Bunnies are very social animals. So keeping them engaged and active is always good for their well-being. This is where toys come in handy.
Understand that the best rabbit toys can keep a rabbit active, ones that allow them to keep chewing, digging, foraging, and exploring their natural behaviors.
However, just like humans, rabbits have preferences. So don’t be surprised if your rabbit dislikes a toy another rabbit is obsessed with.
You have to try giving your rabbit different toys and know the ones it loves playing with. It’s all about trial and error!
In this article, we'll look at 10 of the best toys to entertain your rabbit to offer the best bunny care possible. But before we go into that, let’s see why your rabbit needs toys.
By Fran Chartres from UK - IMG_2224, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3188100
Providing your rabbit with toys to play with is very important. Let's look at the benefits below:
Rabbit's teeth keep growing throughout their lives. for this reason, they must keep eating chewy foods like hay and grass to wear down their teeth consistently.
However, a chewy rabbit toy can help! Most rabbit toys are chewable, especially ones made of hay and safe, natural items. So, your pet rabbit can play with these toys and keep its teeth busy at the same time.
Rabbits do not need to be inactive. It’s unhealthy for both wild and domestic rabbits. Hence, regular exercise is important for your pet’s health.
Interestingly, toys greatly help to keep rabbits active. Equally, giving your rabbit toys to play with gives them what to chew on, crawl under, climb on, dig into, etc. These are great ways for rabbits to exercise.
Above all, toys help to keep both a rabbit’s body and mind in good condition.
If your rabbit lives alone, they are likely to feel bored very often. And bored rabbits tend to feel easily depressed.
As a result, your rabbit can start to destroy things a lot. And this is a behavior you do not want, especially if the rabbit is out of the cage and moving around your house.
For this reason, you need to keep your pet occupied, especially with challenging activities. And rabbit toys can help you achieve just that. As rabbits creatively play with toys, they equally learn a lot.
Toys do not benefit rabbits only! No doubt, rabbits chew on stuff a lot and can destroy things around your home. Moreover, they can as well be exposed to dangers in your home.
So when it comes to bunny-proofing a home, a toy does two things at a time. They’ll keep your rabbit safe as well as your properties.
Just like wild rabbits, our pet rabbits need things to chew on. It’s a rabbit's instinct! However, you can satisfy their chewing needs with toys, specifically chew toys. They give your rabbit a safer and more beneficial way to use their instincts.
The following bunny toys come in different categories: chew toys, foraging toys, hangings, hides, etc.
We'll be looking at ten rabbit toys, which happen to be the favorite of many rabbits. Let's get started!
A very good way to keep your pet rabbit entertained is to provide it with toys it can play with in different ways. Ball toys are just the best!
Hay balls, in particular, are chewy, and your rabbit can toss them around at the same time. In addition, plastic balls and willow balls are also good options for rabbits.
Understand that the nature of ball toys allows them to keep moving and rolling. So it’s just very entertaining for bunnies.
Interestingly, many other pet animals, like guinea pigs, cats, and dogs, enjoy playing with ball toys. Hence, if you’re giving your rabbits toys to play with, balls shouldn’t be left out!
No doubt, tunnels, and rabbits are just best friends! Many small animals love it!
Remember, rabbits do a lot of burrowing and live in underground tunnels in the wild. Similarly, a tunnel toy mimics this natural living environment of bunnies. This makes them excellent toys for rabbits.
In addition, you can make this more interactive by placing treats in each tunnel for your rabbit to find and eat.
A tunnel toy for bunnies is easy to make from a cardboard box or similar material. However, you can still get some amazing-looking bunny tunnel toys from pet stores.
These are very common chew toys for rabbits and other small animals with ever-growing teeth. Pet rabbits mostly play with these toys by chewing on them.
As a result, it helps to keep the rabbit's teeth from overgrowing. Furthermore, a stick toy could be a twig, tree branch, or a piece of log.
Most importantly, every stick toy must be untreated wood and pesticide-free. Not every tree is suitable for making stick toys for a rabbit. Safe woods for rabbits come from trees such as willow, apple, maple, birch and polar, etc.
Nevertheless, if you can’t prepare safe wooden chew toys for your rabbit on your own, you can always get them from pet stores. “Kaytee apple orchard sticks” are very popular stick toys.
No doubt, a cardboard box can be fun for rabbits in many ways. They are just interactive and help to build a rabbit’s brain power!
A popular way to use cardboard boxes is to create hidden compartments or hides for your rabbit. They equally make great platform toys for bunnies.
This way, your rabbit can always hop on the box and down from it. No doubt, it's just a great way for your bunny to exercise.
