Why do you want to be furious with her? She’s a rabbit. It’s your responsibility to make sure she can’t get to things she isn’t supposed too. Don’t blame her for your lack of bunny proofing. And sticking her in a tiny cage as punishment is cruel.

She probably has no idea what she did wrong. First, cord protectors. Next, you need to find a different way so she understands. For Licorice all I needed to say was a firm no, with Winter I say no, and move her head/lift her front paws up in another direction gently. If she goes back, I do it again. Works for her as she isn’t scared of much and is a feisty girl. Sarahthegemini said something about coins in a jar once, I think she shook it and the noise made them stop?

I doubt she’ll have a grudge, she just won’t know what on earth she did.

Posted By BunnyFriends on 5/13/2017 12:26 PM

She probably has no idea what she did wrong. First, cord protectors. Next, you need to find a different way so she understands. For Licorice all I needed to say was a firm no, with Winter I say no, and move her head/lift her front paws up in another direction gently. If she goes back, I do it again. Works for her as she isn’t scared of much and is a feisty girl. Sarahthegemini said something about coins in a jar once, I think she shook it and the noise made them stop?

I doubt she’ll have a grudge, she just won’t know what on earth she did.

Yes the jar thing I had partial success with. It stopped Peanut’s naughty behaviour for two weeks and then he decided the noise doesn’t bother him anymore so I’ve been using a wooden spoon and saucepan 

Ariana, you can’t rely on training alone to stop your bun chewing cords/wires/anything dangerous. You need to make it physically impossible for her to have access to it. Whilst it might just be an inconvenience to you, it could ultimately injure or kill her 

You do need cord protectors, or your house could burn down. IKEA has an easy-to-apply type called Rabalder. There are lots of other types available online.

You can find cord protectors at hardware stores, home stores, electronic stores, and various places online. Many of the rabbit supply websites carry them. You can also make sure that some cords are unplugged and/or put up out of reach when a rabbit is in the room. Chewing on cords is something that almost all rabbits love to do, along with chewing on remote controls, furnishings, etc. You have to protect your possessions and protect the rabbit from being harmed or electrocuted or from ingesting foreign materials.

You can see one type of cord protector here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. There are other kinds to be found too.
http://www.petwerks.com/grooming-and-care.aspx

She is not going to understand why you placed her in a tiny cage. She is just going to be depressed and frustrated by that.

Learn to bunnyproof. If you want to be get physical with her, you shouldnt have her. Its not safe that you want to harm her for acting on a normal rabbit instinct

Posted By Ariana on 5/13/2017 10:46 AM
I honestly want to be furious, which I am, and go on a rabbit-ass whopping rampage, but I can’t. Because of this, she’s given me the worst migraine possible to mankind. I don’t want her to feel like I don’t love her because I do. She my comfort friend when I feel depressed, scared, lonely, angry and about to have an anxiety attack. What should I do? Is there another approach? Am I wrong?

Hi Ariana, I’m a new rabbit owner too so I’m not a rabbit expert, other posters have given some advice on the rabbit proofing. I work with people who have mental health difficulties similar to the ones you have described here.

I think it might help you to imagine this from a different perspective. Imagine if someone else told you that their rabbit damaged something that belongs to them, and that they were furious with the rabbit. What advice would you give them?

You need to understand that your rabbit does not understand punishments like the one you have used here. Your rabbit does not know which household items are important to you and which ones are not. She has no idea that she’s upset you. I know that you are trying to do the right thing and that you clearly care about your rabbit, or you wouldn’t have posted this here. I would suggest you follow the advice of previous posters and avoid using time outs or other punishments, she will not understand it.

Your rabbit did not cause you to have a migraine either. If you get a migraine due to stress, the stress caused the migraine. It does not make sense to blame this on the rabbit.

It’s great that your rabbit is helping you to feel better! You should also know that your rabbit cannot be responsible for your mental health either. You need to be prepared to care for your rabbit when you are depressed aswell.

I believe you love your rabbit. I’m going to suggest you seek professional advice for your depression and anxiety if you haven’t already. You should mainly do this for yourself, but I bet it will help you build a better bond with your bunny too. It is unusual to have such an adverse reaction to something like this. Things get broken, it happens. It can be fixed or replaced, no big deal.

I agree with everythign previosu posters have said.

We would love to help you with bunny proofing ideas. I have two very destructive bunnies. It’s in a bunny’s nature to chew and dig. I put plywood over the carpet where two of my 4 chew the carpet all the way down to the nail strips. I put 2×4 lumbar around the rabbit room so they leave the moulding alone. Every single electric cord within they reach has to be made bunny proof. I’v had numerous electric cords chewed through – while plugged in! I create a bunny proof barrier by wrapping them in 1/2″ hardware cloth, or covering them with plywood. I close all closet doors, and the door to any room that is not bunny proofed. I pick up all pillows/cushions, soft things that coudl get peed on (many bunnies like to pee on sift things), and I place a NIC cube barrier around my boyfriends night stand so they can’t get behind and chew thru his C-Pap air hose. I also took 8-inch boards and made a square to block off the underside of my bed, so bunies can’t get under the bed and chew the mattress/bed frame. I have a baby gate so they can’t get into the lounge/kitchen/dining area. Otherwise I’d have to figure out how to blok off behind all those kitchen appliances…

Posted By Ariana on 5/13/2017 3:53 PM

That’s true, she’s not aware of what she did. I had a talk face to face with her about it and she just sat there. She’s only a child and I love her. She followed me around after I let her out. I only let her sit in there for a few minutes

Again, she’s a rabbit. 

