Scamp got a new litter tray today. Unfortunately the customisations he had made to his old one made it a bit impractical as a litter tray. High sided tray with no corners anyone?

It’s not too bad though, his new washing up bowl.. err litter tray.. was only £1.60 at Tesco.  It is exactly like the old one, except whiter, but he wasn’t entirely convinced.

An application of hay seemed to settle the matter though.

I’ve never been that impressed with pet store litter trays. They seem to underestimate either the height a rabbit can lift its tail or how much extra space is needed for hay/napping. Washing up bowls and storage boxes provide a much better choice of sizes.

Anyone want to place a bet on how many corners will be left by tommorow morning?

I had an email about the difference between hay and straw earlier this week. It’s a topic that confuses a lot of people.

Hay

Hay is fed to rabbits as a substitute for fresh grass. It is grass that has been cut and left to dry. Good hay should be green and smell sweet, not be dusty or smell musty (excuse the pun). The greener hay is the closer it is nutritionally to grass. Old brown hay will have plenty of fibre but is not so good for providing all the other nutrients a rabbits needs. It’s also less tasty… not that I’ve personally tried it.

There are different types of grass such as Timothy, Meadow and Orchard. Sometimes grass is also grown with legumes like Alfalfa. This increases the protein level which makes it too fattening to feed as the main diet for the average adult rabbit, although it can be good for growing youngsters or putting weight on an older rabbit. Alfalfa is also higher in calcium, again good for growing youngsters but too much can be bad for adults.

Find out more about types of hay (with pictures)

Straw

Straw is the stalks from grain crops after the grain heads have been taken off. It’s yellow and the stalks are hollow like a drinking straw. Straw is great for insulating so it is used for bedding to keep rabbits warm on cold winter nights. Straw has a lower nutritional value than hay so it’s not suitable to feed as a replacement for grass. If you use it for bedding, add some hay on top for your rabbit to snack on. It’s perfectly safe if your rabbit does nibble the straw a bit too though.

The endless task of entertaining Scamp involves a lot of toys. It can be a bit expensive to keep buying new toys though, particularly when 90% seem to be either be ignored or eaten in 10 minutes flat. So today’s post is a tribute to the random household object. Here is a collection of Scamp’s random objects:

Left to right: Cotton reel, puzzel ball, blocks.

I think the cotton reel is self explanatory. The ball is a puzzle toy, unfortunately Scamp doesn’t seem any better than me at lining up the colours, but it’s made of hard plastic so bite-proof and easy to nudge around. The blocks are some version of giant lego. Again, hard plastic so fairly chew resistant and they have nice edges to pick up and throw (see outtakes below).

What random household objects does your bunny have to play with?

Outtakes

Scamp has a little bit of a hang up about toys on his rug, namely the only toy allowed on it is his treatball (which is generally not allowed off it). There is possibily some very logical scientific/food related reason for this related to the extra friction making the treat ball move at optimum volocity for treat removal, or he could just be a fuss pot. Anyway, he was not impressed by my attempts to line up his toys for a photo.

Do you ever wonder if they wait until your back is turned then play in all the places you thought were totally inaccessible before sneaking back to look innocent? The answer is yes.

I was going through the hundreds of snaps I have and here is Scamp caught in the act…

That’s the kitchen window sill, above the work top, excuse the mess.

Scamp takes a lot of entertaining and a rabbit food ball (sold by Rosewood Pets and various other companies) is one of his top toys. Unlike some other rabbit toys that get played with a bit and then ignored this has kept his attention. Though, that may have something to do with the food I keep filling it with.

It’s a very simple toy; a wire ball with a chain to hang it up and a bell on the bottom. One side has a section of wire missing so it’s easy to fill with goodies. It’s too small to hold enough hay to be useful, but it is perfect for stuffing with veggies.

The wire restricts access so that food has to be nibbled as the ball swings and you can adjust the height to make the activity more easy or difficult as required. If your rabbit is really clever, hang the ball up high so it’s only just in reach or only in reach when stood on a box.

Making rabbits work hard for food is great enrichment. It stops them getting bored and eating your wallpaper instead, and it also encourages them to be active, stretching and jumping to get what they want.

In this photo I’d wrapped Scamp’s veg up in paper before putting it in the food ball to make him work extra hard. As you can see, shredding the paper to get the treat is giving him a good work out.