please help!!

[Shaina & Lucy]

Hi! let me tell you my background with rabbit’s to start off with! i was blessed when i got my first rabbit he was a mini lop named bunbun! i loved him and he was so sweet! he cuddled and never chewed on walls or cords or anything. his only “flaw” was chewing his cage wires at night but that’s nothing compared to what my bun NOW is doing. I recently, about 3 months ago, got a mini lop female named Lucy. when i got her she was so sweet and tiny and she was comfortable right way! the first week i got her she started doing her flop and sleeping on her side and i had high hopes. Just about a month or so ago she started CHEWING. ON EVERYTHING. and i knew this was something rabbits did i wasn’t naive to what most buns did and i knew digging could have been an issue. i wasn’t prepared for the amount Lucy is doing. she has eating through walls, she has started eating through the underside of the couches and carpets and PAINT CHIPS on my wall! my mom’s basement is being destroyed and most of all i’m concerned for her health! i’m down here with her, i never leave her alone but she is so sneaky and consistent. she has gotten paint off the walls in one bite and she runs with it and hides. idk what to do. to combat her digging and chewing i bought and set up more than 10 boxes and hiding places. i have bought chew toys from plastic baby keys to wooden toys and spent a lot of money on toys that she never touches! i feed her enough hay and she always gets her veggies and pellet’s and idk what i’m doing wrong or if i can do anything to change this. i can’t keep having her eat paint off the walls or chewing more holes in the walls either! if not for my sanity, for her health!  it’s straining my bond with her as well. I don’t think she can trust me or wants to be near me because i’m either constantly patting her butt and telling her NO or moving her away from the thing she is eating or biting. please help! idk if it’s because she needs to get fixed, she is only about 4 months old. am i giving her too much space? she has also been attacking me. she runs after me and bites my ankles and fingers and it saddens me because i know i have so much love to give her. she has the whole basement to roam in when i’m down there, then she goes in her cage at night. she also spends about 4-5 hours out of her cage and this constantly happens the instant she gets let out of her cage. please help! i love her and i know how sweet she can be but i can’t keep letting this happen.

-Shaina and Lucy

[manic_muncher]

Yes, she has too much space. Yes, her hormones aren’t helping. You need to bunny proof against this. She may never stop the destructive chewing, you could set up exercise pens to contain her, then later IF she can be trusted, extend them out to just block the walls to prevent her from chewing them. I would look for ways to cover the walls, even if it meant cardboard, because at least that would be safe for her to chew.

[Kitty]

My Pippin is chewing cables .. we would never found out if our brand new recliner wouldn’t stop reclining lol… Pippin is OK he didn’t burn his mouth but I am buying cable conduits. If you do that with all cables, stop her from getting on the sofa or get cover such as old duvet or something you are okay with being nibbled. there would be some cost effective solution like something you can put just next to walls on the floor to stop her from contact with painting or whatever it is she’s nibbling on….. they don’t understand punishment, so we need to make it easier for them otherwise they will make it hard for us …

[DaisyMae]

We got our bun at 3 months old and after a month or 2 we noticed she couldnt handle too much open space and all the temptation . She is 9 months old and was spayed in July and we are just now starting to allow her unsupervised time out of her cage. I built a 3 ft by 7 ft bunny condo for her out of those 12×12 grids used for wire shelving (there are instructions online) so I wouldnt feel guilty about her not having enough space when i couldnt supervise her. When she is on the loose she has the ability to find the tiniest thread and will pull on it until a whole section of carpet comes up! I find that diggy boxes with hay or shredded paper amuse her as well as the bunny maze I bought on this site and those snack shack logs to chew (without the seeds inside). A bored bun can be a mischievous bun!

[LBJ10]

I agree, it may just be too much freedom too soon. I would confine her to a smaller, bunny-proofed area, wait until after she has been spayed, and then experiment with more freedom.

