Rabbit enrichment
Enrichment is sometimes overlooked for rabbits. Some people think food, water, and shelter is enough for rabbits, however for your rabbit to live their best life, enrichment is key.
What is enrichment and why have it?
Enrichment quite literally enriches your rabbit’s life! It can be used to make your rabbit’s environment more interesting and fun for them. It should give them a greater choice of activity and things to do during the day. It can help improve their physical and psychological wellbeing, stimulating their brains and keeping them busy.
Enrichment can include toys, places to explore, safe and non-wobbly structures to climb on and investigate, exercising and hopping around, and being sociable with people or their other bonded rabbits. A rabbit’s enclosure should be large and spacious enough to accommodate your rabbit’s need, however imagine if you just had a plain room at home and nothing to do — the room needs to contain things too, not just your rabbit and food!
Rabbits sometimes surprise people as they can actually be very playful animals as well as very active. Enrichment is brilliant for helping to curb and manage your rabbit’s natural digging and chewing instincts. Chewing on rabbit safe materials such as palm leaf, vine, seagrass, or bamboo can help your rabbit keep their teeth at an ideal length and dental health in top condition.
Enrichment also ensures they have entertainment throughout the day. When bored, some rabbits can display destructive behaviours and could chew or dig at things you don’t want them to (like carpet, or phone cables). Enrichment is good at keeping your rabbit entertained and busy so they don’t feel the need to use destructive behaviours to communicate boredom.
Watching a happy rabbit playing or absorbed with enrichment is rewarding and often amusing to see. Think of it like a cat batting at a cat wand, or a dog in a game of fetch – rabbits are just as adorable with enrichment, if not more so! Your rabbit might discover a love for small balls and enjoy pushing them around the room with their nose!
Types of safe enrichment
Balls (as previously mentioned) which can be made out of a variety of materials like vine, seagrass, bamboo, palm leaf.
Bowls and plates made out of palm leaf or other safe materials.
Snuffle mats or snuffle balls (to hide food in!)
Forages and forage mixes
Tunnels
Fun structures and platforms for your rabbit such as wooden cars, wooden castles, cardboard boxes, wooden camper vans, hidey holes, and other cutouts.
Chewable sticks like dandelion root, fibre sticks, and chicory root
Stacking cups
Fling toys that your rabbit can throw around and play with
Where can I get enrichment products?
Firstly, ensure your rabbit’s enclosure is large and is able to allow your rabbit to display natural behaviours such as hopping, running, zooming, and jumping. You could consider attaching a run or shelter to your rabbit’s current enclosure to provide another space to explore and give them options as to where to spend their time during the day.
Shops on websites such as Etsy are usually very good at providing safe enrichment for rabbits. Some shops can be extremely creative and you can find real gems of enrichment activities that are themed by season such as Christmas forage, or inspired by real life such as a chewable Sunday dinner and ice cream shaped treats!
You can also find enrichment on Tiny Paws Emporium (Canadian based shop), Amazon.
Cosy Castle’s, Animal Adventure Pods, and Etsy shops also make some beautiful rabbit platforms and structures such as beds, castles, wooden vehicles, and tunnels. Cosy Castle’s also make gorgeously stylish cushions for castles and tunnels.
How can I encourage my rabbit to play with their enrichment?
So you’ve brought some enrichment for your rabbit, but they don’t seem that bothered with it… We can help!
It might be that your rabbit just isn’t a fan of the particular enrichment you’ve brought for them, but there are also other techniques you can try to help your rabbit engage with the enrichment. We’ve listed some ideas below:
Put small treats in balls by stuffing them inbetween the seagrass or vine in the ball.
Fill a palm leaf plate with forage to encourage your rabbit to chew on the palm leaf.
Infuse or rub bits of their favourite fruit or vegetables onto balsa wood or other enrichment toys to encourage them to engage more with the toy.
Try to play with enrichment toy, for example: try slowly waving a chew toy on the floor to encourage your rabbit to hop up to it and become curious.
Put little bits of food or treats that your rabbit likes inside a structure like a wooden castle to encourage your rabbit to investigate.
You can even make your own enrichment, however be sure to check guidelines to know what is safe for your rabbit!
We hope this little guide has helped show you the benefits of enrichment for your rabbit and you feel inspired to discover the joys of entertaining your rabbit with fun products! We love spoiling our pets with rabbit-safe toys to keep them amused for days!
