Posted By Taftisnice on 2/05/2018 12:50 AM

Hi all, i’m a new bunny owner. I adopted two buns from the local spca. One of the bunnies (Taft) is just awesome, he is a large white bunny not sure of the breed, but he is chill and just sweet. He doesn’t misbehave, he lounges, flops, plays with the toys me and my wife get the pair and he is just super lovable. His bonded partner (Helen) is the exact opposite. She rips up carpet, she ignores the toys and chews on furniture, she knows how to pee in the litter box, but i swear to god when we are in their room she goes out of her way to lift her bunny butt over the side and pee on the floor. She nips, she is even mean to Taft agressively taking his treats before finishing her own. I just don’t know, if its bad behavior she does it. I was even told at the shelter they have been returned repeatedly and i’m pretty sure its because of Helen. I’ve tried a few disciplinary measures. We got a little spritz bottle and water and tried sparying her and saying “no” or “bad”. She just Thumps and keeps doing it. I read on a different site to gently push her head down to establish dominance and thats when she started peeing off the side of the litterbox. I don’t want to be mean but i’ve been putting her in their cage when she acts badly and she just sits in there and thumps and chews on the bars to be let out. I like Helen and its strange cause like after acting out and being a mean onery little monster, she will calm down, Lay down and accept petting and treats like she is a totally different bunny. Is she crazy? Can rabbits be crazy? She has had several owners, im sure somewhere she was abused because of how she acts, but im at a total loss.

Rabbits chew/destroy things. It’s what they do. Please stop putting her in a cage for acting like a rabbit. That is completely unacceptable – She won’t make the connection between that behaviour and being caged. All it will do is make her angry and resentful towards you.

You cannot stop her from chewing, but you can stop her from chewing and destroying inappropriate things. Block the carpet by laying tiles down and use the distraction technique. Block furniture that you do not want chewed. Experiment with more toys. It’s really sad to think she was possibly abused and repeatedly given up on because people can’t be bothered with her  Please bare with her. I’m sure if given the right outlet (things she is allowed to chew on for example) and with lots of love, she’ll become a lovely little creature.

Also, get a litter tray with higher sides. She’s not peeing over the edge on purpose – bunnies just like to back right up and lift their tail to pee. 

Yes I’d also suggest a litter box with high sides! Try a cat litter box with a low front and high back. This has worked really well for me.

As for the other behavior problems, I also have a bratty female rabbit that was turned into the shelter for behavioral “issues” Thor can be quite bossy, nippy and also chews at the carpet. But after having her for a year we are making tons of progress! She’s also a sweetie when she wants to be and will cuddle into a good petting session.

Carpet: First, I put down heavy ceramic tiles over places she likes to dig. They don’t look bad and it has the added benefit of a cool place to lie on in the heat of the summer! Thor lounges on hers all the time. Next, you’ll need to get her her own place to dig that is acceptable. You can get a cat scratching carpet or build a dig box or cardboard scratching box – this one was a hit in our house! http://www.therabbithouse.com/blog/2015/03/11/diy-cardboard-shredding-mat/ Once she has a place of her own to dig, you can offer it to her if she is digging somewhere you don’t want her to instead of punishing her. (in general I’ve found punishing doesn’t work at all with rabbits and only makes them more frustrated and “naughty”)

Nipping: First, you can squeal when she nips you so that she knows it is hurting you. But If she is anything like Thor this won’t deter her much

I also tried all the techniques for stopping nipping – water bottle, rattle can, pushing down the shoulders – but it just made the problem worse and confused her. What finally did work was this: When she went to nip or had just nipped I gently picked up her front legs (back feet still on the ground) and rotated her 180 degrees away from me. This is confusing but not scary to most bunnies and would re-direct her attention. Also, if the point of the nip was for me to move or do something she didn’t accomplish her goal. I repeated this every time she nipped or was going to and it really worked wonders for us!

Bossiness: I think that female rabbits are usually the dominant one in the pair so it is probably normal that she will steal treats from the male. No personal experience with bonded pairs though so I’ll let someone else advise on that. Maybe you could feed them their treats in separate locations?

