Advice on anti-destroying training.

[xnovalentine]

Does anyone have any advice on how I can get lullabelle to NOT destroy her bedroom while I’m not in it? I’m starting school next week – and during my break i’ve been trying to get her to not chew on carpet, chew on the floor boards, climb on top of things so I can leave her out while i’m not home. Does anyone know of anything I can do to help encourage her to be good while im not in the room? I’ve got cord protectors, perfume spray, moved important things, and just bunny proofed the room in general, but that doesn’t mean i’ve not missed things. Lately she’s been climbing on top of shelves and is currently exploring a way to get ontop of the desk and nawing on the baby gate. She’s been knocking things over like crazy and I’m running around behind her picking them up trying to move them out of reach.

 

By the way – my computer is dead and is getting fixed during the next 2 weeks so i’m not going to be online as much as I have and may be slow to respond sometimes. I’ve got access at work, but thats only during the week when i’m avoiding things that need to be done .

 

Also — since the rubber band incident lulla appears to be fine…no problems that I’ve noticed!!! Thanks again everyone for your help with everything i’ve ever brought to the site!

[Sarita]

Honestly, I think you should keep her in her condo when you are not home. Some rabbits just are not to be trusted especially those active ones like Lullabelle. It’s not only trust but it could be dangerous for her since she’s obviously extremely curious.

[JK]

I forget does Miss Troublemaker have a condo or just a smallish cage?  Here’s my advice.  Get your new vet boyfriend to stay home and watch her! 

[Scarlet_Rose]

I agree with sarita, confine her while you are out to a nice condo or cage since she is destructo-bun. You could always make a run for her too in your room while you are gone she can still exercise but not get into things in your room. Then, when you are home you can fold it up and put it away.

[RachelC-L]

If you find a solution for Lullabelle, tell me, because she sounds exactly like Pauline. I can leave Pauline while I am in another room, but I don’t generally leave her when I am not home. In the past week, we have lost a cable TV cord and some more of the molding (and I don’t own this house). In contrast, Dorian is a perfectly behaved house rabbit with no interest in chewing.

[Beka27]

i agree with everyone else… i’m thinking that Lulla may not be a free-roam capable bunny, at least not until she’s much older and has calmed down more (maybe 2-3 years).  i would either keep her in a large condo, or in her cage with continuous access to an xpen or other type of enclosure.  you can get some remnant linoleum (or carpet if she’s a chewer and not an eater) and put it over the bottom.  this way she’ll have some more space, but won’t be able to cause tons of trouble.

the anti-destroying training is good, and really that’s mostly bunny-proofing, moving important stuff away, and recognizing that some stuff is going to get chewed regardless.  but there’s not much you can do about it when you’re not there.  also remember, it’s not uncommon for bunnies to have a secret spot where they are going to town out of your obvious range.  that could be occurring right now (in any of our homes &nbsp and we wouldn’t know…

[babybunsmum]

lol… so true beka!  dontcha just looove finding those spots?  "whaaa?  what’s the *bleep* happened here?"  lol

yeah… if you don’t have a large condo for lulla you could set up an area like beka did around her cage.  the nic thingy’s or xpens can then be folded up & stashed when you’re home to watch her inventiveness in action!

[Gravehearted]

I agree too, it sounds like she’s going to have to be in her house when you’re not home.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

ROTFL exactly!! I think I’ve found three secret spots this week1!!! argh….

[honeybun]

I tried the run of the bedroom thing and got tired of everything being chewed. I finally got an x pen and that turned out to be a great solution. now everybodys happy and I can decorate my daughters bedroom again. she can even leave her crayons out. The bun loves it too.

[xnovalentine]

Thanks for your input everyone…I’ve put her to the test tonight, and if it goes wrong, I will break down and buy and xpen.

She has a small cage — the smallest one you could get. I didnt get her a bigger one because I planned on letting her keep the entire room.
I read your guys’ responses here at work after i’ve already made the decison to leave her in her room today while i’m gone since I had to be gone 10+ hours today. I felt terrible keeping her in such a small cage for so long. She got to run around this morning for a few hours but I know its got to suck so bad being stuck in a icky cage all day so thats how i just came to the conclusion i should just leave her in there.

now i’m terribly afraid and sort of freaking out. LOL.

I guess i will just have to accept my precious little bun bun is a spawn of satan and must be caged

[JK]

Oh you must tell us what happened tomorrow!!!!  If it is a disaster when you come home just break down and get the xpen.  You will feel so much better and Lulla will be happier too. I’m crossing my fingers for you that it is not as bad as you think!

