# What materials are safe to use for toys?



## Plymothian_Sophie (Jan 22, 2014)

So, I'm kinda creative and want to start making Truffles her own toys as the ones I buy her she destroys fairly quickly and toys are expensive in all pet shops near me.
What materials are safe and make for a good rabbit toy? I already have things like natural loofah and siscal string, but is there anything else I can use to make, fun safe toys?


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## 3willowsbunny (Jan 22, 2014)

I used to make bird toys and used untreated wood blocks "dyed" with koolaid, but you have to be careful with the type of wood you use for rabbits. Unsprayed apple wood and unsprayed willow are two woods that I have heard are safe.


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## Plymothian_Sophie (Jan 22, 2014)

3willowsbunny said:


> I used to make bird toys and used untreated wood blocks "dyed" with koolaid, but you have to be careful with the type of wood you use for rabbits. Unsprayed apple wood and unsprayed willow are two woods that I have heard are safe.



I'm gunna ask another thick question, is apple and willow wood wood from those trees? If so, I have a friend who has an apple tree in her garden who I'm sure wouldn't mind me taking small clippings from the branches to make 'applesticks' or something as something for her to chew on or throw around  
I apologise I'm rubbish when it comes to plants etc lol


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## Imbrium (Jan 22, 2014)

Apple branches are safe *if* the tree has never been treated with pesticides or fertilizer.

Safe and unsafe trees/shrubs/wild plants

As for buying wood to make toys (like from a hardware store)...
~ NO cedar
~ NO treated wood (or wood that has "weather"-something or anything like that in the name that indicates it's meant for outdoor use - that's another way of saying it's treated)
~ soft woods other than cedar are only safe if they're kiln-dried (aka "KD") - if it doesn't say that it IS, then it's not
~ no particle board, OSB or MDF


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## Plymothian_Sophie (Jan 22, 2014)

As far as I'm aware it hasn't been treated with anything, she planted it as a kid cause she thought it looked pretty and left it to grow lol
So if I was to take a few twiggy branches from the tree and bundle them it would be safe for her to eat? Lol


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## 3willowsbunny (Jan 22, 2014)

Plymothian_Sophie said:


> I'm gunna ask another thick question, is apple and willow wood wood from those trees? If so, I have a friend who has an apple tree in her garden who I'm sure wouldn't mind me taking small clippings from the branches to make 'applesticks' or something as something for her to chew on or throw around
> I apologise I'm rubbish when it comes to plants etc lol



We have 3 huge weeping willow trees in our yard and I use tons of the branches for my parakeets, they chew the heck out of them and have never had any issues (none of the trees or grass...or anything in our yard has ever baan sprayed or fertilized with anything). We also have three nice big macintosh apple trees in our yard that MAY have been sprayed in the past as we have only been living here for 8 years and the trees were here when we moved in. I am a little leary of using those branches but if you do have a 100% unsprayed apple tree the branches should be fine, I have heard you should dry out the branches for a month or two first before you give them to your bun.


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## 3willowsbunny (Jan 22, 2014)

Imbrium said:


> Apple branches are safe *if* the tree has never been treated with pesticides or fertilizer.
> 
> Safe and unsafe trees/shrubs/wild plants
> 
> ...



Do you know if birch is safe? I have access to some nice wood blocks that are birch, they would make great chew blocks for bunnys but I'm not sure if they are safe.


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## Magick_mogwai (Jan 22, 2014)

Making toys is a great idea. Gandalf gets bored of his toys a lot so I had to make some myself since I couldn't afford a lot of pet store ones and many of them looked boring anyway.

I found an old brass bell in my craft kit and after making sure it was clean I strung it up with a set of wooden beads and Gandalf loves it. I sometimes thread a bit of loofah over it and put a drop of apple juice on and he goes crazy.
I also crotchet so I made a ball out of wool and filled it with scrunched paper. I'm also collecting boxes with various different opening at the minute as I want to attach them to a board and hide treats in them. I'm not being too picky with materials as I don't plan on it being an unsupervised toy so I can always stop Gandalf if he starts to chew it too much. 

I'm actually amazed just how many things I can make simply with paper and boxes like tissue boxes though they don't last long Gandalfs toy of the week is a tissue box that I have stuffed with lettuce and shredded paper, scrunched paper containing pellets, hay and dandelion, and various bits of loofah and wooden blocks with pak choy in the bottom. It's now well chewed and keeps being moved to his bed where he puts all his favourite toys.


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## Imbrium (Jan 22, 2014)

3willowsbunny said:


> Do you know if birch is safe? I have access to some nice wood blocks that are birch, they would make great chew blocks for bunnys but I'm not sure if they are safe.



Birch is safe (both branches right off a tree and birch lumber from a hardware store, assuming said lumber is untreated (it's a hardwood, so it doesn't need to be kiln dried)


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## Plymothian_Sophie (Jan 22, 2014)

Magick_mogwai said:


> Making toys is a great idea. Gandalf gets bored of his toys a lot so I had to make some myself since I couldn't afford a lot of pet store ones and many of them looked boring anyway.
> 
> I found an old brass bell in my craft kit and after making sure it was clean I strung it up with a set of wooden beads and Gandalf loves it. I sometimes thread a bit of loofah over it and put a drop of apple juice on and he goes crazy.
> I also crotchet so I made a ball out of wool and filled it with scrunched paper. I'm also collecting boxes with various different opening at the minute as I want to attach them to a board and hide treats in them. I'm not being too picky with materials as I don't plan on it being an unsupervised toy so I can always stop Gandalf if he starts to chew it too much.
> ...



Lol I have a hamster named 'Gandalf'  
I do ideally need pet safe materials as I have more hours at work so they'll keep her amused whilst working so she won't always be supervised 100% of the time, but I quite often get a cereal box or another box and fill it with, hay, alphalpa, pellets and greens which she loves, keeps her amused for a few hour anyway  I ideally want to make stuff I can hang from her cage for when I'm out and stuff she can throw or roll around when she's out


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## StampyBunny67 (Jan 22, 2014)

Thats a great idea! For my buns I find pine cones and then I bake them, but another great thing to do is just bundle sticks from pretty much any fruit tree. Fruit trees are normally safe if they haven't been sprayed.


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