[Shaina & Lucy]

here’s an update! i did contain her too two all living things exercise pens which i let her out in for many hours (about 5-6) a day which has her regular cage in it. she was doing fine i got her some fresh sticks from outside and new boxes inside her play pen but now she is acting very aggressive. The last few times i went to let her out and play she has growled constantly while clawing at the cage for HOURS even though she has about 3 boxes some cardboard mats and a bunch of throw and chew toys and she is still biting my ankle. i tried to tell her the typical no and all that “punishing” stuff. i have a routine down for her so she knows when she gets out and when she goes back in her cage and most of the time she willingly does it! idk if it’s time for her to get fixed but i was always told 6 months for female rabbits. i’m just so stressed out! i tried a dig box and she turned it into a litter box and got aggressive with it or me being near it so i took it away, i tried to sooth her and play with her to give her attention but she gets fixated on the play pen and will not stop and every time i get near her when she starts her “clawing ritual” she bites and growls so i don’t know what to do. if it’s her hormones i can find a vet and see what they say, but she’s only about 4 months now. i might just be a bad bunny mom lol idk at this point. i have never seen a mini lop soo aggressive before.

[LBJ10]

Most vets recommend spaying at 6 months, but that doesn’t mean the hormones don’t hit long before that.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

How sure are you about her age? If you got her about three months ago, she was likely (hopefully) at least 8 weeks old at the time-you are at least 5 months than and could possibly have the spay done soon.

[BB & Tiny]

The fact that you are asking advice and taking steps to try and help her indicates you are not a ” bad bunny mom. ” Don’t be so hard on yourself. My little girl has only growled and bit me once so I don’t have much experience with behavior issues. I used to use a spray bottle when they chew on things they weren’t supposed to be.

I hope other on here have some experiences of advice !

[LBJ10]

Good catch KK! Yes, she could be more like 5 months.

[vanessa]

I think this is all great advice. My young bunnies were also moody and destructive. I didn’t even believe when I first got them that it would be possible to keep them indoors. After they were fixed and had matured some, they all calmed down. You are in a difficult phase with her. With so many hormones, I would restrict her access to all things chewable. She might be mad at you for that, but for a short term solution, it’s best for her. Spay her as soon as you can. Once she has recovered from her spay, I would start with a 4×8 sized area, and gradually work it larger, until you can trust her more. Bunny-proof the area that you allow her in. My chewer – Guin – When I brought her in the house, I used left over vinyl flooring in her 4×8 area. Then I swapped it with 2x10mil layer plastic sheets to keep her off the carpet, and put a blanket down. Then I expanded her x-pen slowly every day, so she had more and more carpet. Then I slowly moved it away from the baseboards. I only gave her as much access as I could trust her with. But a young un-spayed bunny is not in a good “bunny-motional” state to be trusted.

[Jo Leigh]

My bunny Merlin went through a similar destructive phase. Although he was never aggressive, I can still feel your pain – I know how frustrating it can be! In the end I just had to become creative with my bunny proofing i.e. unplugging cords when they weren’t being used and leaving them up high, out of Merlin’s reach, along with anything else important that I didn’t want him to play with or chew, and also blocking off the certain areas that he seemed to love chewing (which meant blocking him from going underneath my bed – he chewed a hole through the bed base and would happily go have a nap inside!) Although it can be a hassle at first, it’s definitely worth it – I don’t know how many laptop charger cords I went through before I finally said “I’ve had enough!” and got serious about my bunny proofing. Although Merlin never stopped chewing entirely, he definitely grew out of the habit a wee bit, so don’t worry, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel

[Shaina & Lucy]

Well her birthday is may 18th i do believe so she’d be 4 months or so the women i bought her from says lol! i guess you can never truly trust that kind of thing when i bought my first bun they said he was a female and we now know he was a male. i didn’t know much about buns then and i’m glad Lucy isn’t my frist rabbit because i probably wouldn’t get another if she was! I know it’s hormones and she is confined it just so hard to see her soo what looks like mad and upset all the time. she’s such a cute bun and loves on me when she wants it but i can’t really get into her play pen anymore bc she is so aggressive. thank you all for your advice and reassurance! she is in a play pen when not in her cage for the night so she only chews on what i give her ( boxes, sticks, toys) and i noticed a couple days ago she only REALLY gets at the cage when i’m around almost to scare me off like she’s getting after it to get me away bc when i go away to make food or whatever and get back down there she is usually very quiet and sleeping or actually playing but if she sees me she gets at her cage and when i go over to try and pet her bc at first it looked like she was lonely she growls and snorts. so i think it really is hormones and in a couple months i’ll for sure get her spayed and of course keep an update going on here!

