It’s finally occured to me that I have a live-in solution to my book overcrowding issues; what I’ve heretofore seen as a necessary nuisance of having two free-roaming rabbits might be better viewed as an opportunity to discover the unknown literary tastes of rabbits. Or I could just continue to make available those books I no longer have a use for as a substitute for fresh (and expensive) timothy hay. Anything on the bottom shelf and within reach is fair game for their *reading* pleasure. Recycling in its simplest form!
Book or newspaper eating is far from unheard of with rabbits. Their teeth are open-rooted and grow continuously, hence their need for chewables. I buy them willow and apple sticks and give them bits of wood to chew to save the baseboards, but their preference is for my wicker porch furniture and those books stored down low.
I amuse
myself with pondering their choices. For most of the winter they worked on a favorite book by illustrator Marjolein Bastin – a hardcover book, I can imagine the satisfaction of sinking one’s teeth into it. Every morning there was less of it for me to replace on the shelf. By winter’s end the cover and binding were gone; their interest in the loose pages has waned and this week they’ve found a new favorite by John Irving. Unfortunately it’s one I haven’t read yet.
I’m thinking I should replace that one and some of the others on the bottom shelf with something more bunny-appropriate and worthy of recycling:
Rabbit Language or “Are You Going to Eat That?”
Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, & Other Mathematical Explorations
Raising Rabbits For Fur, Meat And Profit
Any other suggestions for books a rabbit might love to eat?
😉
Definitely you should give them a copy of Roger Moore’s Roger & Me. I think they would enjoy destroying that movie. 😉
Bunnicula!
(That kids book about a bunny who sucks juice out of vegetables in the dead of night)
We’d vote for Peter Rabbit.
Watership Down
Raising Rabbits For Fur, Meat And Profit
And you guys gave me a hard time for my snarky “feed a family of 4 for a week” with a giant bunny comment. The titles of the others were somewhat questionable as well. How how mighty have fallen… 😉
LOL Laura!
Okay, okay, okay! I wasn’t very clear then. Maybe there should be two categories of books – those a bunny would enjoy the taste of (Bunnicula, Watership Down, etc.) and those that a bunny would find unpalatable (those that I listed) and that are deserving of recycling to the litter box.
Jayne: Yes… you see that I’m poking fun at myself, don’t you?
😉
Dr. Know: It was a very gentle hard time that *I* gave you. I’m sort of continuing that with this post, for what it’s worth.
😉
Niblet prefers newspapers and magazines; he likes to keep up on current events.
I know, Laura, but if I don’t complain and put on a minor show, you might think I’m not paying attention. 😉
You covered the more distasteful tomes, at least from a rabbit’s perspective, so I have a suggestion or two for that lower shelf:
Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte
and
The Giant Carrot by Jan Peck and Barry Root
You have to buy willow and apple sticks for your bunnies? Are they very expensive? I could ship you some the next time I trim trees. (They must be nummy because when I throw them in the brush piles my backyard bunnies chew them all up.)
P.S. Love that bunny pic–they have wonderful ears.
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