Good luck with your new bunnies! It is so great you have given them a new home. Just a little patience and love can go a long way

I second Sarah in that caging a rabbit for bad behavior does not work as a disciplinary tool. Rabbits will not understand the implication of that at all. They are very one tracked minded, so it may seem like you’re randomly limiting her from her space for no reason, potentially amplifying her behaviors. She is in a new home, so doing what you can to make her comfortable is important, rather than making her more on edge.

The behaviors are indeed annoying, that’s not up for debate. Natural or not, no one wants their carpet torn up or peed on. In order to balance both comfort in environment and sanctity of environment, making those behaviors difficult to do is important. As suggested, blocking the carpet so the behavior is unachievable can be done as she settles in, making you less frustrated and less likely to do something which may make her feel more insecure in the new environment. Being bounced around a lot, I imagine she’s not very trust worthy of humans since many owners probably expressed high stress around her, making her stressed. Be calm and act like everything she does is a gem, even if it’s not.

I also agree with the peeing. It’s evident in spraying behavior that rabbits don’t really aim their pee. If they did, they would be more effective markers. When Wick would spray, he’d be white ineffective because he wouldn’t consider pee arch and ledges. That being said, she’s probably being litter box adherent, but is incapable of knowing she has to go all the way in. That’s something you just need to circumvent with a high walled box. This is what Wick has, who does his best with litter box habits, but I understand he will not think “Oh I should turn around and back up so my stream stays in the box.”

Hopefully some of these tips will help you, your wife, and Helen grow closer!

For nipping, trying to understand what she’s asking for or expressing is a helpful exercise. Nipping is a means of communication, not an attempt to harm you. If she wanted to, she’d bite you outright. A nip is an attempt of communication between rabbits, so you need to learn with her what certain nips in certain scenarios mean.

With Wick, there are certain instances and contexts he nips and I react differently depending on it.

Wick will nip if I’m bugging him too much. With that, I don’t punish him, I simply stop and do something else. He’s showing me in a nice way that he wants me to stop and go away, so I respect that.

Wick will nip me during topical treatments (washing and putting fungal cream on him). It’s a very unpleasant experience for him, so he will nip and try and bolt. At these times, I do make a small hiss to let him know he needs to tolerate it. After he nips though, I do pause and comfort him, because I know the nip was him wanting to leave a very uncomfortable circumstance that he doesn’t understand why he’s subjected to.

Wick will also nip when it’s food time and I’m preoccupied with something. He’s saying I want food. If it’s justified (it’s much past food time and I’ve forgotten), I’ll pet him and get his food, acknowledging his communication. If it’s not food time and he’s just begging, I pet him to acknowledge him, but then retract and exit the situation to let him know now is not the time for that. He usually gives up and goes to eat hay after a bit.

Again, I hope this helps!

Bertha does a lot of these same things, and she is the most amazing bunny…. so just give her time and you will find solutions. It did take us a little while to find solutions to the behaviors we wanted to work on.

How big is their area? Most cages are much too small for bunnies, especially bonded pairs, so even if they have lots of run-around time, it might not be big enough. It could be that she is too cooped up, so when she is let out, she has sooo much energy to burn off.

My friend is a dog trainer, and his company is called “a tired dog is a happy dog”, and I think the same thing is true of bunnies!

Can you make them a larger area that is 100% bunny proofed, so you don’t need to worry about her destroying things? Perhaps an x-pen attached to their cage, with tiles down, and then blankets over the tiles? Climbing is also satisfying of bunnies, so adding levels can help too.

My digger really likes to destroy cardboard cat scratchers. I think it gives the same feeling as ripping up carpet. You can also try putting cheap cotton rugs or towels down, so she can direct her attention there instead of the carpet.

Tunneling can also help with the digging instinct. Mine really like cardboard concrete building forms.

Not sure if this has been suggested yet, but if she nips you, it can help to “scream” like a rabbit, so she knows that she hurt you.

You sound like you are taking some good steps, just keep at it. You will find something that works for her, I’m sure of it!

And about the litter box, get one with even higher sides, with a lower entry area. Eventually she wont be able to stick her bum over!

