Rosewood Snuffle Forage Mat for Small Animals

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There’s really no need to spend a fortune on expensive toys for your rabbits when you can make your own! The first two minutes of this video (again made for rats) shows you how to make these simple little balls. To modify them for your rabbits, fill them with a small chunk of broccoli, celery, or some shredded kale. A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Swedish Rabbit Welfare Society’s annual event, where we, among many other things, were taught how to make snuffle mats for our buns. The idea behind it is to combine foraging and prolonged eating time for our house rabbits. Studies have shown that wild rabbits spend about 50% of their day foraging and eating, where as a house rabbit “only” spends 25% of their day eating, and in many cases, we humans have relieved – or deprived – them of having to forage for their food. Just because bunnies are quiet, doesn’t mean they don’t like to play. In fact, rabbits are naturally intelligent, playful animals.

Rabbit Mats - Etsy UK Rabbit Mats - Etsy UK

Why not share your favorite DIY bunny toys with us in the comments section below? References and Further Reading Of course, if you’re concerned that one of your rabbits is being bullied, you may need to remove her from the cage and seek advice from your vet. How to make a DIY rabbit hideaway You may think that pet rabbits don’t get the opportunity to burrow, but they do mimic this behavior when they enjoy hides of all kinds. Burrowing toys are diverse and can include anything enclosed that you make for them to relax and snuggle down in. 17. Making An Outdoor Plant Pot HideAlso, DIY rabbit toys are cheap to make, which is very important as rabbits can be pretty destructive when the mood takes them! There’s no need to spend a fortune on a commercially made rabbit playhouse. Why not make your own from discarded cardboard boxes? This spare time should of course be spent doing bunny-related stuff, and I myself will use some of it to make a big snuffle mat for my bun Vilde. In case you want to do sth like this too, I have made a tiny tutorial on how to make a snuffle mat, although I know there are plenty of YT videos on much the same topic. It should be used under supervision in case your bun is a chewer, and it should be taken away when it’s not being used, because that helps keep any toy fun. With this in mind, we will categorize our DIY rabbit toys according to our rabbits’ natural behaviors and offer different toys that will help your bunnies express these behaviors.

Snuffle Mat Bunny - Etsy UK Snuffle Mat Bunny - Etsy UK

Rabbits like to chew. They have teeth that grow continuously throughout life, and they wear these down by grinding food, grinding their teeth (bruxing), and chewing. Offering chew toys can support dental health and allow them to express this natural behavior. Thread a piece of string through the toilet paper roll and hang it from the roof of the rabbits’ cage, just high enough that they have to sit up to reach it. These items don’t have staples to worry about and are robust enough to stand up to the most boisterous bunny’s attentions!

Safety first!

Collect a variety of plastic bottle tops that are coin-sized and using a large nail or a metal skewer melt a hole through the center of each top. To do this, hold the skewer (while wearing a heatproof glove) in a flame for a few seconds and then push it through the plastic. This simple DIY rabbit toy encourages your bunnies’ natural behavior and keeps them busy for hours. A snuffle mat is a surface that allows your bunnies to search for little nibbles – their daily pellets, small cubes of carrot or apple, or little sprigs of their favorite herbs. Even a tray of grass could be used as a snuffle mat.

Rabbit Snuffle Mat - Etsy Canada Rabbit Snuffle Mat - Etsy Canada

I know I had the option to walk away and do other things, but it was far too amusing to watch them go at it. It was also enlightening to see how they worked on it. Foraging, as mentioned, is different from grazing, and there really aren’t very many situations where a house bunny gets to flex that mental muscle.So the opportunity to observe their problem-solving was too good to pass up.You can also see them exercising a variety of the physical skills they love to practice, such as digging, pulling, and sniffing. It’s like giving a typical twelve year old boy the latest video game – they couldn’t be happier. Rabbits are prey animals. It’s therefore very important that your bunnies have somewhere to hide when they feel threatened. Toys are great for bored rabbits and give them something interesting to do. With a bit of thought, the toys you give to your bunnies can be so much more than that. Just fill the bag with hay and treats, scrunch the whole thing into a ball, and watch your bunny work out the puzzle and find the treats. Rabbits enjoy stretching to full height and will often stand up in a “lookout” behavior. We can make toys that encourage this behavior, such as the washing line and curtains (above). Let’s look at some other examples. 18. Bottle Top Play ToyYour rabbits will spend hours rummaging among the material in the box to find the treats or just enjoy digging! Nesting Choose some tall grasses from your garden or use hay or straw and arrange them in small bunches lengthwise. Other options for planting up trays of living plants are microgreens and wheatgrass. Microgreens are the small seedlings of plants like kale and broccoli. They are highly nutritious and will give your bunnies extra nutrients as well as a new and interesting grazing experience. A DIY rabbit tunnel is the perfect way to enrich your pet’s cage by enabling him to indulge in his natural wild behavior.