I have a 4month old bunny that just recently has a thing with scratching the corners of his cage and biting his litter box which is also one of those corner ones. He also got nuetered two weeks ago. He does this scratching and biting at night when I'm trying to sleep. I don't know why he does this. He has plenty of food, water, toys and hay. He gets a couple of of hours a day of playtime outside the cage. Any advice would be great.

I know my rabbit started getting aggressive towards her litter box when she started to get too big for it. Are you sure that the litter box isn't too small for him?

Lola does this and I've done A LOT of reading up on it. Basically, what I've gathered, is that digging is an innate characteristic of rabbits that they just can't stop. Almost like an impulse. Lola well incessantly dig at our microsuede couch - she won't harm it but every once in awhile she will also nip at it and it puts a little mark in it which kinda sounds like your situation. The only thing that has worked for us is using a water bottle and spraying her in the bum while saying "no". Some nights are worse than other and some nights she won't do it at all...I've just kind of decided it's something she is never going to be able to control. I put a YouTube video below that I've posted on here before that give you some idea of what she's doing to compare to your bun. Even though our apartment is bunny-proofed the digging is really the primary reason she is not completely free-reign when we are gone - I don't want to come home to a couch with a bunch of teeth and claw marks. I tell myself it's better than her eating the carpet.

My first buns was a digger too. I always teased that she was trying to dig her way to China-- she was so determined! I think she did it more when she was mad or bored. Maybe give him more toys? Maybe certain toys only go into the cage at night, to make them new and special? My first buns I had outside of the cage toys, daytime toys, and nighttime toys. It really helped keep her from getting bored and into trouble. Toys don't have to be expensive. My buns' favorite nighttime toys were some laundry detergent caps stacked up with a cat toy in them, a paper towel roll, and a stuffed bear. She also liked having a towel in there with her, to bunch up and reorganize.

What type of cage does he have?

My lop, Bindi used to do that biting/digging on the corner of his cage. It almost drove me nuts. Building him a much bigger NIC condo has helped quiet him down a lot. He still does it occasionally (he's doing it right now). Sometimes it seems to be a frustration thing. Olivia is having her run time now with me and he knows he comes out after so I think he's impatient.

Does your bun have some cardboard boxes/paper to destroy? I find Bindi is much less diggy when he has a fresh box to destroy.

It's definitely a natural behavior for bunnies. He sometimes digs in his hay bin. He also digs a bit before flopping down. My other 2 don't dig at all.

One of mine does this. She was kept in a very small cage for most of her life, so I think it's a habit she's developed. She now has a ton of room, but sometimes in the evening when she has a lot of energy she'll head to the cage that holds the litter boxes and just dig and dig. I make her stop and give her something more productive to do in the living room, but obviously that's not something you can do in the middle of the night. In general, having a large cage will do a lot to reduce the behavior before it becomes a bad habit you can't get rid of.

His cage is one of those first timers cage that comes with food, toys ect.. I was thinking he is getting too big for his cage and was planning to upgrade to a larger one...so if it will help and give him more room then I'm going today and getting a larger one..I just want him to be happy

Posted By BanditsMom on 08/24/2012 12:03 PM
His cage is one of those first timers cage that comes with food, toys ect.. I was thinking he is getting too big for his cage and was planning to upgrade to a larger one...so if it will help and give him more room then I'm going today and getting a larger one..I just want him to be happy

The cage did help Lola some.  We also switch up her toys so she doesn't get bored - a lot of it was just trial and error to try to find something that works.  I hope something works for ya!

What type of cage are you planning to get? I'd recommend something made of NIC cubes or an xpen. Any other "cage" you can buy at a pet store will still be too small.

I think an upgrade will probably help the digging, so good luck.

After making a larger habitat and getting a larger, rectangular litter pan to replace the corner one, if he still digs I think the diggy box suggestion by Britt&Yeti would be perfect.

Well a couple days ago I bought a bigger cage that is in a rectangular shape and it wasn't cheap lol...I didn't even try the bunny in the new cage because when building it I found out that it was poorly manufactured and I have to return it..hopefully tomorrow I'll get another one that is correct..i also got him these cardboard tubes from work that are pretty hard so he can chew on and it seems he likes them