I would say still give the benefit of the doubt to the higher sides litter box. I actually ended up adding an additional panel to Wick’s 3-high-walled litter box because he’d still go over the lip sometimes. He was great in learning (against his preference) to always pee in that box, but he wasn’t capable of understanding I also want the pee stream to land in there too. Similar to rabbits who jump out of a litter box but are still pooping, so a poop still flies out— they get the concept, but not 100% in execution due to cognitive shortcomings. To an extent, it’s a somewhat good sign that she does not feel the need to back into a corner to pee; she feels comfortable in that space to pee, even while facing the high-walls of the litter box. Some rabbits will instinctively have their back against the walls for security reasons. You can see the see-through panel I attached to Wick’s on this post: http://www.instagram.com/p/BdT6gHVFug1/?taken-by=wick_theboogeyman . He tries his best, so I put in some effort so we could both be happier.

Electrocution, if of severe intensity, can cause neurological damage, similar to a human, but I would think against that in this scenario because these behaviors are common of rabbits. There’s a thread where every expresses the potentially damaging/annoying behaviors of rabbits, if you want to read and see how different people cope/deal with it: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/164986/Default.aspx

Confirming – Is Helen definitely spayed? And if so, do you know how long it has been?
Also, you mention she’s mean to Taft. Are there behaviors beside treat stealing that concerns you? It could be they have a weak bond that needs to be re-visited. Treat stealing does occur in healthy bonded rabbits: http://www.instagram.com/p/BeVccv9ASRg/

And as a general approach change, maybe you can try the over-praise technique. With some abused/neglected rabbits, trust is very difficult to establish because they’ve learned that 1) it doesn’t matter what they do and 2) humans aren’t really worth much, due to their history/circumstance. Some people have had success in just really overly praising a past abused rabbit, acting as a “No matter what you do crazy bun bun, we will still love you.” There’s a very old, cheesy video that I happened upon months ago that may be worthwhile to watch. It’s a short clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxV0j7SwBbk

Ophelia was never interested in any “mock dig boxes” … However, I went with the real deal and I got her an actual sandbox, and she really loves it. If you can manage, maybe give that a try. Also, look for “boredom buster” toys. Things that take a while and may preoccupy her. Ophelia likes when I stuff hay into a toilet paper roll, then she spends a lot of time trying to get the hay out. Leave no time for mischief!

What do you mean by she humps him meanly??

How long have you had them for?

Helen isn’t crazy. She didn’t shock herself into anything, this is what a lot of female rabbits are like.

None of what she does is bold. You’re talking like she understands what she’s doing and being intentionally stubborn.

She’s trying to make a home. She chews the wires (which like roots are a hazard in a Warren) she digs the carpet, an urge she can’t help. She just does what’s normal for Rabbits to do.
I’d be surprised if Taft wasn’t getting up to the same mischief when you aren’t around.
For ages I thought my female was the ring leader in the destruction of my walls, but transpires was just the one getting caught.

She nips because you’ve actually been kinda mean to her, and her past sounds traumatic too. She may need time to adjust and learn to trust you, and so far you’ve not been lending yourself to that, you’ve pushed her head into the ground (which they really really hate) you’ve picked her up and plonked her in her cage and sprayed her with water. I think I’d bite you after that!

You’re working towards being better at that which is good.

Have you tried a box fort? Cardboard boxes with some rabbit sized holes connected to make a tunnel like environment? Mine love stupid toys like that.

She’s probably humping taft due to differences in treatment-if she’s going into a cage he needs to go with her. If he gets attention and treats she also needs this. She might not seem to like you that much (yet!) But they are jealous little things so it might be causing a disturbance in their bond.

I can completely understand your frustration, and I understand why you put her away when she misbehaves as I have done it myself with past rabbits. It can be very stressful so I understand your frustrations.

First things first, take a deep breath. Rabbits can sense when you are becoming frustrated / annoyed / worried and do on.

Secondly, take a trip to your vet with her and explain to them your situation. She doesn’t sound spayed to me. Or if she is it can’t have been long ago. Maybe the vet can check for spay marks or any under lying illnesses.

Thirdly, get her a bigger litter tray. Storage boxes make great litter trays! You want something that they both can sit in and munch hay in as well as go to the toilet.

Finally, make their play area bigger. Or if you have a room they can free range in so that. It might be that she wants more space to venture out. Also try laying on the floor with them. Sometimes this destructive behaviour can be attention seeking 🙂