Arrrgggg…..

[Michelle&Lolli]

This is mainly a vent.  lol

Eddie is chewing on the freaking carpet AGAIN.  It’s like we go thru this every 3 -4 months.  He’s all good and doesn’t mess with anything.  Then he starts in.  It starts with chewing on the carpet.  Then he starts doing other stuff like chewing on the door frames.  I even caught him chewing on the kitchen cabinets once and he NEVER goes in the kitchen.  Hates the linoleum.  WTF?!?   Then Lolli starts in.  AAAHHHHHHH    And they KNOW what they are doing is wrong.  Especially when Eddie tries to hop off as soon as he sees the water bottle. 

 

So they have been spending lots of time in their pen.   I have created probably a 9 by 4 pen area for them out of 2 and 1/2 of the x-pens.  They have plenty of room especially if they can run around and chase each other.  But I start feeling bad and start worrying about maybe they are too cooped up if they don’t get free time.  So I give in and let them out….and one of them does something.  Sigh. 

 

They are soooo lucky they are cute sometimes.  haha

[Deleted User]

Well, they are considered, scientifically, a ‘destructive’ species… so it may not be something they give up. I have started to really like furniture with metal legs since I’ve had bunnies…

[jerseygirl]

Chewing is not really “wrong”…it’s natural and good for them. It’s just that they choose the wrong items to chew sometimes! lol Why don’t you provide something they can chew that mimics the things they go for? So a heavy board that stays put like a piece of furniture so they can really go to town. Even sea grass matts fixed down so it imitates carpet. I find my 2 will tear into a cardboard box once I have something inside it to weight it down. So that could be another distraction that might appeal to them.They should learn that you let them be when they chew at provided item as opposed to something like the carpet or furniture. Hopefully!

[Michelle&Lolli]

OMG! I have such a drama king! Eddie’s being all pouty cause he got in trouble. Or I paid attention to Lolli. Or it rained. Who the heck knows?!? lol

I know he’s being pouty when he finds some weird place to lay – like in the corner, under the end table. I do check him out just to make sure he’s not having tummy problems cause he has in the past. But his tummy’s rumbling, so…….he’s pouting. Geesh.

And Miss Lolli is absolutely fine. Like always. I ask her what his problem is and she gives me the “he’s a boy. how the heck do I know? look. hehe

[Michelle&Lolli]

i have tried giving them alternatives. They just find a new spot in the carpet to rip up. Let me qualify that – LOLLI will chew on things I give her and “gets” that chewing the carpet equals me trying to touch her, so after a few times of getting onto her about it, she quits. Cause she’s all “NO TOUCHING!” I can spray gallons of water at Eddie and give him alternatives and he still doesn’t get it. So it’s easier to just put them back in their pen. I feel bad cause Lollipop’s usually not doing anything. She does have her moments, but it’s seriously usually Eddie. When he gets mad about something he tends to “act out” by doing everything he knows he’s not supposed to do. And then when I spray him, he has the nerve to thump at me. Little sh*t. lol

They have lots of things to chew on and rip up. They just tend to choose everything else to chew on. sigh

[jerseygirl]

Are they chew toys though? Personally, mine ignore chew toys. It’s only bigger heavier things they like to chew at. So what I mean by using something like seagrass mat is to attach it to a heavy piece of wood (maybe with cable ties?) and place that down like carpet. So to them it will feel like pulling at carpet.

Eddie sounds like a personality and a half! I understand. I’m familiar with those troublemakers!

[Michelle&Lolli]

Yeah, he has quite the little personality. He pulled himself out of his pout after I gave him some baby gas x. He was doing this thing where he’d somehow grind his teeth and make his whole front tremor. So I made a fuss over him (which is what he wanted) and then made him take some medicine. Cured his pout. LOL He has done this in the past where I’m pretty sure he fakes being sick just to get attention. Like he doesn’t get enough already. I always make sure it’s not his tummy and in case where I can’t figure out what his problem is from checking him over, I give him a dose of baby gas x just to be safe. He doesn’t do this very often. Just once in a while he’ll get all pouty. Sigh. See, drama king. LOL

[KatnipCrzy]

It sounds as though you might need to restrict the to the pen unless you can closely supervise them.  Just keep offering safe alternatives to let out that energy- cardboard house, diggy box, safe twigs to chew on, etc.

I am really not sure that rabbits are capable of doing a behavior that mimics illness to attract attention- that goes against their every instinct as a prey animal.  Some rabbits certainly are divas and throw a fit- but not to the point of demonstrating a pain or stress behavior (grinding teeth).

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