If you have a rubber duck question that we don't have the answer to,

please ask us!

•  What is a rubber duck?

Rubber ducks are, in general, amazingly simple, buoyant plastic bath toys that vaguely resemble ducklings.  Some rubber ducks can squeak.  Some rubber ducks can squirt water.  Some rubber ducks change colors or even glow in the dark.  And some rubber ducks even look like Elvis.  DuckLips has more to say about the general rubber duck: Why are rubber ducks so darn awesome?

•  Why are they called "rubber" ducks when they're made of plastic?

Rubber ducks were initially made of rubber, until more durable, flexible and colorable materials, such as plastic, were invented.  Now that plastic is so easy and cheap to produce, "rubber" ducks are made from plastic but retain their original name.  Rubber ducks are sometimes made of a plastic called PVC, but there are some health concerns with that material.

•  What is the history of the rubber duck?

The history of the rubber duck is not completely definitive.  Though it's linked to common use of rubber by the end of the 19th century to manufacture all sorts of household items, there is a lack of hard evidence pointing to a distinct "first" rubber duck.

So far as we can tell, Jodie Davis, author of Rubber Duckie, has the definitive documentation on the history of rubber ducks. All we can say is, check out her book. And, what’s better than this: if you buy the book new, you get a rubber duck with it!

•  How are rubber ducks made?

Injection molding, baby! 

Step 1:  Melt yellow plastic. 

Step 2: Force the plastic under extremely high pressure into a hardened metal mold. 

Step 3:  Allow duck to cool. 

Step 4:  Paint bill orange. 

Step 5:  Paint eyes sky blue. 

Step 6:  Check the health of the newborn duck. 

Step 7: Place duck into tub.

•  What do rubber ducks eat?

All available scientific, secondhand, observed, anecdotal, unobserved, researched, studied, and common sense information clearly and absolutely demands that rubber ducks do not eat anything.  The hardworking investigative reporters at RubaDuck are currently conducting an investigation as to the validity of this possibly out-of-date information.