Help! Gnawing on metal wires.

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 2sd replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 2 months ago by bunbunbinkie.

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- 02/18/2016 at 9:46 AM
  bunbunbinkie
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  18 posts
  Our little 3 month old doe (Rue) has taken to incessantly chewing and tugging on the wires of her exercise pen. She has a large variety of toys (willow balls and branches, wood blocks, apple sticks, cardboard) which she will take some of her chew-gression (I know, it’s not really a word!) out on; but to my dismay she seems to be getting more persistent about chewing and tugging (HARD!) at the wire grid.
  
  I have tried threading cardboard strips through the grid which helps a bit, and also spraying the metal grid with a chew deterrent labeled for cats (not so helpful). I am primarily concerned about it adversely affecting her teeth and the alignment in her mouth.
  
  She is my third bunny, and neither of my first two bunnies were this adamant about chewing, especially on the wire parts of their pens. I’m thinking she might be part woodchuck! I’m at a loss of what I should try next! Do any of you have any tricks or suggestions? Or experience in the rabbit-crossed-with-woodchuck department?
  
  Thank you!
  
  -Kay (and Rue!)
- 02/18/2016 at 10:45 AM
  tobyluv
  Participant
  3312 posts
  I wonder if Rue’s hormones are starting to kick in and if they are making her feel a bit crazed? She’s too young to be spayed yet, but might not be too young for the onset of teenage rampage.
  
  Is she getting plenty of out of pen time for play and exercise? If not, maybe she has a lot of pent up energy and some frustration at being in the pen for long periods of time.
  
  It would be pretty difficult to cover all the sides of an x-pen with fleece blankets, and she probably wouldn’t like feeling closed in by that anyway. Fleece isn’t as bad as other fabrics if they chew on it, but you still don’t want rabbits to ingest a lot of it. There really wouldn’t be a way to affix large pieces of cardboard (from boxes) to the sides of the pen either. So, I don’t know if there is any kind of barrier you could use to keep her off the metal grids. Maybe someone else here will have a better suggestin.
  
  If Rue is getting plenty of out of pen time, this may just be a habit that will (hopefully) be stopped by her spay surgery.
- 02/18/2016 at 2:15 PM
  bunbunbinkie
  Participant
  18 posts
  I was wondering about hormones, too. We are kind of estimating her age, so she might be a bit older than we think. She is the sweetest thing, but can also turn on the bunny ‘tude!!! We are waiting until she is about 6 months old to spay her, so it will be hormone city for a few more months.
  
  As for exercise time, during the workday she is confined to her hutch (indoors) with toys, seagrass mat etc (probably about 7-8 hours). Once I am home, she is given run of her exercise pen (about 3ft x 12) and when ‘m relaxing for the evening she gets the run of the kitchen, living, dining, and den. I realize she probably gets board, but I’m trying to keep life interesting for her!
  
  I have a a hunch that she may do it for attention too, and probably boredom as opposed to doing it purely for pleasure.
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