Digging is a part of every rabbit’s life. Hence, it’s great if your rabbit has something that allows them to do that in your home.
Moreover, a woven mat is an excellent bunny toy that allows a rabbit to do some digging. These toys are normally made of woven timothy hay or seagrass.
And because of this, rabbits can equally chew on the toy mat as they dig into it.
These are natural rabbit chew toys for bunnies. They are just in their natural form! Some common natural rabbit toys are pinecones and loofahs. Rabbits will have fun chewing on them.
However, you have to make sure it’s safe for your rabbits. Since these are natural and come from outside, you have to make sure it’s clean and safe for rabbits to chew on.
So wash them first and dry them up thoroughly. Pine cones, specifically, will have to dry for about 4 months.
This is yet another toy for rabbits that they can chew on. Interestingly, many rabbits love wicker baskets.
Just make sure they are untreated and have no chemical finishing—paints, polishes, etc. These are chemicals you do not want to get into your rabbit’s mouth. Remember, a good rabbit toy should be made of rabbit-safe materials.
Moreover, make things more interesting by filling these baskets or boxes with timothy hay, shredded paper, or untreated straw. Don’t forget to hide some treats in them too!
These kinds of toys steal a rabbit's attention. Moreover, the fact that they are hanging from the cage just makes them very interesting.
Your rabbit can chew, pull, or bat hanging toys. Moreover, hanging or dangling toys provide mental stimulation and will keep your pet entertained.
What's more, rabbits will mostly love a hanging chew toy. These hanging chew toys could be hanging toilet paper tubes, chew sticks, or even wooden chew toys made from untreated wood.
Moreover, there are lots of attractive rabbit hanging toys you can get in pet stores. If possible, you should include treats in some of these hanging toys.
Let them try to reach for these treats in their toys. It's a much more fun way to have a snack!
Interestingly, even some toddler and infant toys will make good toys for your rabbit. However, you should give your rabbit only hard plastic toys.
First, your rabbits love tossing them around. Secondly, hard plastic toys are safe. Unlike soft plastic toys, rabbits won't be able to tear and eat pieces of them. It's bad for their system.
These plastic baby toys that are pretty fun for rabbits include stacking cups, blocks, rings, rattles, and teething toys.
These kinds of toys are just about creativity. If you know some common items in your home your rabbit loves, that's a good start!
Get some of them and make cool but safe rabbit toys out of them or use them that way. These items could be bottle caps, toilet paper tubes, cans, etc.
Interestingly, you could crumble paper towels into balls for your rabbits to toss around. Any rabbit owner can do this!
It's normal for rabbits to lose interest in the toys you get them. This is even common in kids!
A rabbit might fall in love with a particular toy and then completely ignore it later. This can make you spend often just getting new toys for them.
It doesn't have to be this way. As a bunny owner, you can keep your rabbit interested in its toys.
All you have to do is some rotation. Giving them a particular set of toys every time isn't right! That's how they lose interest in them.
So swap their toys very often. Let them have a different set to play with every couple of weeks. Two sets of rabbit toys are enough!
This will prevent them from getting bored with their toys and, at the same time, keep their interest intact.
Your rabbit should have plenty of toys to play with. They should be able to get different experiences from each toy you offer them.
Giving your rabbits a few toys might not meet their needs. A better way to go about this is to offer your rabbit different kinds of toys that allow it to use its different instincts very well.
It depends on the kind of item the toy is or the material used to make it. Some soft toys like cardboard boxes or hay balls are safe for rabbits to chew on.
However, you should avoid things like soft plastic or rubber. There’s every possibility a rabbit will chew these items. And since they are soft, your rabbit might eat them, and that’s not good for their health.
This is why any unnatural rabbit toy needs to be hard. This way, they won’t get any piece of them.
Rabbits can play with toilet paper rolls just the same way they can play with paper towel rolls or any other cardboard rolls.
Toilet Paper rolls are great for tossing toys your rabbit will enjoy tossing around. Additionally, they are more fun when you create DIY toys out of them.
To sum up, toys are essential to keep your bunny entertained. Bored bunnies don't do so well and start to give their owners concerns.
Moreover, only provide your rabbit with safe toys to play with. Some of these toys can be common household items.
However, you can get some amazing bunny toys from pet shops. It's worth spending on so long as it enriches your rabbit's life!
Among all rabbit toys, chew toys are very important. Rabbit chew toys include wooden, hay-based, cardboard, and other safe chewy materials.
That's our list of some favorite rabbit toys. Get them for your rabbit and find the ones they love the most.
