Goes outside cage and chewing issue

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 4sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 4 months ago by kbun.

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- 10/07/2014 at 11:19 PM
  kbun
  Participant
  62 posts
  Hi,
  
  We adopted our bunny a week and a half ago. He’s ~2 years old so already litter trained and spayed. We keep him in a NIC condo (around 25 SF total) for most of the day, but are able to let him out to a larger area at least 4-5 hours a day (as soon as we get home in the evenings).
  
  When he is outside the cage, at least once a night, he’ll poop 4-5 droppings outside the cage and pee once. This happens even when we leave the litter box outside (i.e. 1 foot away from where he has the ‘accidents’). We often discover it as soon as it happens and scold him, but it still seems to happen. Anyone know why? I’ve read that it could be marking his territory since he’s relatively new to our home..
  
  Another issue is he’ll bite the plastic off the wire on the NIC cubes – only around the entrance where he knows we usually open the cage. I have tried putting vinegar on but honestly it evaporates easily. I am worried if he swallows any plastic it’s bad for him (he seems to usually spit it out, but I’m sure he accidentally ingests some). Any other ideas? I am hesitant to spray perfume as I am not sure how harmful that is.
- 10/07/2014 at 11:57 PM
  litheandgraphic
  Participant
  608 posts
  Hello and welcome!
  
  First off, definitely don’t spray anything with perfume around the bun. Perfume could be extremely harmful if ingested due to the chemicals and alcohol that make it up.
  
  It IS most likely that bunny is still getting used to his new home, and this is why he is marking a little bit here and there. After a while of being with you and getting fully comfortable, this behavior should subside. If it bothers you too much, you can try confining bun in an x-pen attached to the condo until he becomes more comfortable and stops marking.
  
  As for the chewing, you may want to try blocking the areas he’s chewing with cardboard or cotton towels. It’s likely he’s just chewing, but you are right to be concerned that he may ingest some of it.
  
  Vinegar is a very good way to keep many bunnies from chewing, but the truth is that some bunnies even like the taste, so I think just making it more inaccessible is a more practical solution.
- 10/08/2014 at 4:58 AM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  Moving to behavior.
- 10/08/2014 at 3:56 PM
  kbun
  Participant
  62 posts
  Thanks — good to know this isn’t super worrisome behavior — will keep an eye on him and hopefully this will diminish over time.
  
  I put a towel over the inside of the NIC cube where he usually bites, but he just moved on to another area. Will also look for more toys that he can chew on (I tend to think that he deliberately chooses to chew near the entrance of the condo to get attention/as a sign that he wants to be let out, though.
- 11/24/2014 at 3:38 PM
  kbun
  Participant
  62 posts
  As a much-belated update, he’s stopped peeing outside his condo. I do leave the litter box outside the condo now when he’s roaming around, but seems more likely that his first few weeks he was marking his territory.
  
  As for the NIC cubes, he still does chew them, but my vet said that she’s never known a rabbit who has been sick because of chewing/ingesting anything from the wires on the NIC cubes, which is a relief.
  
  The vinegar didn’t seem to help too much – and it made the wires rust which then worried me as I didn’t want him to eat the rust…
  
  What really seems to help is, while we used to confine him to a specific area to run because of his bathroom accidents, we have now let him roam the entire floor — which he loveeeees — lots of binkies — and as a result has bitten the NIC cubes a lot less! We also try to tire him out by putting his pellets in a ball so he has to work for his food. Definitely a behavioral thing and I’m glad he’s happier now.
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