The Rat Lovers Club! ~MODS PLEASE LOCK!

[Centri]

Okay guys, this my be slightly off topic, but I have to ask.

Is pine okay for rabbits? I just filled my nesting boxes for my rabbits, and I think I remember reading that it wasn't okay?

Please answer!

Pine is not really good for any animal, but rats are more sensitive to it than rabbits, horses and guinea pigs

[sam sam]

Okay, thanks, I'll let my mom know so we can swap it out. <3

[Rabbitheart]

Pine needles are okay for consumption as far as I know. I have harnesses and leashes and I walk my rabbits around my 5 acre property and our drive is lined with pine needles and my rabbit, Belle, ate quite a lot of dried out pine needles, but she didn't get sick or die from them, so imagine the needles are relatively safe for eating. XD But don't take my word on it, it's merely an observation from the actions of one rabbit.

[OneRowdyNight]

Any tips to curb biting? Because, Apollo has gotten really nippy. ): And, I'm trying to teach them how to play fetch, which I feed them treats from my hand during. When she bites, she bites HARD. D:

[Rabbitheart]

What we do (I can't say it's proven to work), I have a very nippy-bitey rabbit named Pebbles. Whenever I play with her and she bites, she's immediately put back into her pen. If she does it the next day when I play with her, I do it again in the hopes that she'll eventually learn that biting is not okay and will only result in her "freedom time" being removed or ended. If it's because they haven't been held in a long time, perhaps re-socialization is in order. XD Hold them more often and play with them more often. Perhaps this helps, perhaps it doesn't. Sometimes there's a reason behind the biting, maybe they're scared or they're telling you that they don't like what you're doing. I dunno. XD

[MoonfallTheFox]

A "timeout" won't do any good.

I would suggest blowing gently on her face when she is mid-bite, or about to bite. They hate it, it doesn't hurt them and they won't be cared of you or anything from it, but they don't like it.

[Rabbitheart]

That's a brilliant idea and your right, timeouts don't really work that was my parent's idea though, personally, I never thought it worked. XD

[Kiliann]

Rats don't understand punishment- even if you keep hitting or hurting them over and over, they don't understand they're doing anything wrong. You simply have to reward good behavior.
Your face-blowing idea is a good one- that should work!

My ratties both got a mini box of corn flakes each in their stockings! They're very fat and happy now.

[MoonfallTheFox]

Yeah, the idea behind blowing on the face is it is simply an unpleasant sensation they do not want to repeat. It does not make them scared and eventually, they should connect the two- "Bite=air. No want air. Not biting now."

But since sometimes, the reason they bite is fear, pain is a bad idea. That makes it a loop

Heck, one of my rats has become a bit scared of me because I give him MEDICINE every day. (by syringe, in the mouth. He won't take it in food. And he screams. Like a banshee. I had to scruff him to keep from getting bitten/loosing him today. His brother is similar. I have never had rats this downright awful about medicine before, my others don't fuss near as bad, they dislike it but they sit for it.)

[Rabbitheart]

Aww, poor babies. I hear that rodent screaming is a sound that's heartwrenching and somethng you really don't want to hear. I'd probably cry if one of my rabbits screamed in pain.