Help! My rabbit is eating his toys!

Question
I read that it is safe to give your bunny toilet paper rolls to play with.  Well I have a rabbit that weighs about 4 pounds, he has shiny soft hair, straight ears and spots.  I don't know what kind he is I bought him from a pet store a few months ago.  He loves his toilet paper rolls but I guess I never really noticed this until right this minute.  He is not playing with it he is sitting here devouring it.  Is eating the cardboard going to hurt him or block up his intestines?  I do give him a papaya pill once a week and he always has a box full of hay and the other approved foods.  I have been so careful to follow all the instructions on the House Rabbit Society Club web page.  It says you are a member there so I am asking you.  But it did say on there that toilet paper rolls are good toys.  I am just very concerned that eating them might hurt him.  I don't want to take them away if I don't have to because he loves them and he would definitely be mad at me.  He gets mad at me when I take any of his toys away or block him from going places he wants to go, like behind the tv.  If they aren't safe toys what should I give him?  If he gets bored he tries to eat my carpet.  He has successfully dug a hole right through my carpet to the floor base.  I gave him a big box filled with shredded paper and he seems content to dig in there now instead of digging my carpet.

Please help me and tell me what is safe for him to play with.  I read things on the website and it says they are safe, but it doesn't say anything about what happens if he actually tries to eat the cardboard.  I need more toys.  He needs to stay active.  He is such a bad bunny if I don't watch him every second.  I love him to much to let him get hurt.

Thank you so much for helping me.  

Answer
Hi Cherie,

cardboard is a wood-based product that is generally safe for rabbits.  When there is an ink on it, it may not be so safe, depending upon what chemicals make up the ink.  Toilet paper rolls are fine.  Basically they will turn to wood paper pulp in the gut.  It's roughage pretty much like the hay fiber they are eating, it just is not long fiber material like hay.  It can't replace hay though.

The only time I'd say cardboard might pose a problem would be if that was the only thing he was eating for a few days, that might bind him up if he stopped drinking water too.  But from what you are describing, he isn't doing that.  Toilet paper rolls were meant to be nibbled on when they are filled with hay.

That said, I would not just offer him unfilled toilet paper rolls.  He'll eat both the hay and rip apart/nibble on the toilet paper rolls.  That is fine.  

for digging alternatives, you can fill that big box full of clean, old cotton tshirts and towels.  Our guys spend hours digging and biting the soft cotton.  They will make holes in it, and roll it up.  It's a little less messy than shredded paper.  You can also put 1 ft by 1 ft floor tiles (upside down) over the corners of the carpets where they tend to try and dig it/pull it out.  They have a hard time lifting it or moving it.

Other good toys are wood chew toys.  You can even make them yourself by getting some UNTREATED pine from Home Depot/Lowes and cutting them up into small pieces.  They will chew on them and eat off all the right angles.  When there are no more, it's time for a new piece.  Just remember that if they are dyed, be aware it might change the color of urine.  Seagrass mats are excellent for chewers.  

Lee