Doesn’t matter how old she is, baby or not. Rabbits chew. Rabbits chew things they’re not supposed too. Honestly I think you’re expecting too much of her. 

My Bombur is about two years old, no longer a baby, and still chews up the carpet. My Blue is over 2 years old and still tries to chew on cords he finds. Rabbits will always chew, which is why you need to bunny proof. They wont understand being caged/put on time out; all that tells them is that youre mad but they will never understand why. You can talk to them and tell them why youre mad, but they dont understand that much language. You can try to teach “No” which rabbits will learn over time if trained right (“No” > redirect their attention to something else), but even then, they likely will not stop trying to chew on things they shouldnt because its rabbit nature. You cannot and will not ever be able to change their nature

TLDR, youll need to bunny proof and start training the word “no” with redirection. Rabbits dont understand very much human languages, so telling her why youre mad doesnt do anything. Rabbits nature is to chew, so theyll chew no matter what; redirecting will get them to stop chewing in the moment and “no” training will get their attention so you can redirect them

As for her circling your feet and following you around, she wants your attention. Offer some pets

I don’t think OP was serious when she said she wanted to open a can of rabbit whoop ass. Hey, we’ve all been there. And most of the time, we’re really just mad at ourselves and we’re “taking it out” on our bun. Not that anyone would physically harm their bun, of course. But I think you know what I mean.

For something like this, a “timeout” isn’t going to do much. She doesn’t understand what she did wrong and punishing her after the fact isn’t going to register with her. I agree with everyone else. Bunny-proofing is key here. Cords are just way too tempting. Humans need to be proactive and keep such things out of reach.

Can a “timeout” work in some cases? I believe so. But I wouldn’t suggest putting bunny in a tiny little cage like that. A good time to employ the “timeout” method would be when bunny keeps doing something they aren’t supposed to do and they won’t stop. Take Leopold, for example. Yes, he is deaf. But he knows he isn’t supposed to dig the carpet. That makes mom come and redirect him (I can’t tell him “no”), but he gets the idea. Well, there have been times where he has been super full of naughtiness. And despite me stopping him multiple times from digging in a particular spot, he would simply go right back to it the second I walked away. So he would get a “timeout” for awhile. By timeout, I mean he was banned from that area for awhile. If he needed to be put in a pen to make this happen, so be it. After he seemed to have calmed down, I would remove the “timeout” and he would seem to have “forgotten” about the dig spot. At least for awhile, anyway. But I do sometimes think that a rabbit will become so focused on their construction (or deconstruction) project that the cycle needs to be physically broken in some way so they can focus their energy on something else. Just my thought on it.

Again, though, I don’t think a “timeout” was appropriate in this case. Like the others said, she is unaware that she did anything wrong. I think this situation can easily be fixed by taking some more bunny proofing measures.

Posted By LBJ10 on 5/14/2017 3:47 PM

I don’t think OP was serious when she said she wanted to open a can of rabbit whoop ass. Hey, we’ve all been there. And most of the time, we’re really just mad at ourselves and we’re “taking it out” on our bun. Not that anyone would physically harm their bun, of course. But I think you know what I mean.

For something like this, a “timeout” isn’t going to do much. She doesn’t understand what she did wrong and punishing her after the fact isn’t going to register with her. I agree with everyone else. Bunny-proofing is key here. Cords are just way too tempting. Humans need to be proactive and keep such things out of reach.

Can a “timeout” work in some cases? I believe so. But I wouldn’t suggest putting bunny in a tiny little cage like that. A good time to employ the “timeout” method would be when bunny keeps doing something they aren’t supposed to do and they won’t stop. Take Leopold, for example. Yes, he is deaf. But he knows he isn’t supposed to dig the carpet. That makes mom come and redirect him (I can’t tell him “no”), but he gets the idea. Well, there have been times where he has been super full of naughtiness. And despite me stopping him multiple times from digging in a particular spot, he would simply go right back to it the second I walked away. So he would get a “timeout” for awhile. By timeout, I mean he was banned from that area for awhile. If he needed to be put in a pen to make this happen, so be it. After he seemed to have calmed down, I would remove the “timeout” and he would seem to have “forgotten” about the dig spot. At least for awhile, anyway. But I do sometimes think that a rabbit will become so focused on their construction (or deconstruction) project that the cycle needs to be physically broken in some way so they can focus their energy on something else. Just my thought on it.

Again, though, I don’t think a “timeout” was appropriate in this case. Like the others said, she is unaware that she did anything wrong. I think this situation can easily be fixed by taking some more bunny proofing measures.

Oh I’m certain OP didn’t want to actually hit her rabbit but being so furious and shoving her in a tiny cage is cruel. Punishing a bunny for being a bunny is cruel. That’s like punishing a dog for barking.

A rabbit will do what rabbits do naturally – which is chew.  

I agree with you Sarah. I don’t think the appropriate action was taken here. She made a mistake and is realizing that now. For something like this, better bunny proofing is probably the best and most long-term solution. I did want to point out that a timeout can be helpful in some scenarios, but I would not suggest locking a rabbit in such a small space. All that is required is that the rabbit is physically barred from the problem area for awhile.