This is an informative piece about enrichment for rabbits. If you own rabbits or intend to own one, one of your first assignments will be to make adequate provisions for their welfare. Rabbits require a lot of care and training, so a lot of resources will certainly go into that.
You will not only provide it with a comfortable shelter, but you will also need to feed it timely with the right, balanced meals. But importantly as well, the mental health of your pet bunny needs to be taken into full consideration.
Enrichment for rabbits entails keeping your rabbits well entertained and mentally stimulated. You will achieve this by making provision for extended playtime and exercise. They need to have a place around the house where they can jump around and stretch their muscles. Rabbits enjoy playing with toys or improvising with small household objects as well. So getting them toys is also an integral part of the whole enrichment process.
In this article, the following topics will be discussed as they bother on enrichment for rabbits
- Are there ways to mentally stimulate a rabbit?
- How do you enrich a rabbit?
- Are there ways to keep my rabbit entertained?
- How do you make enrichment toys for rabbits?
Keep reading…
How Do You Mentally Stimulate A Rabbit?
Rabbits are spoiled animals. That goes without saying that their peculiarly fragile and sensitive natures require the kind of attention they get. A rabbit adapts well in the wild but once it is domesticated, its owner has to invest a lot to ensure it has a good quality of life.
Aside from their shelter, which should be made as cozy as possible, rabbits are expected to be fed at least twice daily. Their meals consist of hay and fresh greens which should be given to them in a timely fashion. It is expected that their meals should also be supplemented with varieties, such as oat or pellets, in small quantities.
All of these are just to give you a glimpse of some of the resources that go into maintaining a healthy, balanced diet for your rabbits. But what about the area of mental stimulation for your pet bunny? Now, this is another ballgame entirely.
To keep your rabbits mentally stimulated will require that you set a specific amount of time a day where your rabbits can indulge and recreate. This means lots of jumping around and exercise out in the open yard You will do well by providing a lush lawn that stretches in both length and breadth where your pet bunny can spread out and invigorate.
Another thing will be to provide them with an ample amount of toys, or at least improvise with small house items to keep them entertained as they play on. Rabbits function just like humans and when they don’t get the right mental stimulation they deserve, they can get bored. In some cases, can even become aggressive, lethargic, and may refuse to eat.
Mental stimulation helps to maintain a healthy optimal quality of life all year round. Here are just a few routines you can adopt to keep your pet bunny mentally stimulated:
- Get your pet bunny a friend and playmate. They can use their company.
- Like we already stated, set aside an adequate amount of playtime every day.
- Build structures that encourage them to climb and exercise.
- Get them logic, rotate, or reward toys. You can these toys from most animal pet stores.
How Do You Enrich A Rabbit?
Before bringing home a pet bunny, keep in mind that you must know how to properly enrich it. There are many ways to go about it, but also remember that rabbits all have different personalities. What may work for one may not work for the other. Nonetheless, they are a few general practices that you can adopt to enrich a rabbit. Watch out which one works for your pet bunny and place your focus on them.
Below are some ways to enrich your pet bunny:
1. Lots of attention
Rabbits enjoy lots of care and attention. There can never get enough of it. You must devote some time every day to attend to your rabbit’s physical, mental and social needs.
2. Loads of Toys
This one can never go overstated. Rabbits enjoy playing with toys a lot. You can even improvise with small house items. Just ensure they don’t include very tiny objects so they don’t mistakenly swallow them since rabbits like to chew a lot.
3. Climbing Structures
You can build a small climbing structure for your pet bunny where they can practice climbing. Climbing is another form of exercise that helps to stretch and strengthen their fragile muscles.
4. Old Shoebox
An old shoebox can come in handy when you need to create a sort of playpen for your pet bunny. You can remodel it into a mini house with “window-like” perforations around it for light and air. Rabbits can play inside one of these fun spots for hours.
5. Get Him A Friend
Another way to provide the right enrichment for your rabbit is to bring home a companion. Rabbits may enjoy a little alone time by themselves but still, need the company of other rabbits. A friendly companion will be great for your bunny at some point in their lives
6. Mirrors
Now, this is a nice substitute for a companion. Where you can’t find a suitable companion for your pet bunny, you can get a mirror for it to play in front of. Mirrors are great for dealing with boredom and loneliness. Your rabbit will get excited as soon as it sees its reflection in the mirror. It may even think this reflection it’s a companion and may attempt to play with it.
How Do I Keep My Rabbit Entertained?
Knowing how to keep your pet rabbit entertained will be beneficial to you and the rabbit in the long run. Thankfully rabbits are very playful creatures, so they help along the way to keep things interesting. Your primary goal as a pet handler is to find out what activities your pet bunny enjoys the most and maximize your efforts in these areas.
Rabbits enjoy simple play and exercise routines out in the open. A day out in the open lawns around the home is enough for the average rabbit. The natural fresh air and sunlight help to invigorate them. But it doesn’t end there.
You can take things a little further by incorporating a few game routines into the playtime. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you joining in the fun as well. Rabbits are known to also enjoy the companies of humans.
One game you can attempt with your rabbit which is also particularly fun for them is the game of chase. You begin by getting on your knees and pretending to be an animal. As soon as your rabbit sees you in this position, it will attempt to run towards you.
To spice things a bit, you can even pretend like you are trying to get away from it. This will make it chase after you in an attempt to catch up with you. Your rabbit is sure to fully get into the game after a few minutes and is sure to wear you out!
The game of fetch is another one that a rabbit enjoys a lot. A cat ball can come in handy here when you need to keep your rabbit well exercised and entertained. You start by first throwing the ball to a short distance and watching your rabbit going to fetch it. Mind you, a rabbit will not understand it immediately.
There is a high chance that it would act indifferently when you first throw the ball. But the trick is never to give up. Give it a few tries until your rabbit’s interest piques and goes to fetch the ball. Repeat the whole process until it starts to get fully in the game.
How Do You Make Enrichment Toys For Rabbits?
One of the first things you may be concerned about when you consider bringing home a pet rabbit is the cost involved. You will think about its food, shelter, and enrichment toys, and games to keep it happy and entertained.
All of these do not come at a cheap rate. You will soon find out that as you live with a pet rabbit that some of these expenses continue to accrue. So how do you cut down on cost and still enjoy the fun that comes with owning a rabbit? This is where a bit of ingenuity comes into play to ease the financial constraints a bit.
One way to reduce the cost of raising a rabbit is by knowing how to improvise. You may not be able to improvise with its meals but you can with enrichment toys and games.
Here are some ideas you can experiment with to make cost-effective homemade enrichment toys for your pet bunnies:
- You can make a small ball using old towels and rags.
- Instead of throwing away cardboard boxes, you can recreate them into a hiding spot for rabbits.
- Pet tunnels are also great for rabbits to maneuver their way around.
- Old paper bags should be used as not only a hiding spot but as a foraging tool by placing delicious treats in for them to discover.
- Phone books are also good for shredding into bits.
- Metal lids of food items are great for tossing around (Rabbits enjoy the noise they make)
Here they are, the different ways you can enrich your rabbits. We hope this enrichment for rabbits article helps you in developing a friendly relationship with your pet rabbit so that both of you can be happy together.