uninterested in wood sticks

[brandy563]

hello everyone i'm new here and i have a question, about 2 weeks ago i got a 5 week old bunny, so she's about 7 weeks now.

She seems completely uninterested in her salt wheels and wood sticks and i have no clue why. she's not depressed from all the signs she gives me, she's actually quite happy, is there something else that she would be inetested in chewing on?? i've tried a toilet paper roll which also didn't seem to interest her, if anyone has any ideas i would really appreciate it!!

 

[SOOOSKA]

Hi Brandy563

Why don't you try to put some hay in the toilet paper roll, she can munch at the same time she is playing.

Also we have a wire cat ball that one of our Babies (we have 4) plays with. I also give them wooden spoons, i buy these at the dollar store.

How about trying a box that has holes in it so she can play in it. Also try an old phone book.

Hopefully one or more of these will help.

Soooska

 

[HoneyPot]

Not many care about the salt wheel - they don't really need it when they are on a balanced diet, and few pay attention to it. The wood sticks - some enjoy, some don't - really a bunny preference thing - and being so young, she may not yet know what it's for.I would leave it in her area, and she might try it out.

I also give my 3 buns natural grass/straw mats, untreated willow balls, untreated baskets.. the possibilities for chewing are endless.

_________
Nadia

 

[brandy563]

thank you for the ideas, i'll try those out

 

[daisy052104]

Holly is pretty much uninterested in the wood sticks. She did chew on an untreated pine cone for a while.

 

[brandy563]

update: well, i put the hay in the toilet paper roll and she ate the hay, but i think she felt the toilet paper roll just got in her way. I also tried the phone book, she took a nibble and then just started running around like her usual self, i was actually hoping she'd attack the phone book in excitement :jumpforjoy:i think i'll give it another try. Also i think i'll try the pine cone idea (if i can find a pine tree anywhere around here)

i also noticed she likes the news paper at the bottom of her cage (particularly around 3am :shock: ) so i think i'll try that also....................if anyone else has other ideas it'd appreciate it

 

[naturestee]

Oh yes there's so many good toys!

Your bunny might like to make noise. I know mine do. You can give her a plastic cat toy with a bell in it (try the cylinder type instead of the ball) or hard plastic baby keys (a whopping $1 at Walmart).

My rabbits like the more tasty sticks, mainly apple and willow. Some petstores sell Superpet fruitwood sticks and those are good too.

And there's a whole bunch of ideas in the Bunny 101 toy thread:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12433&forum_id=17

Here's one of the links there, it's for inexpensive rabbit toys:
http://www.adoptarabbit.org/articles/2003/Toys.pdf

 

[ratmom]

My wilbur isn't too keen on apple sticks, but he loves his baby keys, phonebook andhis thick plastic lids he loves to throw around. They have thesebaby links at walmart that I bought that we hung in his cage and loves bumping those. One of his favorite things to eat hay out of is those bird suet cages, I cram hay in there and he just loves it. He thinks it's a toy too, he plays with it all the time. I have found the cheaper it is the more he likes, esp the free stuff hehe.

 

[Bunni]

Try getting carrot flavored woodsticks from petco or petsmart. I use those on my bunnies and they chew nostop on it.

 

[Greta]

brandy563 wrote:

i also noticed she likes the news paper at the bottom of her cage (particularly around 3am :shock: )

Oh, but of course! right when you're trying to sleep... RIIIIP!! Mine do it too. It seems to make it more fun when it wakes mommy up repeatedly!

 

[maherwoman]

Maisie wasn't interested in chewing at that age, either, and our little Flower, who is about that age, isn't interested in chewing, either. I think it's an age thing. I tried giving her SO MANY THINGS...cardboard, toilet paper rolls, the yellow pages, newspaper, boxes of all kinds, wood and wood pieces, EVERYTHING...she wouldn't chew ANYTHING I gave her.

The advice I was given was to be patient. As long as she's eating her hay, she should be fine. When the hormones kick in, she'll start chewing (like Maisie did, and I expect Flower will)...and that, for Maisie, was about 3.5 months of age. If she ever chews on the bars of the cage (how big is her cage, btw?), or yawns, take a quick peek and see how her tooth length is doing. She should be fine.

Otherwise, just keep trying if you so desire.

 

[brandy563]

well i brought the extra wood sticks to a friend of mine,her rabbit came from the same litter, and her rabbit nibbled at it straight away. i guess it's just personal preference. i did build cairo this 2 story cardboard box play area thing that i filled with newspaper and she occasionally chews in the sides but mostly on the newspaper that i put inside (her feet are grey because of all the newspaper :shock

and we're going to the vet later today so i'll see if he will check her teeth.

her cage is decent size (hoping to build her one soon) but she doesn't chew on the bars, not much of a chewer except when it comes to newspaper

 

[maherwoman]

Aw, that's so cute...little gray foot.

Yeah, it sounds like its just a preference thing. If she doesn't have any predisposition to having tooth probs, she should be just fine with chewing her hay, and when her hormones kick in, she'll undoubtedly start REALLY chewing, so no worries!