[Jadeo09]

It definitely sounds like hormones my bun was only ever aggressive around that age until she was spayed.
My bun whpent through a destructive stage and has mellowed now.
Restricting her access is in everyone’s best interests a naughty bun is a danger to themselves when they chew everything.
In the meantime for the next 2 months can you get a calming small pet spray like pet remedy they are supposed to be amazing!

[Victoria Janzen]

My little Toothless was about the same way with the chewing when I first got him, I found saying no in a stern calm voice, giving him an alternative to chew on and spraying him with water helped so much! He is now four months old and is the definition of an angel Definitely constant supervision for a long period of time is required and it sometimes gets frustrating but they are just babies so patience is key! All of luck to you and your bun

[Shaina & Lucy]

here is an update:
i noticed she was trying to binky and run but the play pen was too small, so i bought another one to attach to it and she was great! she was so happy and i could sit in her play pen and she would cuddle and i could pet her it was wonderful… but this morning i’m kind of concerned bc i found her cowering under her actual cage so i gave her lettuce like i usual do and sat down and called her… she came out after 10 minutes of me calling her then she turned her back to me and started thumping which she NEVER does. she would follow me around the play pen and thump so idk if something scared her… we have a cat but she is too old to jump into the play pen and lucy is usual not afraid of her…. she has been in the same spot since we got her so i didn’t move anything so i got out of the cage thinking it was a territory thing so i bend down at the cage and tried to sooth her like if she was scared and she would come up to the cage but still thump… so idk what happened over the couple hours i got of sleep but i’ll see if when i get home from work if she is acting normal. i thought maybe she hurt her paw by the way she was walking… but she wont really walk towards me she will either thump and run or stay still so i can’t get a good look at it and idk what she could do to her paw really in her play pen.

[Shaina & Lucy]

here is an update:
i noticed she was trying to binky and run but the play pen was too small, so i bought another one to attach to it and she was great! she was so happy and i could sit in her play pen and she would cuddle and i could pet her it was wonderful… but this morning i’m kind of concerned bc i found her cowering under her actual cage so i gave her lettuce like i usual do and sat down and called her… she came out after 10 minutes of me calling her then she turned her back to me and started thumping which she NEVER does. she would follow me around the play pen and thump so idk if something scared her… we have a cat but she is too old to jump into the play pen and lucy is usual not afraid of her…. she has been in the same spot since we got her so i didn’t move anything so i got out of the cage thinking it was a territory thing so i bend down at the cage and tried to sooth her like if she was scared and she would come up to the cage but still thump… so idk what happened over the couple hours i got of sleep but i’ll see if when i get home from work if she is acting normal. i thought maybe she hurt her paw by the way she was walking… but she wont really walk towards me she will either thump and run or stay still so i can’t get a good look at it and idk what she could do to her paw really in her play pen.

[Kitty]

Victoria how heavy is he if I can ask? and how old? He’s pretty !!

[Beka27]

I’m trying to follow your last post… you think she hurt her paw in the pen? She’s not putting weight on it?

[Shaina & Lucy]

i thought she did she was acting so weird the other day but since then she is running fine… idk what happened i went into her cage i couldn’t find her, she was hiding which she normally doesn’t do, she’s not a hider she lays in the open so i  panicked bc i couldn’t find her… she came out after a while of calling her and she was thumping her back foot at me so i got out of her cage she was charging the gate at me, but she wasn’t putting weight on her right foot so i thought maybe she hurt it when she bites and digs at the cage. Anyway it’s been a few days now and i’ts fine she is binkying and running fine. 

[Shaina & Lucy]

i want to run some things by you guys and see if you have any advice, i bought her so many new toys lately, she has one of those running tunnels, obviously boxes and those woven hay huts and chew toys… she doesn’t touch ANY of those. i recently bought her some of those cardboard scratching pads for cats, but she LOVES those. she chews on them and loves laying on them but she wont touch anything but those and she bites and attacks the cage still. i recently added another play pen like i said a few comments ago bc she couldn’t run fully i was simply too small and since then she doesn’t bite the cage all day any more but she does it a lot still. i know it’s just aggression from hormones but i was recently thinking about buying plane cardboard and weaving it in and out of the metal bars of her play pen as like a “guard” so she has something she is destroying bc it’s the boxes but it doesn’t make the loud banging noise. would the guard be a good idea or do you think it’s pointless? also she has figured out how to fully move the play pen by grabbing the bottom wire and pushing her legs forward and my mom saw her and she lifts it pretty high… i don’t think she could get out that way but i want to make sure even if there was a way she could i’m preventing that bc i’m not home all day and need to know she wont get out of the play pen.

