Toys and Enrichment For Your Fury VIP- What’s Best?

Let’s be honest, the options for enrichment toys for rabbits

and guinea pigs and other small furries is endless especially on the internet and in pet stores. And the issue is that I could tell you what my personal favourites are but that would be pointless because as every small pet owner knows, every pet is different and will like different toys and hides. However I will share with you the more suitable options, what to stay clear off and the tried and tested options. It is so important to make your pet’s living space interesting, remember they are there 247 unlike you, who can pop out and do whatever you like. You can easily imagine that if you were in the same place all the time and had nothing to keep your mind occupied that you would become depressed and develop behavioral issues. Well it’s exactly the same for your small fury. So it’s vital that we make the space fun and stimulating whilst still remaining safe.

There is no better reward as a VIP parent than to see your bunny’s binky with joy as they use a new toy or see your guinea pigs popcorn and happy hop as they nibble a new tunnel, so its key to get it right! Destructive behaviours like chewing things they shouldn’t is often due to boredom so take the hint and sort it. In a nut shell, enrichment toys encourage your pet to be physically active, they keep their brains occupied and that equals a healthy happy VIP. Please don’t be that person that has them in a pen with nothing in it but a bowl and a pile of hay, what a miserable existence!

So starting off……it’s possible to make food and feeding part of the enrichment process and I really do encourage it. You can do this by having hay inside hay racks or inside rolling balls that have a mesh grid so that the hay can be pulled out, this makes eating more fun and entertaining and will keep them engaged for hours on end. Also they are more likely to eat more hay if it is displayed or held in an interesting way that requires some brain power. Pellets or small treats can also be placed inside balls which can only be accessed when rolled around by your rabbit or guinea pig, being released through a small opening in the ball. You can hide all sorts all over their pen or house, and the scatter feeding approach is in fact better for your pet,

rather than just dumping everything in a bowl and tray- scatter feeding makes them search for it and means they are stretching their legs and using their brain. Enrichment toys are also a key method for wearing down teeth and preventing dental issues in both rabbits and guinea pigs.

Mini ball pits can also be great fun for them and if you have outside bunnies and don’t mind the mess, you can even create soil hills within their enclosure so that they can dig to their hearts content as they would in the wild.

Personally over the years I have tried many toys and I still find that the budget friendly options are normally the favourites- my rabbit will happily spend hours sat inside a simple cardboard box, moving it around, chewing it, jumping on it…..and it’s free so even better! But if you are offering cardboard boxes, just make sure to remove any tape or anything harmful first.

Cardboard options are good for pet’s that just like the sound of ripping cardboard but not so good for the little characters out there who like to actually eat large amounts of it! While a small amount of ingested cardboard isn’t harmful, you don’t want them to eat mass amounts.

Little towers or slides with ramps can be great fun for a rabbit doing its zoomies or a

popcorning guinea pig. Tunnels are without doubt a firm favorite too and they come in all

shapes and sizes. Or if you want to get something with more brain power involvement,

something like a wooden logic puzzle is ideal or cube toys with multiple entrances and

exits……like I said the possibilities are endless. Or, for a budget-friendly DIY solution, try

knotting up a piece of string with some tasty treats hidden inside for your buns to work their way into! Digging and burrowing are urges that bunnies get a lot so why not try some pet friendly wooden blocks to chew, tunnels they can burrow into and digging boxes that you can fill with hay, it will keep them entertained for hours.

One of the key questions I get asked a lot is should you pick wooden, plastic, cardboard or even some editable enrichment toys. Well like I said, it will be trial and error, you may buy a wooden tunnel for your guinea pig and they never use it but then you try cardboard and they are always in it, so in a way, the pet will dictate to you what they do and don’t want.

Remember also that bunnies and guinea pigs like their naps and need area’s where they are hidden and covered from view in order to feel totally safe, they are both prey animals after all.

You can get hides in all shapes and sizes too, however it seems to be more common for guinea pigs to have soft fabric based hides or small plastic huts and rabbits to have wooden based hides as they are steadier and don’t carry the risk of being destroyed.

But a few pro’s and con’s for each:

• Cardboard toys: cardboard is the cheaper option, however it tends to need replacing very often as they get destroyed easily, and you need to check that your pets are not eating lots of it.

• Hard Plastic toys: lasts ages, easy to clean, in fact probably the easiest to clean, middle budget range depending on the toy or hide, harder to destroy however can become very sharp if nibbled too much and would then need replacing, not a good material to use for toys if outside in direct sunlight or in a very hot weather as plastic isn’t breathable and can get boiling hot inside or under them. You don’t want pets to ingest plastic so remove if they get sharp or damaged.

• Pet friendly wooden toys: probably my personal preference for the main big toys. Okay to clean, takes a while to destroy and remains safe for a long while however it’s the most expensive out of all the options, especially if you have custom made wooden toys for your pet’s enclosure. Be sure that the toy is made for pets and isn’t coated in any harmful varnish.

• Edible toys: I have mixed feelings about these, pets love them but they need changing often and some of them in my view can pose a gut blockage risk as cardboard is often coated in something yummy like carrot which means the pet is more likely to ingest a lot of cardboard. Having said that, I am a big fan of the natural selection ranges you can find online and in pet stores these days such as willow stick balls and play baskets made of bulrush and raffia as these are safe to ingest and make super toys.

• Material based toys: for bedding and sleeping hides, fleece and soft mats are fine but I’m not a fan for toys, it needs constant washing and when it gets urine on, if they then sit on it, their fur can become soggy and damp sometimes leading to skin problems. Also if you have a rabbit that loves to chew then any soft material will be shredded and it’s not a good to ingest. While woollen knitted hammocks may be lovely for rats, it is not suitable for rabbits, ingesting wool threads can be very dangerous, stay clear!

A word of warning:

I plan to do a separate article on yes and no shop bought treats however

for now, when it comes to toys, I strongly recommend caution when selecting toys in big pet, they are profit driven and toys aren’t always as safe as they look. I know at Christmas

they fill the shops with exciting looking toys and you want to buy your VIP’s presents too but I find that the tried and tested enrichment toys are best and safest. Tunnels made of thin plastic for example or anything with sharp exposed metal can cause severe injuries and consequences.

So…………with that in mind, my advice is always: when looking for enrichment toys to buy, don’t rush into it, ideally if you can pick it up in the shop, examine it at close quarters, check it has nothing sharp on it or exposed edges. Look at the material and check out the reviews online from other pet owners. That will give you a strong idea on how suitable the toy is. Don’t be taken in by bright colours and cute shapes- I have seen some terrible toys over the years and even on a few occasions had to tell owners politely to remove the toy immediately due to its inappropriate design or hazardous materials. Think- is it safe? Is it something my pet will enjoy?

Will it test their mind or help to keep them physically active? …..DON’ T THINK, I like the colours or that will match my room colour scheme, it needs to be practical and functional! And remember when putting a new toy into your pet’s enclosure, always monitor closely for the first few days, if you notice any malfunctions or pieces of it breaking, remove immediately.

Or if you don’t trust anything in the shops and you want something that will last and you have some wood work skills then why not make your own enrichment toys? Some of the best toys I ever had for my rabbits where wooden boxes made by my dad, they lasted years and years and were firm favourites with the buns. Or if you have some spare money then there are plenty of wonderful carpenters out there or pet enclosure companies that specialise in custom tailored small pet toys- one year for my bunnies birthday, I had a custom made wooden castle tower, she loved it and it’s still going today. Here’s the photo below to enjoy.

I hope that’s given you some food for thought when it comes to your VIP’S enrichment toys, just remember, get as creative as you like but keep them safe and fit for purpose.