A bun obsessed.

[Ahvo]

So a while ago I posted about Ponyo constantly rattling his cage when my boyfriend was over (and occasionally when it was just me), which we thought was a dominance display or want to kick Aubrey’s butt for being with me when he wasn’t.

It was half right, it seems.

Ponyo is driving me mad, the little terror.

He’s obsessed with me. If I’m in the room at all and he’s in his house (unless it’s the middle of the day and he can SEE me at all times) he rattles it.  Rekentlessly.
If he is out of his house and I get up to answer the door (It just takes a second, and I don’t have time to herd him back into it every time) he INSTANTLY starts misbehaving and spazzing out.
I’ve taken to leaving the bedroom door open and closing all the other so he can follow me into the hall to greet people.
He even insists on being int he bathroom with me.
He waits at the kitchen door when I cook or make tea (We’ve taught him that it can be dangerous in there, and not to play around)

Now, he’s been fantastic in a lot of ways, like litter training. I barely had to do anything,. and when it stuck, boy did it stick. I don’t even get stray poops.
Lately though he’s really acting up, and normal training with treats and ignoring him seems to do nothing.

He used to not be allowed on my bed due to some baby bunny bedpeeing issiues, but he doesn’t do that anymore (thank god) and is allowed on there when I am on there.
He likes to get pets and occasionally cuddles, BUT…

He eats everything. All the time.

You blanket that your grandma made you? I MUST MAKE HOLES IN IT ( so sad! :'( he never used to do this)
The sheets and pillowcases? HOLES.
Ooh this sheet feels good… *DIG DIG DIG AT IT. CHEW CHEW CHEW IT*
The sheet is the only thing he hasn’t made holes in. He prefers to lick it where I have been, and run his teeth along the grooves in the folding fabric like he’s biting, but he hasn’t done it properly yet.

We’re trying, what with me petting him up here when he’s a good boy, and shoving him off again with a “No biting!” the moment he’s naughty, but he just does not get training.

He’s so lovely and well behaved in his litter habits and never hurting me and the like, but when it comes to simple things, like responding to his name, taking simple training like “Come here!” – “Bedtime!” – “Stop that!” or anything of the sort, he’s just blank faced, and carries on. : < I am a patient lady, and I figure his age may be part of it, and perhaps I should just be happy with what I’ve managed so far.
I have a lovely, friendly bun who has never hurt a fly (or a visitor), has amazing litter habits and lets me pet and play with him, but he is just so destructive and rebellious otherwise. My carpet is a lost cause, for sure, but my poor sheets and things! : (

He’s about 5 and a half months, he is neutered (recently though) and is VERY energetic.
His house is a little small for me (we’re building him a new one ourselves, which will be cool) but he can stretch out in it, and have toys, bowls and a litter tray in there, so it’s not a prison.

Sorry for the long post! I just wanted to get his behaviour across properly.
It may just be his personality, not to take to certain training well…
Or it may be that he’s a little teenager and is being a bastard!

Do you guys have any similar stories for me? I hope they ended well. xD Haha

Also, I’ve been making some things… *Sneaky face* seeing as a lot of people are very artsy crafty on here.
I shall post soon. <3

Now to meet my father for coffee and have Ponyo look at me like I’m abandoning him forever..
Breaks my heart. : <

[Lintini]

I just made a post about how my bed has been ruined. My sheets have holes in them from Indy and Bee both digging in them and chewing. Indy did not used to do that before at all. My comforter is now in the trash from the feathers exploding in the wash. I feel your pain. I have grids all over my bed….It’s interesting explaining to guests to why those are there.

https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tab…fault.aspx

 

Good luck with the bed thing…let me know if you have more ideas to train them to keep off…I want to buy a new bedding set (a cheap one) but I still feel at this time its a huge waste of money!

[Beka27]

He sounds absolutely normal. With rabbits there are hormone behaviors (alleviated by spay/neuter) and there are adolescent behaviors… which are AGE-related and there isn’t a darn thing you can do to speed it up. Rabbit teenager behaviors can last up to 12-18 months of age.

A larger rabbit-safe space is going to help to save some of your sanity, this way his out of cage time can be more focused, but he isn’t in a tiny area when he’s confined. I really don’t think that rabbits should be allowed unsupervised free-range before they’ve outgrown this teenager stage (Lintini is a good example of this… lol!) It’s more work on you because you’ll have to be present to supervise, but as he becomes more and more trustworthy, you can start to remove yourself and not worry about what he is up to.