[Jadeo09]

can you weigh it down?
what play pen is it. because it may not be strong enough to weight down.
I know this forum doesn’t recommend keeping buns outside ( thats my opinion too)and I presume your bun is indoor but if the pen is outside you could put tent hooks to keep it down or something similar

[vanessa]

She is a feisty one. The way she is going, she might hurt herself if the pen lands on her. Last year I created a framed floor – and attatched it to the pen, so my rabbits couldn’t do the same thing. I made a pvc frame and “sewed” chicken wire, and then attatched it to the pen. I wouldn’t use pvc or chicken wire again – now I’ve graduated to wooden frames with 1/2-inch hardware cloth. Trouble is it is galvanized, and it sounds like she might chew it. One of my bunnies use to chew herself an escape hole in the chicken wire fence. You could also use 2×4’s to create a frame around the pen, and use cheap eye-hooks to attatch the pen to the 2x4s. 2×4’s are easy enough to nail/screw together. Just measure correctly for your frame.

[Shaina & Lucy]

jadeo09 – it does have clips! i might do that, i’m just scared the way she scratches it she will hurt herself that’s why i wanted something to border it…. i mean it’s crazy how badly she seems to want out lol. i wanted to put some weights on it just for noise sake i just can’t find anything she likes to screw or dig more than the wire. i’m going to invest in a dig box i just really hope she takes to it bc i have wasted over 100 dollars on trying to find toys or things she likes to play with / dig at and none of them work.

vanessa- i REALLY want to create my own play pen without wires! a big play pen without a cage and she can run around all day and NOT attack wires lol bc i am really scared she will hurt herself but when i try to stop her she growls and lunges at me. i’m at my parents house right now and i need to think of a way to make something they wont mind keeping her in and maybe something i can disassemble when i move out i can bring it with me and reassemble… idk how or what to make that out of though..

[Shaina & Lucy]

jadeo09 – it does have clips! i might do that, i’m just scared the way she scratches it she will hurt herself that’s why i wanted something to border it…. i mean it’s crazy how badly she seems to want out lol. i wanted to put some weights on it just for noise sake i just can’t find anything she likes to screw or dig more than the wire. i’m going to invest in a dig box i just really hope she takes to it bc i have wasted over 100 dollars on trying to find toys or things she likes to play with / dig at and none of them work.

vanessa- i REALLY want to create my own play pen without wires! a big play pen without a cage and she can run around all day and NOT attack wires lol bc i am really scared she will hurt herself but when i try to stop her she growls and lunges at me. i’m at my parents house right now and i need to think of a way to make something they wont mind keeping her in and maybe something i can disassemble when i move out i can bring it with me and reassemble… idk how or what to make that out of though..

[vanessa]

Well – your options are wire, wood, or plastic… I might just hold out and wait a few months. She is about 5 months old? So she could be spayed at 6, then wait a month, and at 7 months, see how she is doing and maybe once (hopefully) she has calmed down, you can make a better determination on what type of pen to construct. I know that doesn’t help you now… She sounds really frusrated.

[Shaina & Lucy]

that’s my plan to wait. she can get fixed the 16th of this month. she is frustrated and so am i because i try and calm her or anything and it’s nothing but aggression and a lot of bites to my feet and fingers so i’m just excited to get her fixed and hopefully that will solve at least some of her aggression. i was thinking of building a wood frame and plastic sides if she doesn’t stop her digging at the gate. if she would calm down even 20 percent from the way she is now it would be way better lol. i’ll just have to see how she changes after her spay.

