Naughty bunny

[Skye727]

My bunny is turning into a huge problem. She chews cords, has been tipping over her litter box and is not friendly at all. She thumps when we try to come near her. I have had it with her and want to rehome her to where she will be happier. Problem is that she is bonded to my little lionhead boy. I don’t think he cares either way, but she loves him. Would it be cruel to rehome her if she loves him so much? He might like it if I do. She humps him a lot. She even humped his face! Poor guy! I have three bunnies. Are they tamer when you have less? Want to get down to my lionhead but I dont’ want him to be lonely. Three is just too many to manage.

[Sarita]

Is this the same rabbit you posted about before having problems with?

Have you rabbit proofed your home? They will chew cords and you have to rabbit proof.

Is she spayed?

[JackRabbit]

It kindof sounds like you’ve already decided that you want to keep your lionhead but don’t want the other two bunnies. Sarita is right about rabbit-proofing; chewing is a normal bunny behavior. As to the litterbox, you can use heavy duty velcro to attach it the the flooring.

If you’re having a “what have I gotten myself into” moment (we all have these at times!), then take a deep breath and provide more info on your setup and relationships with and between your bunnies and we can try to help you find solutions.

If you’ve decided that you don’t want the other two bunnies, then by all means, find them good homes with people who want them and will take good care of them and bond with them. No bunny is happy when unwanted.

Bunnies can be happy as single buns as long as they have the right human companionship.

[Flopsie]

I think that before you impose your human expectations on them, you have to understand where they are coming from. And ultimately, it might benefit to have a paradigm shift.

For example, chewing is a behavior that is inherent to rabbits. No matter what you want them to or not to do, chewing behavior is something that is coded in them. Furthermore, chewing is a necessary thing for them to trim their teeth down. Therefore, you cannot expect a rabbit to not chew. To expect a rabbit not to chew is like going against their nature.

What you can control is what your rabbit chews. So you can provide safe, appropriate things for them to chew. You can block off areas or restrict areas so they don’t chew things that are unsafe and expensive, and lastly, you can prevent things like cords from chewing by actively taking measures to prevent them from being chewed (e.g., using hard plastic to coat wires).

For the litter box, you can try velcroing it down, I did that and i Know others have to and there has been no more issues.

The point is, if you are set on getting rid of your bunnies, then so be it. Find them a good home to go to. As JackRabbit said, no rabbit is happy being unwanted.

Otherwise, I think the challenge is to shift your way of looking at things. Don’t think of the bunny as the problem because then your solution is to just get rid of the problem. Rather, look at the bunny as doing natural, inherent bunny things which is not appropriate for co habitation with humans, and from there, how can you rearrange the environment to better suit your and the bunny’s living condition.

I hope that makes some sense

[Author]

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