She’s not chewing her toys!

[Starweb]

I know I am pretty lucky considering she doesn’t chew anything at all. Nothing. However, I am getting concerned because my new bunny isn’t even chewing her toys. She has a variety of toys, but isn’t interested in them at all. I’ve tried the lava bits, pear chew toys, even the toilet paper roll. She doesn’t have any interest in them at all. She’s very active and eats and drinks well. She poops fine (a lot). I’m just worried about her teeth! Help!

[Stickerbunny]

Hay is the best for her teeth, so if she doesn’t chew the toys, I wouldn’t worry too much if she’s eating a good amount of fresh hay. You can get the coarser hays (like oat) to mix in with her regular hay as well.

But, have you tried willow balls/cubes? My buns don’t like most toys, just cardboard boxes and willow balls… but a willow balls life span is about 1 hour. lol

[Starweb]

Hmm willow balls. I will have to try that! Where do I get those?

[Stickerbunny]

Any pet store usually will carry them, in the small animal section – some of them come with nuts and such in them, so remove the nut if that is the only type available to you (you can break one or two twigs to get the nut out easily enough) since buns shouldn’t have those. It’s safe for the willow toys to be digested, the bark on variety is what bunnies tend to like best.

[Starweb]

Ooh. So they shouldn’t have nuts, then? Good to know. There is so much to learn. >_<

[Starweb]

Oh! And the pet store gave me a weird donut looking salt lick thing. Do they need that?

[Sarita]

No, they don’t need that.

You might try some apple sticks for chewing, but really the hay is what keeps their teeth healthy. Chew sticks and toys are used more for boredom busters…

[Starweb]

Really? How does hay help their teeth?

[Sarita]

It’s the chewing motion from chewing on the hay. When they chew hay, their teeth move differently than when they chew pellets.

Hay is also needed for their digestion.

[Starweb]

She definitely has unlimited access to hay. She even brings some out of her cage with her and eats it on the couch.

[Sarita]

Oh that’s funny – I love a rabbit that provides her own snacks LOL.

[Starweb]

It’s adorable!! =D But since she’s a lionhead, she gets the hay stuck in her fur a lot. Haha

[bunnnnnnie!]

I know one of Zeus’s favorite things is if I put a piece of corrugated cardboard on the floor, with a few small (silver dollar) sized holes in it.  He grabs at and digs the holes and chews it to bits, lots of fun. .  Maybe that’s worth a try!

I also second willow stick toys.  Zeus isn’t much of a chewer and he loves them.

[Starweb]

My boyfriend is going to bring home a bunch of boxes from his work tonight! We are going to try and make a maze, so hopefully that goes well!! By the way, I LOOOVE your French lops! They are sooo adorable!

[Stickerbunny]

You can also make things like box forts, etc and places to jump and a dig box – all for free pretty much… grab an old phone book, shred it up and put it in one of the boxes and you have a diggy box. I took a vacuum cleaners box and folded it up and it is a tunnel for my two, which they love. They have other “tunnels” that are shorter out of regular boxes too.

[Starweb]

Haha I love it!

[Elrohwen]

Like Sarita said, they don’t need to chew any toys to keep their teeth in good condition, so no worries there. If you just want her to play more, I would try cardboard – mine don’t play with any toys except various cardboard boxes.

[Author]

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