only destroyable things!

Vine balls, willow balls/twigs and straw plaits are their favourites. I also got Parsnip a sand pit, he loves it. It's a shallow tray with childrens play sand in it. He's quite funny becuase he arranges it all neatly and if you mess it up he gets annoyed and digs at it until it's all nice and flat again. Ohh hours o amusement for me and bunny:)
 
Hehe, My Pebbles is EXACTLY like Flower. Pebbles is so playful!

For Masie, try getting a pop flat with side on it, and put a few inches of newspaper on the bottem, crumble of some newspaper balls, put a few loose on the top, maybe some hay and a few treats between the newspaper layers at the bottem. Pepsi spends HOURSdigging, throwing around the newspaper crumbled balls,She also diggs at the newspaper and rips it to shreds getting at the treats. Pepsi can be playful, but only if there's a treat involved!

I have these cat jingle balls for the girls, and if I roll it towards Pepsi she'll sort of pounce on it or fling it or roll it back. If I put a treat in it, she'll spend all day nosing it around to get it to fall through the holes in her balls.

Have you tried string with Flower? Pebbles LOVES batting at string, tugging it in her mouth, and pouncing on it if I wiggle it around on the ground. I'm still looking for a cat toy that has a stand and something hanging down that has no carpet on it (She loves to eat carpet) for her to bat at.

Here's the balls I use. I can put some in papertowel rolls, and when they throw the paper towel roll around it makes noise :D Also good to put treats in for htem to try to get out!

201280001

 
With the baby blankets: Nibbles has peed on hers at times - a case of marking territory + "it's nice and soft, so here goes!" I took them away, washed them and didn't give them back for a week or so. She's been *much* better behaved since then, though she'll leave an occasional poop on the baby blankets to mark them. That's no problem, and pretty much expected. But if she pees on them again, I'll keep them away from her for a while, etc. etc. (Tends to be cylical - the same thing happens if I allow her on my bed to play. She gets banned for a while, then I allow her back, she's good for a time or two and then pees - and then we start all over again.)

Nibbles also loves playing tug-of-war with paper towel rolls, along with tossing pieces of carboard (the bigger the better) and most anything else she can find. She's a bit of a showoff and will sometimes pick up her concrete form tunnel with her teeth and try to toss it. (It's a lot bigger than she is... ;))
 
I know some rabbits (And my bunny among them) Who seem to enjoy fighting with shoes, they dont harm them, just throw them around and fight the laces (which is one of the cutest thingsI ever saw!), you should give it a go once in whlie (though my rabbbit only fight a spesific shoe. They can be very picky O_0)

Also, Rabbits seem to enjoy to push things over (Like, to my bad like- my T.V's remote control), but I doupt if thats healthy for them (Or for the things themself, for that matter :p)
 
That's a GREAT idea for Maisie!! Thank you!! I'll try that...in fact, I have a box I could do that with, too!! Perfect size!! I'll set it up for her right now!

I haven't tried string with Flower, but in seeing the video of Pebbles playing, I've been thinking about it! :)

About those carpeted toys, you could probably take the carpet off with an exacto-knife (what my husband calls a utility knife), or some such, and there should be a plywood base. :)

Thank you so much! What great ideas! :)

Oh, P.S. about balls...I gave each of the buns this wire ball...

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And I gave Flower this toy (which is the ONE toy I never see her playing with, I suspect because her nose is too big to fit in the space to pick it up and throw it). It's the one lettered "C".

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I also gave Maisie a cat ball that doesn't have any openings that is rattley. The only time I see her playing with either that or the wire ball is if I put it on her top level, and she knocks it down onto the smaller level, and winds up rolling it down the ramp. I think it's her game with balls, because she does it quite soon after I put it up there, and NEVER fails to do so! :) I hear her nosing them around occasionally, but I didn't know if that was playing (that and the rolling-it-down-the-ramp thing). They're still in her cage...in my hopes that I see her playing more. Lol...

I'll make that box for her right now, though! Good idea!! :D

Spring wrote:
Hehe, My Pebbles is EXACTLY like Flower. Pebbles is so playful!

For Masie, try getting a pop flat with side on it, and put a few inches of newspaper on the bottem, crumble of some newspaper balls, put a few loose on the top, maybe some hay and a few treats between the newspaper layers at the bottem. Pepsi spends HOURSdigging, throwing around the newspaper crumbled balls,She also diggs at the newspaper and rips it to shreds getting at the treats. Pepsi can be playful, but only if there's a treat involved!

I have these cat jingle balls for the girls, and if I roll it towards Pepsi she'll sort of pounce on it or fling it or roll it back. If I put a treat in it, she'll spend all day nosing it around to get it to fall through the holes in her balls.

Have you tried string with Flower? Pebbles LOVES batting at string, tugging it in her mouth, and pouncing on it if I wiggle it around on the ground. I'm still looking for a cat toy that has a stand and something hanging down that has no carpet on it (She loves to eat carpet) for her to bat at.

Here's the balls I use. I can put some in papertowel rolls, and when they throw the paper towel roll around it makes noise :D Also good to put treats in for htem to try to get out!

201280001
 
Hehe...that's funny, guys!

I know what you mean, ec...I haven't let either bunny on my bed in seeing Maisie's reaction to ANY blanket back when I first got her. If she's even NEXT TO one, she'll pee. It's funny. I just don't want to take the chance with my bed, though I've only seen one tiny little pee spot on Flower's blankey. She's had it for about a month, and that's it, so I'm sure she would be okay on the bed, but I'll wait for post-spaying to try it just in case. Lol!!

As far as the shoe idea...I'll try that!! I've got the perfect shoes, too!! I've noticed Flower trying to chew on it before, let's see what she does when she's allowed to be near it!! :)

Anyway, thanks for the ideas...I really appreciate it!! Keep 'em comin'!! :D
 
I think you'd be wise to wait until a while after she's spayed before trying the blanket again. Nibbles was spayed before I got her, but the urge to pee on soft things + the desire to mark my territory (the bed) as hers is, I think, too much temptation for one little bunny to handle...! ;)

Another thing that was suggested to me: tin cans with the labels taken off, to nudge and roll around. If either of your buns has a thing for pushing, they'd probably love that. Nibbles is into tossing and digging, so this doesn't interest her at all.

My bet is that both of your buns have their own games - N. had several litter boxes when I 1st brought her home, and quickly made a game out of jumping back and forth from one to another. Two of those have been turned into diging boxes, but she still amuses herself with the jumping routine.

I have some jingly toys for her, too, which she'll pick up and discard when I'm around, acting very blasé about it. but sometimes I notice that they've been moved around during the night, so my best guess is that she plays with them when I'm not looking. typical bunny, I guess! ;)
 
My girls love their cardboard tube insides and anything they can chuck in the air...:DSora will put her nose inside a cardboard tube and balance it there for ages before throwing it away and doing it all over again. Kairi just tends to move stuff out of her way...but they're both great newspaper rippers ;)
 

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