Is your room completely bunny-proofed? Does he have distractions/safe chewables/activities to keep him entertained?

[Ali925]

Ahvo,
I completely understand what you’re going through…and can’t believe the timing of your post! I could have written it myself! Just in the past few days my little bun Blu (male) has been out of control. He’s been neutered since May, but he’s almost 6 months old now…so it’s definitely an age thing like Beka mentioned…since the hormones have definitely settled down for him by now.

He’s always been a good boy (as good as a bun can be lol) but like I said, just in the past few days he’s been a little nutty and actually getting on my nerves…which he never does. He started digging incessantly at his grass mat and chewing it up as well as throwing the food dish around the cage (he has a cage with a pen attached) and tossing everything around his pen area. He also pulls at the NIC grids of the pen while digging at the wood floor..and trust me the noise is AWFUL! For 3 days now he’s been doing this for 10 or more minutes at a time. AND this is when he’s got free roam of his play area! But the area where he’s “digging” and pulling at the cage is the side where we don’t let him out, it opens up to the other side so he never goes over to that area. (We have a second bun and they aren’t bonded so that space doesn’t get opened up to him).

And to top it off, this morning I noticed he pulled the wire covering into his cage and chewed it up…I have no idea how he did it, I thought we had covered the bases on that one. Unfortunately both of my bunnies like to chew through the cord protectors, so we have to try something different. Oh and he also likes nipping if you’re in his way, but he’s not a nasty bunny at all…just uses his mouth to communicate. My girl likes to lick me instead..I’m hoping he learns that soon…. haha

All of this has just been within the last week or so, he was never like this before. So to summarize, I feel your pain…and it’s completely normal..unfortunately! Maybe it’s a boy thing, I don’t remember my girl doing this, but she had her own issues at that age. I’ll be working on getting him some things to dig with and play with so hopefully it’ll satisfy his need to destruct everything.

Oh teenage bunnies!

~Ali

[Beka27]

It always seems to happen about this same time, and people get really angry because they think it’s RELATED to the spay/neuter… like it “didn’t work” or it somehow affected their bunny negatively… But it will pass.

[Michelle&Lolli]

Ponyo sounds like my Eddie. His behavior, while annoying as heck, is completely normal and there’s nothing you can do except to prevent him from destroying things of value. You could try putting an old sheet or blanket on top of your bedding for when he’s allowed on the bed. That way, the old sheet/blanket will be the first thing he chews on.

It also sounds like he’s bonding with you. I had Eddie for a year before I got Lollipop. So Eddie and I became what I like to call superbonded. He was constantly having to be on me when I was on the couch. I had to be up with him otherwise he’d make racket until I got up. He followed me everywhere. He hated when I left him, etc. Sound familar? lol I don’t know what to tell you to help. Once I got Lollipop and him bonded, he quit being so focused on me, but he still continues with all those behaviors – they just don’t seem as intense. I’m just one of the “herd” now. (A herd is a group of rabbits living together. fyi) So I’m another rabbit who frequently offends due to not really being a rabbit. lol

[RabbitPam]

The Terrible Teens.
The funny thing is that, when they get older, ie. over a year, you start to miss the rambunctious behavior when they disappear for a lot of nap time.
They can get very mellow and not seem like the same bunny. He sounds sweet.

[jerseygirl]

Apart from the teen age (which is def contributor!) rabbits can also learn behaviours. So if he gets what he wants be displaying a certain behaviour, he’ll continue to use it. You might want to set some baoundaries for him. He sounds smart….but stubborn!

[Ahvo]

It’s nice to hear other people have the same sort of thing, haha.
He’s a good boy mostly (He did just do something incredibly naughty because I went to the bathroom, no more privacy for me), but thanks for the tips.
He has my whole room to play in, so it’s not like he’s confined, but his house is bothering me. I’d like somewhere a lot bigger to be able to keep him when he’s not allowed to follow me all day. We’re building him one. :]

I think it’s just going to take me a lot longer to break his habits and train him up than the average bun though, he’s the most stubborn thing I have ever met, and he does things to get bad attention, as well, so I think I have to bring back the squirt gun and ignoring him tactic. D:

[Author]

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