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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BEHAVIOR Going back to his old habits

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    • Samicles
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        Nimmy broke his arm just over 2 weeks ago, and while he was adjusting to his cast my life was a little more peaceful because I didn’t have raging bunny hormones to deal with. But now it’s all starting back up again, except now it seems worse cause he’s got all this pent up energy from not being able to do much. He’s peeing on the carpet, chewing and pulling up the carpet and finally he just now peed on my bed.  I remember reading something about some spray you can make that’ll deter your bunny from chewing the carpet. What’s the ingredients? And will that also deter him from peeing? And does it smell good? Nimmy’s cast is really beginning to reek, and boy do I mean REEK. Luckily he’ll be getting his cast changed later this week. 

        And Nimmy has taken a particular fancy to one corner of my bedroom, which is right next to the bedroom door. I’ve been putting cardboard down to prevent him from pulling up the carpet. And I also let him chew on the bath mats that I bought for his other cage that he’s not currently in. Is it alright for him to chew on them, or will he get sick? Whenever I read about it online they just state ways to avoid it. 

        Thanks in advance

        Edit: Oh and I have to wait to get him neutered, for his health concerns and my financial status at the moment. 


      • LittleBunnyPaws
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          The spray is called Bitter Apple spray.. And you can find it online (that’s where I got mine.) I am not sure if you could actually make the spray though.. You can buy it for around $12.00.

          To deter peeing, if you spray vinagar/water mixture there it will get away the scent.

          It probably wouldn’t be the best for him to chew on the bath mat’s.. If he ingests the fibers, it wouldn’t be good.

          The bitter apple doesn’t smell too bad.. From what I can tell, only the rabbit doesn’t like it..


        • Sarita
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            Moving to behavior


          • BunnyBrigade
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              I would get him some woven grass mats instead to chew on. Those aren’t bad for him. I would, also, try diverting his attention to more construct behavior. Does he have a cardboard box that he can destroy or maybe a doggy box?


            • litheandgraphic
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                Too bad about having to wait to get him neutered… Unfortunately it sounds like that would be the answer to your problems, and the longer you have to wait, the more hormones get dumped into his system and affect his behavior and personality even after neutering.

                Definitely take the bathmats away — the fibers are likely plastic and can cause a blockage, and if there’s rubber in the mat that can be even worse. You might want to consider getting him a seagrass mat or extra cardboard to chew on instead.

                Bitter apple spray works sometimes, and other times it can exacerbate the issue, because some bunnies love the taste of it! Vinegar/water is probably going to be more helpful. Vinegar is also amazing at getting rid of bad odors.

                Have you also tried discouragement techniques? Clapping your hands loudly and saying “no!”? You may have to do this several times.

                Also, you can try and use rabbit language to express disapproval. It sounds weird, but thumping your leg to express dislike can be effective, as can walking up to the bunny and turning your back on him pointedly. Look over your shoulder and see if he registers this — this is bunny language for “I’m mad at you, but you can make it better.” If your bunny hops to you and nudges you, then this worked. At the very least it can get him to be distracted for a while.

                But, all in all, I’d say try and keep him off your bed until he’s neutered. Or, you could try putting his litterbox on your bed when he’s up there, in hopes he’ll either go for that or realize his scent is already there. That’s what he’s doing, after all, marking “his” territory.

                Some of this behaviors just can’t be fixed right now, though, so you may just have to make some things inaccessible.


              • Samicles
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                  LittleBunnyPaws: I’ll try the vinegar/water mixture first, thanks

                  Bunnybrigade: I actually got him a woven timothy hay mat and he didn’t really care for it. He’d chew on it occasionally. Call me crazy but I think he enjoys doing what he’s not supposed to. I’m almost 100% positive that he knows what he does is wrong. And he’s got various strips of cardboard, I also give him crumpled up pieces of paper (cause he enjoys throwing them). I also got him a diggy box (before he broke his elbow), filled up a cardboard box with shredded paper, he didn’t care for it at all. The only time when he went inside was when he wanted to pee or poop in it which he did frequently. He does have a cardboard box to sit in (until he pees in that one) and he seems to enjoy resting in there.

                  Funnylookingrabbit: I’ll take away the bathmats. And I read online about someone buying floor tiles and putting them down in trouble areas so the rabbit can’t chew/pee on the carpet. So I guess I’ll be heading out to Home Depot to get some of those. And yeah I’ll be sure to try the vinegar/water mixture. I’ve tried the rabbit language, it hasn’t really worked out (though it might be because I’m inconsistent). I do discourage him, I’ve done the clapping hands (he’s used to it now), the yelling (got used to it), whistling (that worked like twice), what seems to do the trick for me is getting up and making him physically move. When he’s in a different location he gets distracted by something else.


                • Flopsie
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                    speaking as a behaviorist, punishment techniques are generally not preferred and less effective than reinforcement techniques. Punishment in the field of applied behavior analysis refers to the use of stimuli to decrease behaviors and not corporal punishment (2 different things). Use of clapping hands or yelling (loud sounds) or spraying water is punishment by definition. These techniques are less effective because A) they are only effective when the threat of the punisher is present, B) doesn’t teach what to do, but rather what not to do (hence no learning occurs), and C) is only considered punishment (again for the purposes of decreasing maladaptive behavior) if the stimuli used is actually punishing. In lay man’s terms if your bun doesn’t feel like clapping is aversive then its not going to act as a punisher.

                    That said, if you use punishers, it must be effective and consistent. Rather, it would be more prudent (for human behavior change) to utilize reinforcement strategies such as positive reinforcement such as delivery of treats, attention, etc. Negative reinforcement should probably not be utilized as it involves the removal of aversive stimuli which we probably shouldn’t be subjecting the buns to in the first place.

                    However, based on my own experiences I don’t know if positive reinforcement is effective, at least in my own case, I have yet to see a significant increase in desired behavior after delivery of the reinforcement. However, what I have seen effective is strategies for prevention. So utilizing things to prevent the behavior (e.g., physical barriers) or even replacement items to chew (which I know you’ve said has been difficult to find) to be more effective, at least for myself, in general.

                    As others have said it might be wise to block the carpet area off, place things to prevent access to that part of the carpet (e.g., tile) or have something for her to chew in lieu of the carpet (e.g., phone book on carpet area). This way if she chews the book, then great, and if not interested in chewing the book, then great too

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                Forum BEHAVIOR Going back to his old habits