chewing, digging, driving me crazy.

[deenaxnicole]

 I’m going crazy! I recently moved my sisters unaltered elderly male rabbit into the room right outside mine, where my unaltered adult female is. She never chewed the carpet, or plastic (except garbage bags) before. The bottom of her cage is corrogated plastic, and she’s not only chewing it. She’s eating it! I don’t see plastic anywhere. She keeps me up all night over it and I’m at my witts end. I yell no, I spray her with water. She chewed a hole in my carpet so now I gotta lock her up, and then that’s when she began chewing her cage. Please tell me her spay, on the 17th, will for the most part stop this. She has so many chews and doesn’t pay them any attention, or pay me any attention for that matter! I’m so exhausted.

[Beka27]

The spay may stop this behavior, or it may at least minimize it. But you have to keep in mind that chewing and digging is natural rabbit behavior, so sometimes it is a normal behavior, not hormonal. Did this just start when you moved the other rabbit into the next room? Where was the other rabbit housed before?

[CheriB603]

Um, well, what did you expect?
You introduced a male – and an unaltered one at that, into HER space! Of course she is going to act all crazy! Isn’t there ANY other place you could have put his cage? Until 30 days after they have BOTH been fixed, it’s not safe or smart to let these two be anywhere near eachother. Once she ‘s fixed, her hormones will begin to calm down, but it still won’t be safe to let the unaltered male near her – he will most likely try to mount her which may cause vicious fights and territorial peeing and pooping and chewing etc.
So my advice is to move the male someplace else, get them BOTH fixed and then wait 30 days to BEGIN introducing eachother, which may take weeks or months to get them bonded. Good Luck!

[deenaxnicole]

This just started shortly after I moved him. She never chewed the carpet, or plastic (except garbage bags) before. Shes always dug, occasionally, but she does it so much more now. And she never used to destroy everything. I used to leave her out for hours unattended with her toys and chews everywhere and she never bothered anything, of course the room is also bunny proof so if she did she was still safe, but I’d come home and she’d just be sleeping somewhere it waiting by the baby gate for me to come home. Will getting her a friend after the spay help?

[deenaxnicole]

Um, well, he isn’t in HER space, so no, I didn’t expect it. He’s in a seperate room, in a seperate cage, seperated by a door and a baby gate. They aren’t near eachother, just closer than before. I could always put him back where my sister had him neglected of course. In my nephews room in a tiny store bought guinea pig cage. But I felt me taking over his care would be more fair than letting him stay locked in a small dark miserable cage, so I had to move him to a bigger location to do so. I also mentioned the male is elderly, so I’m not sure I’m comfortable neutering him this late in his life. He’s at the very least 7 years old. Which is why they have zero interaction with eachother.

[jackieblue]

I have no right to say this but sarcasm isn’t the answer to anyone’s not knowing and coming here for advice but anywho….
I and my son have only had his bunny, DigDug since a couple of weeks after easter and I can already tell anyone that wants to know that all the tempermental seemingly crazy behaviors is EXACTLY why so many poor precious little rabbits die or end up unloved very soon after Easter—-because people are effing idiots and do nothing but say “aw, how cute, my little Susie or John needs a rabbit for Easter!!” having ZERO clue about just how “odd” these creatures are and can be BY NATURE. This isn’t aimed at you deena.
Stepping off soapbox…

[Beka27]

Calm down, guys.

It seems that the original post (OP)was either misread, read through too quickly, or unclear, and that is what prompted Cheri’s reply.

I also had to read the OP a couple times b/c I initially thought they were moved into the SAME room.

Depending on her age, she may be just now becoming hormonal… or it could be the sudden influx of his scent that is triggering an increase in hormonal behavior. If that’s the case, spaying might not fix it completely if he remains unneutered and close enough for her to smell.

Male rabbits can be neutered later in life. They become “seniors” at 6 years old, but if there are no health issues/contraindications for undergoing anesthesia, neutering can still be done safely. Keep in mind that he will hopefully live another 4-5 years…

[tanlover14]

I agree with Beka – a vet visit and bloodwork will be able to determine whether or not he’s healthy enough for a neuter.

It doesn’t always take them to visually see each other for the female hormones to go all wacky. My girl, Nora, accidentally smelled out one of my neutered males two weeks before she was spayed and she went BONKERS. She turned into a raging, hormonal brat. A few days after her spay, her terrible behavior stopped and she was back to her normal, cute, and on her best behavior self!

I see you mentioned getting her friend – getting her a friend wouldn’t necessarily help her behaviors. 1. Another rabbit and her may have major litter box problems when going through bonding – pooping and peeing everywhere. 2. My buns have picked up on their bonded mates bad habits. So as you can see – only get a 2nd bun if you’re prepared for the worst and willing to accept it. Bonding is never a solution for anything in my opinion. It comes with it’s ups and downs. All of which you have to be prepared for.

[CheriB603]

“I’m going crazy! I recently moved my sisters unaltered elderly male rabbit into the room right outside mine, where my unaltered adult female is.”

I read this as you had moved the male to where your female is.

I apologize for the snarky remark, but I thought this was another case of lack of common sense. The older I get the lower my tolerance for people who get pets without educating themselves… As said earlier, so many buns (puppies, cats etc) are given up when they hit those teenage years and it’s just totally unfair to the poor animal who is just acting normally.

[deenaxnicole]

I apologize as well for stating it a little unclear. I’m not at all giving her up, I rescued her from the side of the road and rehabbed her, so I have no idea if she just hit puberty or if it’s cause I moved my sisters male closer than he was before. I am gonna schedule him a wellness visit and talk about getting him neutered after I get through her spay. And I didnt know much about rabbits when I found her, that part is true. But, I used to have guinea pigs so just like I did with them, I quickly began researching. It’s not everyday you catch a rabbit with nothing but your hands on the side of the road, I figured it was destiny!

Thank you for everyones help, in the mean time I got her a pack of compressed timothy cubes and a few “chew kabobs” to hang right over where she’s chewing to hopefully distract her from eating the plastic.

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