[xnovalentine]

heres what happend when I came home:

I came home right after work, and the only thing that had happend was she had climbed on the shelves and managed to drag a few things off the top shelf which was no big deal. I had to leave to go over to my sisters as she was helping me with my computer so I was gone for 2 more hours and decided to move what she had gotten to and leave her out a little longer.

when i came home again, she had figured out how to open the door to the desk, didint chew on anything in the door area, and climbed back behind the desk and chewed on hidden cords.

xpen it is…*sigh* i tried. i’ll just be patient and wait for her to be too lazy to do anything destructive. i agree that both her and me would be happier with the xpen deal, i was just hoping the spawn of satan could be tamed. i love her anyway even though shes put my house at risk for electrical fires

[Lisa_43]

You defiantly need an X-pen, I think your rabbit can get into a lot of trouble and maybe get hurt.

[xnovalentine]

i agree Lisa. Luckily i’m mad at her and making her stay in her cage tonight LOL she can’t guilt me into it after this one!!!

[Sarita]

She’s too smart for her own good :~)

[JK]

Sounds like it wasn’t that bad.  Wouldn’t ya just love to have a hidden camera in the bedroom and watch her in action!!!! What a litle devil.

[MooBunnay]

I only have 2 out of 7 bunnies that I trust to have free range in my bedroom and that do not have a cage at all. For me, I am very scared that they will bite down on a cord while I’m not home. I had a friend whose bunny bit down on a live cord and it burnt his entire mouth and he was hurt for a very long time – so I am just petrified of that happening. Getting an expen, or constructing some NIC cubes into a pen is a really great alternative for the day time so she can run and play. Then when you get home, as others mentioned, just stash it away under the bed or somewhere.

[RabbitPam]

I had Spockie for 8 years and he stayed in his house while I was at work. He really was enough of a chewer that I couldn’t leave him out while I was not home.

I worried that he was too confined until I had reason to be home during the day for a number of weeks. Well, he would put himself back into his cage at the hour I usually left in the morning, and then nap most of the day! Even with me in the same room, he wasn’t interested in venturing out until late in the afternoon, only getting up for bathing himself or snacks. He obviously had his routine. They are creatures of habit.

Rabbits are morning/evening animals. It’s when they forage for food in nature, play, and socialize. They sleep alot during the day in the wild, and again at night. If you leave him a few fun toys to play with in his house, and enough room to both stretch out and scoot around in an xpen, he should be fine. He probably could use several new toys to chew on inside the cage, as well as some matts and shredded paper to dig. Hide some small treats under some shredded paper and hay in a box on the floor of your room when he’s out with you, and when you catch him chewing a wire, move him immediately to the new box toy. He will get the idea that it’s rewarding – but cords are not.

And he will settle down when he’s older. As long as he’s explored every corner of the house at least once. 

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[JK]

That’s great advice. Edson sleeps a lot during the day too. I swear he’s up all night though as his water bottle is almost empty when I get up at 5:00am after filling it the night before. So you think they do sleep during the night? I have my doubts because after I give him his small amount of pellets at 5:30am he goes back to bed!

[xnovalentine]

thanks for the advice everyone!

just wanted to let you know that I had some extra NIC laying around so i ziptied together a small pen for her to play in. she defeated it. i made it too large and only ziptied one end to her cage while the other i just stacked things behind it so she couldnt push it out. i forgot she knew how to pull it out. then she snipped one ziptie in half (she must have been working at it avidly while i left for a few hours today) and was able to pull them apart. i’m out of zipties so instead of trying to fix it i think i’ll just buy a stupid real one. LOL.

[JK]

Are you kidding? That is just unbelievable!  You just must be tearing you’re hair out with that girl.  She is super bunny for sure.

[RabbitPam]

I used to think they were nocturnal, but lately I’ve been doing a lot of new research on bunnies and discovered this fact about them. I do remember catching him sleeping if I woke up at 2AM. Edson probably snacks, then needs a big drink afterwards, and like us, has to pee in the night, or has fresh energy.

Favorite bedtime story: Spockie watched West Wing every night at 7PM, stretched out on the rug facing the TV. Well, at 7:55 he would get up and go into his house by himself! For a long time I said "bunny bedtime" and picked him up about that time, gave him kisses, and put him back. If I didn’t do it, and looked for him, I found him in there already. We thought it was the theme song music that he associated with bedtime, but he did it when it wasn’t the same show, or even on. I imagined him saying "Mum, there’s a HUGE clock on the wall there. Can’t you tell time? I can!"
They really are trainable to do what they want to do themselves.

Here’ he is watching TV.

112038306871.jpg

[RabbitPam]

xno,
that’s one smart, determined bunny. Spockie would nudge the baby gate just enough to squeeze out, and run around.

