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Forum BEHAVIOR Chewing on cage bars

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    • Eva_M
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        If there’s someone with similar experience and effective way of stopping this I would really appreciate help.

        Eva is outside running around my apartment the entire time someone’s home – usually for an hour before work and then from 4 pm until after midnight.

        Our problem is bedtime, i.e. waking up in the morning. When going to sleep, and like clockwork at 6 am Eva starts chewing and shaking her cage bars. We have a small apartment and the sound is horrible. It’s so loud that even my neighbours are starting to ask what’s happening. Not to mention I’m really concerned about her teeth and whatever she manages to scrape from those bars (metal) and swallow. 

        The issue is not so bad in the evening since she usually stops after a few minutes but in the morning I have to jump out of  bed and let her out before she wakes everybody else because she just won’t stop. And of course no more sleep for me – she’s especially cruel on weekends 

        I considered changing her cage for a homemade one with a net instead of horizontal bars so she can not bite on it but this will not be an option for a while due to financial reasons.

        On the other hand I don’t think it would be wise to put a reppelent on the cage bars since this is after all her “home”. Or would it? I did put tabasco sauce on tv cabels a while back and she never came close again but I’m not so sure about this when it comes to her habitat.

        One more thing I tried was closing her off in the bathroom but this also proved to be a poor choice since my kid (3year old) wakes up at night and goes to the bathroom. I don’t feel like running around catching her in the middle of the night so I gave up after two tries.

         


      • jerseygirl
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          Could you put her in her cage in the bathroom instead?

          Some other things to try is make a noise that might be unpleasant to her each time she takes to the cage rattling. Like shaking a jar of coins. It’s going to make more noise for a while but then she should learn bar chewing = bad noise instead of bar chewing = being let out.

          Don’t know how easy this would be, but maybe line the inside of the cage with something just for night time? Not the top though as it needs ventilation.

          Or you could cover her cage to make it darker. She might be becoming active as soon as the sun rises so marking it darker might delay when she starts. To do this though, you’d have to devise a way there is still airflow around the cage….
          Not sure how effective this method would be because they have an uncanny sense of time!

          I am having a similar problem as I have a rabbit housed in the bedroom currently. He chews on the grids partly as he wants to come out and also as an activity I think. Chewing off the plastic coating.  I plan to use an xpen instead and cover the panels in a clear plastic (like table protector stuff) then give him a big branch to chew away on instead. I have to figure a way to do this so none of the plastic edges are exposed as he’ll just go to town on them otherwise.


        • Beka27
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            Is there anyway she could have an xpen attached to her cage, so she gets the feeling of freedom in the early morning hours, without the potential of getting into trouble? That is probably the best long-term solution.

            Netted habitats are not safe. She will chew thru it and either ingest the pieces and cause digestive issues, or chew thru it, escape, and damage your home.

            You are correct that repellent is not appropriate since this is her space and there is no way for her to escape a strong odor.

            The bathroom is an option, but it’s not ideal. I think you would find it more of a hassle to continuously relocate her every night, not to mention, bathrooms sometimes amplify sound.


          • Eva_M
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              Thank you for your quick responses. 🙂

              Unfortunately there is no room for me to add an xpen with her cage without having to move the entire cage to the center of my living room 🙁 and when thinking about it I don’t know would it help much since I tried something similar before. Since the cage is quite large I positioned it against bathroom door so that she could get out into the bathroom any time she wanted – blocking anyone who wanted to get in 🙂 I put a board on top of the cage so that she couldn’t jump over into other rooms. She strolled all over the bathroom and at 6 am sharp she was banging against the cage again 🙂

              Regarding netting I had something else in mind but probably used the wrong expression (English is not my mother tongue). I have the same thing at our weekend house outside – it’s metal and strong like any other wiring used for cages but instead of just horizontal bars, there are vertical too. I watched here how she behaves when she wants to get out of that cage and she tried doing the same thing but could not grasp the wires to pull them (I hope I explained it correctly). Of course, she’s resourceful so she dug a hole under the cage and came running to me looking for a treat 🙂

              Jerseygirl mentioned darkness – I have a black towel I put on top of the cage every evening and shutters on all windows so that there is complete darkness and I does not help at all – 6 am sharp 🙂

              I did think about what I’m doing because as you said I’m teaching her that when she rattles the cage I open it. But her timing makes it hard for me to try other techniques such as producing even more noise to startle her. But I could probably put her in her cage during afternoon and then try making noise if she begins her routine.
              Although it seems to me I would just freak her out because she’s a very affectionate and cuddly creature 🙁 I used a water bottle a couple times when she jumped on my dinning room table but aside from that I think she never (while with us) experienced fright. I guess what has to be done…

              What type of lining did you have in mind? I already considered buying a plastic box, cutting the sides out and drilling holes in it to allow air flow (of course, with top uncovered). But I can’t find something that would be a perfect fit so that there is nothing she could grab a hold of and start biting.


            • Eepster
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                Do you need the noisy wake up call to stop completely, or would making it change to a quieter more pleasant sound be OK?

                If you just want a more pleasant sound from your furry alarm clock, you could give her a bell. At first put it right by the place she rattles the cage. Ignore the rattling until she accidentally jingles the bell. Consistently respond to the bell, but ignore the rattling itself. After a little while move the bell away from the door just slightly, so that she has to deliberately nudge the bell, instead of accidentally ringing it while trying to rattle her door.


