Willow and apple made furniture

[LazloTheBunny]

My rabbits have an avairy that im gonna be building a 3m by a couple feet high dig box for them using safe branches to make. Theyve had willow, apple and pear branches and i know the benefits/safe way to feed them. Currently i have some huge bits of weeping willow to use but i plan to use other branches as well to be safer with their likelihood to eat it. Ive been trying to do research on maple, oak, spruce, hazel and european beech but cant find much info. Does anyone know how much these can be fed, benefits to feeding and if theres anythingo to watch out when feeding (like how u cant feed willow if on meloxicam). I plan to have this sorted for summer when theyre out daily though theyll have other toys so wont only be chewing the wood.

 

[Omi]

It sounds lovely Getting accurate information on the toxicity of trees has never been straightforward with some webites contradicting each other. It's certainly confusing. I think it's always better to err on the side of caution though and prefer not to use any woods which are suspect. Out of your list the only one which I personally know is definitely OK is Hazel and that is very popular with rabbits. What do you mean by Maple ie which type? Field Maple and Sycamore I know are OK, but I wouldn't be so sure about Japanese Maple.

This website lists different wood and how safe each is, but as I said the information provided by websites is sometimes contradictory. For example the website says that Buddleia is unsafe, whereas I know it is routinely fed to rabbits.

Safe Branches List for Rabbits & Guinea-pigs — Bunny Meadow

A common belief is that stone fruits such as plum & cherry cannot be fed and therefore neither can their branches because they contain hydrocyanic acid. However, Amygdalin (a cyanogenic glycoside that breaks down into hydrocyanic acid and fructose when in contact with water) is found only in

www.bunnymeadow.co.uk

 

[LazloTheBunny]

It sounds lovely Getting accurate information on the toxicity of trees has never been straightforward with some webites contradicting each other. It's certainly confusing. I think it's always better to err on the side of caution though and prefer not to use any woods which are suspect. Out of your list the only one which I personally know is definitely OK is Hazel and that is very popular with rabbits. What do you mean by Maple ie which type? Field Maple and Sycamore I know are OK, but I wouldn't be so sure about Japanese Maple.

This website lists different wood and how safe each is, but as I said the information provided by websites is sometimes contradictory. For example the website says that Buddleia is unsafe, whereas I know it is routinely fed to rabbits.

Safe Branches List for Rabbits & Guinea-pigs — Bunny Meadow

A common belief is that stone fruits such as plum & cherry cannot be fed and therefore neither can their branches because they contain hydrocyanic acid. However, Amygdalin (a cyanogenic glycoside that breaks down into hydrocyanic acid and fructose when in contact with water) is found only in

www.bunnymeadow.co.uk

Yeah thats the issue im finding with all the contradictions, im not sure which maple is safe yet as i havent got to looking into that one but ill definetly have a read of that website, thank you

 

[Preitler]

I don't worry about wood, they go for the tastier anyway and here there isn't anything that is significantly toxic, apart from yew.
Williow, hazel, ash, birch, hornbeam, fruit trees etc. are all ok, and I'm pretty sure about maple too, although mine don't eat it. They eat fir in winter (abies alba, abies nordmanniana), also pine, but they don't like spruce (picea abies) - which doesn't mean it's toxic, they just don't like it.

Since mine are used to foraging I trust their instincts, and they can stomach a lot of what can be found on those "toxic lists". Ivy, spindle tree, you name it. Never caused issues, but i would be careful with imported, decorative stuff.