I also used large sheets of clear acetate (thick plastic from the hardware store) that I set in front of my bookcases, or computer and wall, that he couldn’t push away. (Like prop a chair against it.) He just lost interest in that place and an entire area was protected. You don’t need a very tall one, 36″ is plenty, but wide.

Just think: I’m stopping a mountain goat. How?

[JK]

Spockie sounds like a real character.  How cute that he would watch TV.  Do you have any rabbits currently?  You sound like a WONDERFUL bunny mom!

[xnovalentine]

i’m telling you people…she is 100% evil. LOL

[JK]

Can you post some more pictures of your precious devil?

[xnovalentine]

 

(don’t be fooled by this picture…shes decieving!!! ^^^)

this too…shes planning her attack.

you can see in this picture nick’s underwear…she went into the bathroom and stole them and hid them there, this was right after I caught her. underwear of all things?

 

 

these last ones are when i first brought her home. she was a lot smaller and she hadn’t changed colors yet:

 

(i’d like to point out here that you can actually see my carpet…i havnt seen it in awhile its under hay and bunny toys!)

this was the first day I brought her home! she was chomping down on my leftover salad because I didint know what to give her! LoL! LOOK HOW TINY!! AHH! shes a monstar now. Oh but i love my monstar!!!

[JK]

She is so great looking!  Thanks for posting.  Does she have a widow’s peak?  She really looks like a little witch.  What kind is she?

[xnovalentine]

i think shes at least partly californian…she had that widow peak for a couple of weeks but now its just a small grey spot on her head. you can still see the darker area where the widows peak was. she changes colors every couple of weeks, its really strange. i wonder what she’ll look like in the summer?

[JK]

Maybe she changes colors because of her multiple personalities!

[xnovalentine]

i wouldnt doubt it. i do think she may be mildly dissociative! haha

[RabbitPam]

xeno,

Your “monstar” is really beautiful! I love the picture you use of her resting on your leg. What a face.

I think they know when they’re really adorable looking, and give you that silent “I’m too cute to be stealing underwear, it must have been the wind” look. Spockie loved to steal and lick my nylon knee hi socks. After I’d worn them and taken them off. He had a foot fetish.

knowltons4;

No, I don’t currently have a bunny. Spockie was disabled in his back leg all summer after 7 years of excellent health, and finally got ill and passed away on Dec. 5th. After going on the Rainbow Bridge site for a few weeks, I found this website, and it’s really cheering me up!

I have Soooo many bunny stories from him. He was very special.

I have done a lot of cleaning and making preparations for getting another bun, because I think they are the best possible pets. However, I’m job hunting, so must land something first in order to support a bunny in the style I want it to be accustomed to.

(priorities: first week of new job, earn money; first weekend after first week of new job, go get a bunny!)

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Underwear stealing bunnies ROTFL too funny!! What did your bf say? haha, Dave would have had a fit! :p

*hugs* I’m sorry rabbitpam to hear that. Binky free Spockie!

[xnovalentine]

well, i never actually told nick she stole his undewear. he knows shes stolen things, she’s stolen cards and papers out of his hands but I think if he knew that she stole his underwear and i found it so cute to take a picture and post it on the internet, he’d probably make me sleep outside. hahaha.

oh by the way…i went and bought a real xpen. she hasn’t defeated it yet, but she’s been trying to ! lol but i feel better knowing that shes out lounging around while i’m at work right now

and me too, rabbitpam, am sorry to hear that spockie got sick i do like your bunny plan though, but i’m sure i couldnt wait to find another job before i got another bunny LOL. I’m currently looking around for another job, and still thinking of getting a bunny. I have a job, I just think I may quit if i get pushed the wrong way LOL.

[Sarita]

Lullabelle really is a gorgeous rabbit – I have to wonder if she really is a Californian though – her coloring is just so unusual to me, really pretty and silvery looking.

[babybunsmum]

lulla is very pretty!  and she must know it too

one of my family cats when i was growing up liked rolling in dirty laundry.  once i thought she was trying in vain to open my parents bedroom door by reaching her paw under it.  apparently she was trying to ‘hook’ some dirty laundry that was in a basket on the other side of the door… so when i picked her up i got a dirty pair of underwear right in my face *still gags at the thought* *shudder*  BLEH.  good thing cats can land well from a 5 foot height cause i dropped her like a hot potatoe!

[xnovalentine]

i really dont know what she is…that was just my guess LOL. she changes colors…sometimes she has spots sometimes she doesnt…sometimes her nose is dark..sometimes it isint. shes crazzzy! lol

[Author]

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