[Shaina & Lucy]

i made her a dig box….. it was a disaster. NOW, she loved it. that’s not the problem… and i’m so sad. i spent like an hour making a dig box perfect for her and got all natural plain dirt with no chemicals and not treated and no fertilizer and it was perfect and then……. i leave her alone for 5 seconds the WHOLE content of the dig box is ON MY CARPET. all of it she kicked and dug out all the dirt from the box and it was on the carpet and she was laying it in just happy as can be. now what?! i need something she will get into to but i need something she wont be able to kick and dig all the dirt out of… any thoughts?? i’m going to head to pintrest to see if i see anything that might help me out.

[Shaina & Lucy]

<a href="
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204901726454887&set=a.1742358290730.2081724.1591913097&type=3&theater

here is my picture of the disaster

[vanessa]

I use an extra large enclosed cat litter box. Then I took an 8-inch corrugated pipe, put it in the entrance, and wrapped a folded towl around the entrance piece, to keep it in place. The other end – I rested on a small footstep. It’s about 8 inches tall the footstep. Tied the corrugated pipe to the footstep. The pipe is about 2 feet long. That gives enough space so the dirt doesn’t get kicked out. I’ll take a pic of it tomorrow.

[Shaina & Lucy]

oh ! that would be awesome if i could see what you did. i’m just glad i only spent like 5 bucks on the container i picked out lol. ill have to just buy a new one tomorrow and figure something else out. i’m so happy i found something she loves. i put her favorite treats in the dirt so she knew to dig and after that she was having a blast. i’ll link my facebook post lol so you can see just how bad it was .

Dig Box Fail lol

[vanessa]

I couldn’t see the pic. But super glad you did find something she enjoys. I also went cheap when I was first experimented with dig boxes. My second reason for the tunnel – was to keep the cat out! Can’t have my cat using the dig box as a litter box! My 2 destructive bunnies are so destructive – that they even dig in my rock bed! I have 3 or 4 inches of rock in my flower gardens. This bunny digs in rocks… I filled up a bunny hole in the garden one day with rocks – and she dug al the rocks out.

[Shaina & Lucy]

that’s crazy! i never had a digger before my first bun was soo chill i had no idea how crazy they got with digging lol. they are very strong for such small animals. i’m glad i found her something too i just now need to figure out how to keep the dirt in ha! i have one cat she is almost 15-16 years old now and she doesn’t get into her play pen so i’m not worried about that at all thankfully lol my cat actually hates Lucy xD patches is my cat and she teases Lucy and sits outside her cage and lucy goes nuts trying to get to her.

[vanessa]

This is Lancelot’s dig box. He treats it well, so I don’t need to tie the end down. I only jamb the entrance in with dish towels. It’s an extra large cat litter box with 8-inch corrugated pipe. Bunny tunnels can be bought at pet stores that are colorful and cheaper than a 20ft piece of corrugated plumbing…

[Shaina & Lucy]

i wish lucy would go through a tunnel she wont go in anything she can’t see her way out of it’s so weird. but!! i fixed my dig box issue. i got a long but tall clear box and i put one bag of dirt in it, it has no opening i put a small cardboard box next to it so she can jump in and out of it and SHE LOVES IT! with that said there are times where she digs to the bottom of the box and she goes to the wire play pen but if i just make it a habit to scoop all the dirt in one corner she loves then she will dig in that rather than the wire. which is so great! the digging at the wires has decreased i’d say by 50%. sometimes when she is feeling moody she will go for the cage lol but it has made me AND HER very happy. she is so much more loving and cuddly! it’s great. i’m looking forward to getting her fixed and hopefully become even less hyper active and calming down. thanks again for all the help! you guys are amazing i’m so glad i found this website!

[Shaina & Lucy]

i wish lucy would go through a tunnel she wont go in anything she can’t see her way out of it’s so weird. but!! i fixed my dig box issue. i got a long but tall clear box and i put one bag of dirt in it, it has no opening i put a small cardboard box next to it so she can jump in and out of it and SHE LOVES IT! with that said there are times where she digs to the bottom of the box and she goes to the wire play pen but if i just make it a habit to scoop all the dirt in one corner she loves then she will dig in that rather than the wire. which is so great! the digging at the wires has decreased i’d say by 50%. sometimes when she is feeling moody she will go for the cage lol but it has made me AND HER very happy. she is so much more loving and cuddly! it’s great. i’m looking forward to getting her fixed and hopefully become even less hyper active and calming down. thanks again for all the help! you guys are amazing i’m so glad i found this website!

[Author]

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