Biting Wooden Doors

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 3sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 6 months ago by Buckley's Mum.

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- 10/09/2013 at 5:24 PM
  Buckley's Mum
  Participant
  95 posts
  Can anyone help, my husband keeps threatening my bun will be put into a hutch in the garden if he damages any of our kitchen cupboards, I should add that bun lives in the kitchen. I’ve had him a year and so far so good, BUT 4 weeks ago we had a new kitchen fitted (at great cost) and he’s been threatened with a pot if he bit a cupboard (he has already taken a chunk out the door frame of the kitchen), however, today I brought home an adoptee and somehow one of them has taken a nibble out of one of the new kitchen cupboards, needless to say hubby has gone completely off the deep end and both myself and the buns are in the dog house. I have now set up the x-pen in the kitchen to keep them well away from the cupboards until I can come up with a solution.
  
  I have previously sprayed the door frame with some bitter tasting spray that I got from the pet shop but that hasn’t deterred him, i’ve tried lemon juice which didn’t make any difference and I’ve tried painting the woodwork with that stuff you put on children’s nails to try and get them to stop biting their nails, but nothing has worked. Bun has previously got away with it as it’s just a small patch of door frame and it’s behind a door that we don’t close, but now that someone has taken a bite out of the kitchen cupboard, that’s one nibble too far.
  
  Does anyone know of any products on the market that I can buy (or make) to protect the doors or something that will definitely deter buns from biting, chewing, licking or even thinking about any of the above? I’m desperate, if hubby puts his food down, buns will end up in a hutch in the garden and I really don’t want that. There are loads of chew toys all over the floor for them to bite on.
  
  Please help x
- 10/09/2013 at 6:03 PM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Not really, unfortunately. Wood is irresistible, and the only fool-proof way to protect the cabinets from the buns would be to completely remove them from the kitchen. It’s not possible to watch them 24/7, and even if they are penned up when you’re gone, it really only takes a couple seconds during exercise time for them to take a big bite.
  
  What are your other location options for moving them out of the kitchen?
- 10/09/2013 at 6:12 PM
  RabbitPam
  Moderator
  11002 posts
  I’m sorry your husband is reacting so strongly to this. It’s hard to keep a bunny from nibbling at floor height. I understand the opportunity for them to do it.
  The best way, of course, is to find another place for them and have the kitchen be off limits, somewhere between outdoors and the forbidden zone. The xpen is very helpful, and if you can house them in it, then let them out for play time only in another room or two in the house, they may learn that it’s not worth getting in there.
  
  One thing that is a deterrent to bunnies is simple white vinegar. Fill a spray bottle with half vinegar, half water. Spray it on the bottom of the cabinets. It is a smell that they don’t like (much more effective than the bitter apple stuff sold in stores) and it also is an excellent cleaner. So you can spray there when you let them out so the smell is fresh. You won’t smell it soon, but they will.
  
  Another thing I have done for carpet edges and baseboards is lay down or prop up strips of seagrass mattes, about 4″ wide. Basically you’re adding a layer of covering, so they have to bite it before they get to the cabinets. Spray that with the vinegar, and the combination may train them not to bother.
  
  Giving them toys to chew as soon as you see they are interested in chewing, and moving them away from there, is both positive reinforcement for doing something else and helping lose the attraction to that spot. Get a play tunnel that leads them away from the cabinets, and let them find rewarding treats at the opposite end. Bunnies understand a firmly stated “No”, but they are trained the best with positives.
  
  Then train your hubby that if he is nice to you and the bunnies, he, too, will get treats.
- 10/09/2013 at 6:42 PM
  Buckley's Mum
  Participant
  95 posts
  Thanks guys, I will try the white vinegar. It’s way past midnight here and I’m trawling the internet trying to find some kind of door protectors, I’ve ordered a couple of samples from suppliers that might have stuff that “will do”, I’ve also ordered a length of clear plastic tubing in the hope that I can split it and cover the bottom edge of the doors so they get rubber rather than wood.
  
  The reason the buns are in the kitchen is because there are no wires and nothing to hide behind, there are too many wires and places to hide in the rest of the house and more furniture also Buckley is not easy to catch, he hates being held and is a nightmare to catch!
  
  Not sure about training the husband though, he confuses me, he says mean things to Buckley (he only met Sweet Pea this evening) but on Monday when Buckley had been away since Friday he emailed me from work asking when Buckley was coming home. I’ve walked into the kitchen before and found him with a tape measure measuring Buckley, when i asked him what he was doing, he said measuring him for a pot. I know he was only joking (I promise you, he was) and a couple of times when I’ve been watching tv, hubby has walked in carrying Buckley, who would have been quite hard to pick up. So although he acts like a tough guy, I know he has a sweet animal loving side, but he’s just extremely house proud. I’ve got away with so much so far, like having to carpet the kitchen floor because he couldn’t grip on the smooth floor, the carpet looks really ugly as it was an off-cut, and he puts up with all the hay that goes everywhere, so if I can’t get the chewing cupboard thing sorted, it’ll be a hutch which I’m really against.
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