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Forum BEHAVIOR Younger bunny copying older bunny bad behavior.(not sure if this is already a topic)

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    • dragonlilyx
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        I have a 7 month old Rex bunny, Anya. She is insanely smart I can’t believe the things she does you can actually tell shes plotting. I had her for 3 months and she was starting to show signs of depression and loneliness and was starting these bad behaviors. Such as, chewing carpet, biting me, attacking my cat, if my hand was in her xpen that serves as a cage she would pounce on my hand and claw me, and she chews on the matt at the bottom of the cage/xpen, shakes the bars, pulls things down that I thought were out of her reach, such as wires and papers and chewing them, and under my armoir is blocked off but shes desperate to get under there because she knows I can’t reach her and she can do whatever she wants. She has plenty of toys and distractions that she ignores.

        Being social animals I decided to get her a little sister. I did that last week, and she is a 11 week old Netherland (i think) drawf, Faith.

        Faith is very timid and shy, complete opposite of Anya. But I was happy to see it only took 2 days for them to like each other and start bonding. They’re getting along great. I noticed the last couple of days Faith has started mimicking Anya. Such as she only trusts to come over and sniff me or stand on my leg when I’m petting Anya, and today was the first time she took a treat from my hand. But she’s started doing other things too, scratching, shaking the cage bars, kicking littler into the bowl of water. She also ignores all the toys in the cage/xpen. chewing paper towels. and almost constantly digging. Between the matt/bars being chewed and the digging they keep me up all night, or wake me up at 7am (i dont work so I have no set time to get up/go to bed)
        They aren’t always in the cage/pen. Every day anywhere from 2 hours to 8 hours they have free range of my bedroom so they can run around play and burn energy.
        When they’re both acting up I have a spray bottle of water set on mist and i use that, but it doesnt faze them at all, or i clap loud and tell them No! but still that only works for about 5 minutes. When Anya thinks Im not watching her she’ll start doing it again.
        Any advice? please? i need to sleep, and be able to trust them to be alone for more than 3 minutes.


      • Mocha
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          Lol, you’re first paragraph with “depression and lonliness” behaviors. That’s what my rabbits do, and they are the complete opposite from depressed.
          These are pretty much normal rabbit behaviors, but here’s what you can do to help level them down a bit.

          Shaking bars- This is horrible for their teeth. They are trying to tell you something, they want attention, or they want to free range a little. Provide lots of fresh hay, and chew toys to file down their teeth.
          Chewing on the mats- My bunnies chew on towels, moldings, mats, just about everything. Again, they are just chewing because they NEED to chew. If they didn’t chew their teeth would be SOO long, and painful for them. My bunnies’ LOVE fresh hay, willow, apple twigs, Snak Shak logs, etc.
          Clawing at you- Just don’t invade your bunnies’ personal space. Don’t clean the cage while their in it, or do things they don’t like.

          Rabbits are NOT like humans. They DON’T sleep at night. They are most active during dawn and dusk, and the rest of the day and night, they sleep, eat poop, play, do whatever they want. You can’t make your bunny be quite at night, they’re just living how their meant to. If this bothers you, maybe you can put their cage somewhere else.

          Rabbits will just learn to be afraid of you with punishment. You have to teach your rabbits out of things with rewards. You can say NO when they do something bad, and give them treats (apples, carrots, bannana) when they are good.

          If you want to trust them alone…… you, should just bunny proof you’re room and put wood or something down on the carpet. Bunnies are very curious animals, and they can’t really be “trusted”, it’s up to you to make it okay to leave them alone.


        • LBJ10
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            Some of the behaviors you are describing are hormonal behaviors. Is Anya spayed yet?


          • dragonlilyx
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              wow you made me sounds like a horrible person. I didn’t mean that I thought she was lonely because of the bad behaviors.
              They have toys, plenty of other things to chew but they ignore them completely. I know about the teeth filing and I do check them and theyre ok right now. They have plenty of hay and good food and things like apple twigs but she still starts on the bars.
              I don’t invade her space and they get plenty of free range play the room they have is rabbit proof, shes just too damn smart and can get around barriers. When she claws my hand she does it when shes mad at me for taking something away from her.
              I obviously know they arent like humans. Im not trying to force them to be quiet or punishing them.
              They do get rewards for doing something good just anya is just stubborn and doesnt stop.  I have NEVER punished either of them and never would, im not abusive.


            • dragonlilyx
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                Posted By LBJ10 on 8/31/2014 11:59 AM

                Some of the behaviors you are describing are hormonal behaviors. Is Anya spayed yet?

                Yes, she is spayed. I thought a lot of it was because of her hormones but it continues.


              • Mocha
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                  Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sound like a bad person at all, there’s just a lot of mean/abusive people on the internet, so it’s good to be careful and hear that you are a good rabbit parent.

                  Maybe you can buy some NIC grids and ziptie them together to make a more sturdy/permanant barrier. One of my bunnies, Rumpus, sounds just like Anya, although he is the more affectionate out of my two. He is constantly grooming me and loves all attention.


                • LBJ10
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                    Hmm, maybe Faith is the one doing the encouraging then. Hehe! I have heard stories of younger bunnies causing older bunnies to revert back to old habits. Perhaps with Faith around, Anya is feeling “young and naughty” again.

                    I have found that a spray bottle or clapping my hands/saying “no” is not very effective. With Leopold, it has always been a struggle because he is deaf. But Wooly will ignore me too. I have found physical redirection to be the most effective. If they are chewing or digging, I walk over to them and physically turn them around and point them to a more appropriate activity.


                  • dragonlilyx
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                      It’s ok, I just wanted to clarify that I would never do anything mean to them. These rabbits, and my 3 cats, live better than I do. I’ve always made my animals come before myself. Ill spend my last $10 on their food than on my own.
                      I can try that, thanks. I think Faith will come around to being more cuddly and wanting attention shes just really nervous and timid right now.


                    • dragonlilyx
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                        Lol that would be my luck to have that happen, but Faith doesn’t really do much to encourage her..shes so timid she doesnt have an interest in even exploring the room yet.
                        That must be hard having one thats deaf, good luck to ya. Once I clap or mist her with the water she just looks at me like “yeah? thats all you got?” shes a brat lol.
                        Faiths digging, I have done that..tried to put her over to a toy, or just turn her around but she digs wherever I put her lol I just let her do it now she’s not hurting anything. I just watch and make sure shes not chewing also.


                      • LBJ10
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                          Maybe they need an interactive toy? I got a Toys R Us dog toy that you hide treats in. There are different “lids” covering little built-in bowls that I put a few pellets in. Mine love it. It’s a little more challenging than the Teach N Treat, which is made specifically for small animals. They will dig at it and pull the “lids” off in the specific way they need to be manipulated in order to remove them. If mine are being particularly naughty, I will redirect them to that and it makes them forget about the drywall (their favorite thing to chew).

                          Having a deaf bunny isn’t too much different than a normal bunny. You just have to be more creative with how you communicate. It is too bad though. Leopold is so smart, he would be perfect for clicker training.


                        • dragonlilyx
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                            Never thought of that, good idea. When I have the money I’ll have to buy them one. I can see them getting bored and annoyed with it fast, but worth a shot.

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                        Forum BEHAVIOR Younger bunny copying older bunny bad behavior.(not sure if this is already a topic)