Bad Bunny Behavior

[ChaoticPan]

So recently my rabbit, Dahlia, has been misbehaving like crazy! Nothing I do seems to phase her to get her to stop, I’ll do the thump at her, I will tell her no, I will go EH at her to get her to stop, but NOTHING works. I’ve even tried the bitter apple spray and I think she likes it! I finally found a vet that takes rabbits in my area so I’m going to be taking her to get spayed ASAP but in the meantime is there any kind of tricks or tips yall might have to get her to stop?
Behaviors: Digging in the carpet, biting at it, eating her pee pads which I just use to keep her from digging holes in the litter liner I use, trying to knock down her fence though she mostly does that when my cats around cause she likes to bully him. I get that alot these are normal behaviors for rabbits but I live in a rental currently and I also don’t want her to get sick from the carpet

[ChaoticPan]

I should add that she has A CRAP ton of toys and chews. Shes played with daily, and shes even learning tricks!

[Lemski]

Ugh, my bun was a AWFUL digger. She bit our couch a few times and ruined it (my husband was not happy). I tired everything like you but it didn’t really get better until after she was spay.
Have you tried a dig box or a hidey? I have a hidey in my buns x pen and they go to town on it lol they dug a whole through the back. I tried a dig box but she didn’t really like it very much. I’m not sure if I made it wrong.

[Bladesmith]

I got up one morning and found that my American Chin Clover had chewed a huge hole in my leather couch, burrowed inside, and was sleeping inside.

Wasn’t much I could do after that.

You might consider a dig box, and selectively removing half the toys and rotating them in and out on a weekly basis.

But getting her fixed might likely end a lot of those behaviors.

[ChaoticPan]

She has maybe 3 little hidey holes, and she had a dig bog till she destroyed it and covered my entire office in bedding lol One of her hidey holes is one of those pop up pens you can get at like petco or five below in my case lol. It has old sheets and blankets for her to burrow in.

[Wick & Fable]

Especially if you’ve had her for some time now, she may just be bored of her environment and/or feeling more comfortable/safe to be more exploratory and curious. Just like with children, rabbits can change their preferences, including what they like to do and how they like to do it. I suggest leaning into some anchored toys to redirect that dig/chew energy  (as no punishment/shaping is going to reduce a rabbit’s dig/chew energy). Some suggestions can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/user/WickandFable/posts/

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[ChaoticPan]

Thank you! Ill check those out!

[DanaNM]

Agree that spaying will help, but some buns just love to dig in carpet so that prob wont go away completely. For the carpet, pick up some heavy ceramic tiles from the hardware store (the big 12-14″ ones). You can place them over the trouble spots and that should help a lot, since buns will get obsessed over a particular area.

My carpet-digger buns also really loved cardboard cat scratchers as an alternative to chew. Grass or paper mats and phone books for shredding were also very popular.

For the litter box, I use a litter box screen instead of pee pads. If she’s a persistent chewer, the wire ones in the Binky Bunny store are really great. I had one for years until my pet sitter accidentally threw it out.

The other toy that has really saved my furniture lately is the “snak shak” log toy. It’s a bit controversial, controversial because it’s essentially rabbit-safe particle board, (wood shavings bound together with molasses and some other edible binder), but it’s very very hard so they don’t ingest a ton and keeps my bunnies occupied for hours. I usually give mine access to it for a few hours a day and only when they are roaming so they don’t chew things they aren’t supposed to.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[ChaoticPan]

Thank you so much! She deffinetly loves the cat scratching boards, I tend to give her the ones my cat has finished using just to keep Domino out of Dahlias area. Not cause he does anything to her, its more for his safety cause Dahlia is a little bully sometimes lol

[Author]

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