Haha, my past rabbit used to do this. When he was a baby I would put him inside his cage when he had an accident.  It was my way of potty training him… As a result, he could bite on his cage bars in irritation because he was NOT done playing and wanted out!  As he got older, I would leave his cage door open and sometimes he would STILL chew on his bars even though he was more than welcome to hop out… It turned out that he just wanted my attention because as soon as I came over to see him he would stop.

My best guess is that someone wants your attention.

Yeah, I would say he wants you up with him or is trying to get your attention. Negative attention is STILL attention.

When Eddie was a single bun, he was free 24/7 most of the time. He would do his darnedest in making as much noise as he possibly could AND also jump all over me until I would finally get up. I’d finally yell at him that I was up and he’d sit there, looking at me. Then promptly hop off to go take a nap. Can we just say…..SERENITY NOW!!!!!!! LOL

Bailey does this ALL the time. I finally got so annoyed that I tied grass mats around the inside of her pen, and now she attacks those instead. It’s still noisy, but not nearly as loud as before (plus I’m less worried that she’ll hurt herself, because she used to bite the bars, too). I’ve also put boxes in front of her pen, and she likes to scratch and dig at the cardboard. Bailey just needs lot of projects, and I would think that digging at mats and cardboard is more satisfying for her than digging at her pen

Yes, Tim Tim does this. Ah the joys of housing a rabbit in your bedroom! He chews the grids but I have had some luck with ignoring and he stops. BUT today he was on a mission. I think he’s attempting to strip all the plastic coating of the grids. He’s also gone in and done it even when pen door was open though not for long.

Have you tried some hay cubes to keep Bing occupied? Sounds as if he’s looking to “exercise” his teeth.

Was his stasis episode after the eating the willow? I wouldn’t have thought that wood fibre would have caused problems. I know you mentioned in another thread that he eats cardboard and wondered if it happened after that.

Sounds like he wants attention! Try your best to completely ignore him – I imagine that telling him to stop or giving him any attention is just reinforcing the behavior.

Posted By Elrohwen on 05/27/2011 05:58 AM
Sounds like he wants attention! Try your best to completely ignore him – I imagine that telling him to stop or giving him any attention is just reinforcing the behavior.

Plus give him lots of positive attention when he’s acting appropriately.  I think people sometimes forget that part, especially if “acting appropriately” is just being quiet.

Posted By Lagomorphic on 05/27/2011 06:55 AM

Posted By Elrohwen on 05/27/2011 05:58 AM
Sounds like he wants attention! Try your best to completely ignore him – I imagine that telling him to stop or giving him any attention is just reinforcing the behavior.

Plus give him lots of positive attention when he’s acting appropriately.  I think people sometimes forget that part, especially if “acting appropriately” is just being quiet.

 

Yes! Excellent point.

Posted By Ashley&Bing on 05/27/2011 09:03 AM
I haven’t tried the cubes yet because I was worried he would only eat those over his hay.

And prior to his stasis, he didn’t have access to cardboard. I was moving and threw everything away or used the boxes to pack. All he had access to is what was in his pen.

The stasis might have just been built up stress from the move.  It can happen, it’s no one’s fault, bunnies just have as my vet says, ‘complicated digestive systems’.

You mean hay cubes? You could try securing the cubes somehow so they don’t move about. I bet he likes pulling at he bars because he can really get his teeth into them. I attached a balsa wood block to the pen one time using a big zip tie and that thing was suddenly more interesting. Was still really noisy but at least he wasn’t chewing the bars.

My Eva chewed on bars too. It drove me nuts. 6 am on the dot every morning. And of course I would get up and let her out, pet her etc. Reinforcing the behavior, I know Finally, what did it for me was covering the cage with a blanket that was light so that airflow wasn’t interrupted. She stopped immediately. Although, I soon started leaving her outside for the entire night so I don’t know if that would’ve kept. Now she jumps in the cage and starts rattling it from time to time just for the fun of it Or to get back at me She did that on two occasions when I made her stop digging in the corner of the room.