Eating Rubber & Carpet

[DorothyBun]

I would like to apologise in advance if this question has been answered already. I’ve looked, but none have talked about things that can’t be replaced easily. For example, Dorothy eats the rubber stripping on my patio door, and I haven’t the funds to get completely new patio doors, when these ones are perfectly fine. She also eats the carpet in her room in a certain spot. I’ve seen her poop strung together by the carpet fibres. I guess it’s good that they’re passing through, but I’m worried in the long run. I asked the vet about what to do about the carpet. She said to tape it down with duct tape. I did that, and she nibbled through and ate that too! I’m perplexed!

[Maria & Bumbles]

Hello!
My Bumbles does the same thing… there are bald spots all over my carpeting and he also has developed a taste for duct tape as well. Is Dorothy fixed? Often times destructive behavior is lessened after spaying or neutering. Try to start training her to relate chewing with time outs. If she is a free range bunny, just set her in her carrying case for a few minutes whenever she nibbles. If she has a cage where she spends most of her day in, put her back. She will hopefully relate chewing with the end of play time if you do this consistently.

[skysblue]

You can try to make some safe homemade repellent to rub on the spot she likes to chew on.. maybe something spicy, something they don’t like tasting..
or..
you can teach them “no” on the spot, like pushing them away from the spot, making a loud clapping noise, or some other positive reinforcement

Most of the time rabbits get destructive and chew stuff because they are bored on top of that they just like to chew stuff. Give your rabbit more distractions and fun activities to do, e.g. toys.

I know when my rabbit gets really naughty about biting stuff, it means she’s hungry. I have to refill her hay, and she pretty much forgets about being bad. A full tummy bunny is a happy bunny.

[Love4Bunny]

Sometimes you have to just cover it up, like with a tarp or blanket, and secure the edges with things that are safe to chew. I put things in the spots they gravitate towards: Those rainbow-coloured wooden sticks that you can reshape into tunnels, cardboard containers with willow sticks poking out from the top, tunnels in corners, flattened cardboard boxes in front of baseboards, hidey-houses turned upside down to stop digging in the corners. I plan on making a cardboard activity centre from a YouTube tutorial on DIY toys – this also can be placed over the spots your rabbit likes to chew. I’ve made dig boxes for my boy, and he loves foraging for stuff. Rabbits can be so obstinate, and they know what they’re doing, too! Hay is also a great distraction.

[Author]

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