              • Eva_M
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                  I would prefer it if I could have at least one morning off and sleep in a bit later but a bell would definitely be an improvement from what she’s doing now. Although, I’m not sure where to place it. She has a routine, first she rattles the door and if I’m not there in cca 5 seconds she spreads her “working area” to all reachable corners of the cage. It looks kind of funny if you ignore the sound, she hops on her platform and rattles the wires moving a few centimeters with each attempt, then under the platform the same thing and all across the cage…
                  What’s frustrating is that the minute she gets out she does not want to stretch, play or go to the toilet (she has an extra one in the bathroom which she prefers) – she just rolls on the floor on her side and pretends nothing has happened


                • jerseygirl
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                    lol. Sounds like she’s testing all the barriers. Sometimes it’s instinct and sometimes just a project they enjoy I suppose.

                    The best thing would be to ignore but I understand that’s not really an option when she’s going to wake everyone. The next best thing I’m thinking is providing a distraction….(still thinking on that!)..

                    Do you feed her anything normally in the morning? Is it a bit like she’s awake, ready for the day, ready for her food etc ?

                    What type of lining did you have in mind? I already considered buying a plastic box, cutting the sides out and drilling holes in it to allow air flow (of course, with top uncovered). But I can’t find something that would be a perfect fit so that there is nothing she could grab a hold of and start biting

                    The things I thought were maybe cardboard or grass mats. Cardboard can be noisy when torn and mats would have to be replaced often but less noise chewing them then the bars.
                    Does the wire part of the cage lift of the base? Would it be tricky to put in something every night?


                  • Eva_M
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                      I feed her in the morning but not right away. I takes me about an hour to get everyone ready to exit the house, and I give her pellets when on my way out. Sometimes she gets veggies in the morning but this is usually reserved for when I return from work.
                      She’s more alert in the evening than morning, and during the day she usually meditates Evening is our time for hopping on my head if necessary to get attention.

                      I could try with cardboard or grass mats, but she enjoys scratching and chewing on it so it definitely would not last long. There is space where the wire part connects to the plastic bottom so I think it would not take much effort for me to wedge it in. I’ll give it a try tonight and let you know.


                    • peppypoo
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                        Something to keep them distracted can help a lot…sometimes I put a timothy hay cube in the cage at bedtime and it’ll keep my buns happy for a bit. Of course it’s no substitute for normal hay, just something for them to “work” on so they won’t get so bored and make a racket.


                      • Eva_M
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                          Hay is really a sore spot for me…there is no timothy hay to buy as I see on web in other countries. I’m planning to go through all brands of hay offered in stores here (it should not take long unfortunately). I just saw on our local forum that the hay I considered to be of high quality and was preparing to buy is actually perfumed to smell good (to humans)
                          A bit off topic but if anyone knows of a brand that’s selling in Europe and is of good quality please share… I’ll find a way to get to it if I can’t buy it here.
                          What’s ridiculous is that we have beautiful preserved nature (mountains, sea…) and almost no quality offer in stores

                          Eva did not develop a taste for any brand so far. At the moment I have cubes of different varieties (with chamomile, rose pedals, mountain grass…) none of which she found interesting. Especially if I put it in a hay rack – she searches through it and I end up throwing more than half of it after a week because there’s simply no point in keeping it there.


                        • jerseygirl
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                            What’s ridiculous is that we have beautiful preserved nature (mountains, sea…) and almost no quality offer in stores

                            You have me intrigued! Where are you in Europe? Sorry if you have posted this before.

                            There is a hay is from German company I think. It’s called Bunny Nature and has a meadow hay. There is also VitaKraft but I’m not sure where they are based. I know of these through this The Hay Experts website which is UK based but I believe they ship within Europe. http://www.thehayexperts.co.uk  You may be able to find the brands (if suitable) available closer to you though. 

                            I was thinking the cardboard or grass mat idea has some flaws… She would have 6 hours to work on them and get through to the bars by 6am. There is no doubting a determined bunny!


                          • Beka27
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                              Another option for hay, if you have farms or horse stables around, is purchasing horse quality hay in bulk. Even in the US, the hay available in stores is typically of very poor quality.


                            • Eva_M
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                                I decided to experiment yesterday and before sleep I wedged in cardboard on one part of the cage and grass mat on other – you were wright, Eva turned to terminator bunny in an instant and ripped it all to shreds before morning And I really made an effort into securing the whole thing so it would not move So I’m back to square one

                                You have me intrigued! Where are you in Europe? Sorry if you have posted this before.

                                I live in Croatia. A beautiful country but no good hay Bunny Nature was sold on our market but for some reason it’s not being imported any more (to great regret of some as I saw on our forums). I bought Vitakraft hay (both in cubes and plain) and Eva does not want to go near it. But I had a revelation yesterday – on my way home from work I stopped at a drugstore (Drogerie Markt if you’ve heard of it) and bought their private label hay Dein Bestes. I really thought it would not be good since it’s very cheap (around 2$ for 1kg) but she came running as soon as I opened the door so I just left the bag open to see what will happen and she picked it for a good 20 min. I’ll see if she keeps her enthusiasm.

                                Another option for hay, if you have farms or horse stables around, is purchasing horse quality hay in bulk.

                                I live in the capital city so getting anything of sort pretty much means I would have to get in my car and drive some distance to get to the country and find a willing soul to purchase it from. And probably have to explain why on earth would someone from the city buy something like this and not to mention for an animal that should be served for lunch. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but it’s not far from reality I decided to make a trip to the mountains on our way to the sea in summer and return with a trunk full of grass I’ll then dry on my own.

                                If we both don’t get kicked to the street because of all the morning racket before we even try the hay…


                              • Eva_M
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                                  Just to post an update if someone benefits from it. We solved our problem with rattling and chewing on cage bars with covering the entire cage with a thin blanket which does not prevent air flow. Until now we only had a black towel we would put on top of the cage every night and despite shades on windows and complete darkness it would not work. This method is working for two days now and I’m keeping my fingers crossed we solved this

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                              Forum BEHAVIOR Chewing on cage bars