Oh i totally sympathise as when years ago i had lots of free range bunnies we had a few carpet diggers and we also rented and got quite stressed with the whole thing. my current buns arent totally free range but when they are at first they kept doing it and when i saw them i would stamp my feet or call them and say no and give them something else to chew and it would drive me mad as i would be doing it about 20 times and my husband was trying to watch tv. It has calmed down now but that could be a fluke dont know. Someone told me vinegar on the spot puts them off but you dont want whole room smelling like that.
I think in general you need to provide mass amount of things to chew instead and everytime they are caught give them the alternative untill they just use the good things. You need to find an alternative they actually like better than the carpet. Mine love wicker baskets and mats. As for repairing i think we tried to colour the patch the same colour x

Some bunnies just can’t be completely free range.  Have you tried setting up a different cage- like an expen to make cage time not as negative to you and bunny.  I just herd mine back into their pens at night.

I agree with Katnip. I have a rabbit named Giselle who likes these kind of projects – it’s just her thing and I guess it stimulates her. She cannot be free range as much as I like.

Getting a second rabbit may not keep him from doing this as well, sometimes the other rabbit will follow and do the same behavior – you just cannot predict what will happen. I guess what I’m saying is that there is no guarantee that a friend will keep him from doing this.

I feel your pain, I have a few small spots of bald carpet now. The seagrass mats sold on binkybunny are great. If you can, buy the big ones and cover as much space as possible. Lucky for me I was able to pick up a few things at work to help, I have Sintra boards that are covered in a tight weave carpet (think cubicle walls) which i put over a problem spot and the weave is so tight Indy cant sink his teeth into it. So if you can get your hangs on something similar. I bought an area rug from Ikea ($30) as well with a tight weave and he had no interest in chewing it up! Bunny approved Cardboard is a great distraction. http://www.target.com/Wire-Cube-Shelving-System/dp/B000789RSQ/sr=1-1/qid=1246993886/ref=sr_1_1/177-1585173-2931704?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k%3Awire%20cubes&page=1 These are great for blocking off areas (i dont know why its coming up as $45, theyre like $16 in the store…). Or try a fence around his cage and that is where he has to stay when you are not home, then you can supervise him when you are home and be around to stop the chewing. Vinegar spraying and such will only deter for so long, you’ll end up spraying every day. Its just a constant battle, through a combination of all the able Ive been able to cut down the chewing! G/L!

Pulling up carpet is something a lot of my bunnies love to do as well. For me, I ended up setting up ex-pens for the bunnies to stay in when they are not supervised. I cover the floors of the pens with either linoleum with rugs on top, or carpet from Wal-Mart. The good thing about ex-pens is that they can be folded up to a smaller size when not in use, and then expanded when the bunny is in them. As a renter, you unfortunately have to be a little more careful, so I think that the pen might be necessary. If you get a nice big one, you can really make the cage very nice.

I agree with the others, an xpen or NIC condo with supervised playtime sounds like it would be your best bet.

Before we adopted our second bun, we had a store-cage and we constructed a NIC grid fence around it that she always had access too. The flooring was a cheap 5×7 rug from Wal-mart. I allowed Meadow to chew and dig HER RUG to her heart’s content. You do have to be careful b/c some buns will eat the fibers, but as long as your bun pulls them out and leaves them, it’s okay. Once or twice a day, I’d go and pick up the loose bits. When she had her own rug that she was allowed to chew, that seemed to help prevent her from destroying ours. This also coincided with her passing the one-year-old mark, and she had been spayed for about 3 or 4 months, so I’m sure that helped as well.

My rabbit, Daphny, has also pulled up quite a bit of carpet, especially near corners. It took a bit of time, but I covered the area with an old towel, and when I saw her go for that area, I’d go over to her and say “no” (in a low tone–if I raise my voice, she gets startled). She eventually got the idea, and now she plays with and chews the towel instead of the carpet. I think she might have known she was being naughty because every time I went over to her, she’d run away almost immediately. Besides the towel, I have the rabbit carrier in her play area, lined with newspaper. She likes to go in there and tear it to shreds. I haven’t tired this yet, but I’ve heard of other people lining the play areas with carpet tiles. They are also useful in case your bunny misses the litter box, because the tiles are machine washable.

I also have a suggestion for repairing the carpet before you move out. I also rent an apartment, so of course the missing carpet is going to be a problem when I moved out. I saved all the carpet pieces Daphny pulled out, and I’m going to trying “gluing” them back on with a product called “Mighty Mendit” (it’s not actually an adhesive, but a bonding agent that won’t stick to the skin). It has worked well for me with other cloth items, so I think it might work here as well. At the moment, I have the chewed carpet areas covered up. I don’t know if it is pet-safe or not, so that’s why I am waiting to repair the carpet closer to the time I move out (and then keep Daphny away from the area.)