Hello! My name is farmer Ellie and I have been working at the farm for two years and oh how I do love it!
Working whilst surrounded by sO many animals, what more could you want?
I have studied a range of animal courses over the past 5 years, and have written my fair share of rabbit essays I think my lecturers will be relieved after I graduate! So I thought why not share with you a bit about rabbits and some ideas for enrichment. I have two bunnies myself, Snoopy and Lola, and I hope im not the only person that calls their pets their ‘furbabies’ but they certainly are to me! They love zooming around the garden and binkying, which is a happy hop! They have a large run attached to their house so that when im not home, they can still choose to sit outside. They even have a mini Ikea bed… with a mattress!
Rabbits are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk, so providing them with some fun enrichment can keep them entertained! The aim is for them to express natural wild behaviours such as digging, foraging for food, creating burrows and running around with their bun friends. Rabbits are naturally social animals, meaning it is best for them to keep them in pairs or more. A little fact I love is that a group of wild rabbits is called a “fluffle“, how cute is that?!
If you ever see or hear your rabbit thump their back legs, this is just how they communicate with each other if they sense something they don’t like! Lola does this as soon as she sees me in the morning… no offence taken. Heres a photo of Tom, our resident netherland dwarf rabbit showing you how rabbits check their surroundings by standing on their back legs.
A simple way to let rabbits dig without them having a party destroying your garden is to give them a dig box with some soil in. A plastic storage container (good excuse for a trip to B&M) would be ideal as it can be easily cleaned, at least twice the size of your rabbit to give them enough room. They also enjoy running through tunnels just like they would in burrows, my rabbits love their hyacinth tunnel, especially because they can eat it! Giving them chance to hide or observe their surroundings is important for them visually by sitting under or jumping up onto hides and platforms. But remember, rabbits are prey animals so naturally they prefer places with an entrance and an exit for easy escape!
Did you know that rabbits teeth continuously grow?
Enrichment not only provides rabbits with some fun, it also benefits their physical health. Did you know that rabbits teeth continuously grow? Rabbits are lagomorphs, so they have two pairs of upper incisors, one is hidden just behind the other. To keep their teeth length worn down, rabbits should have constant access to lots of hay, along with things to gnaw on such as willow sticks. A boredom behaviour rabbits do is gnaw on their enclosure, so providing them with enrichment may prevent that. My rabbits love if I put some hay in an empty egg box and add a few treats inside. Or why not sprinkle some forage such as dried dandelion leaves or marigold flowers over their hay to encourage them to forage for it, they would typically spend 80% of their awake time foraging in the wild. You could even pick some dandelion leaves from your garden if you can, or why not grow your own herbs such as parsley!
You can even hide some of their regular food pellets inside the egg box so they have to figure out how to get into it! Or a more chaotic version is a forage box, throw some hay in there with a few cardboard tubes, forage and toys and it’ll keep them occupied as they like to dig in it too!
The giant continentals at the farm love ‘stacking cups’, these were just some cardboard pots that I put a few bits of food inside for them to pull them all apart to get to the food reward. Top tip- find what treat motivates your rabbit the most! Heres angus throwing the pots around.
I hope this blog has helped give you some ideas for your rabbits, but this is just a teeny tiny part! The ‘Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund’ is an amazing website for all things rabbit care, they even have an Instagram & pinterest for inspiration pictures! The RSPCA’s website also shows how to keep enrichment safe for your rabbits and how to reduce stress. Two of my favourite shops for enrichment is Twig & Nibble, and Wild About Bunnies for reasonably priced natural toys and pre-made forage (this is where all my wages go oops).
Remember, “a binky a day keeps the boredom away!” Thank you for reading!!
Farmer Ellie
