Baseboard Protection

[Cookie and Me]

I am going to be converting the room Cookie’s pen is in into a bunny room. I was wondering if covering the baseboards with NIC grids really works, because my bunny is an expert at finding a way to chew them, and couldn’t she just chew through the holes? I was also wondering if any of you cover your baseboards with tape and if that works. Any other ideas would also be appreciated.

[Gordo and Janice]

We used blue painters tape on some of our baseboards. It worked in most areas. There were a couple of spots that it didn’t matter though. She would chew through the tape or nick it until she could get a good grab on it and then pull it off. We would catch her running across the room with blue tape stuck to her chin like a beard.

A physical barrier is probably best. It doesn’t look as nice or clean, but it is more of a guarantee of safe, undamaged baseboards. But I would venture nothing is 100% chew safe when these little ones are around. Ours was one clever little girl. She would do something, we would counter with a deterrent. She would figure out something else. We counter. Something new. We counter. In the final years we had gotten the destruction in check and to a very minimum (read not 100% but close). That is the trade off for sharing our life with a precious little one. Would do it all over again. The experience of having and loving a rabbit over aesthetically perfect corners and edges.

But ours was free roam 24/7. Some only allow free roam when they are home. That would also help to minimize the destruction I would think.

So such a long answer for: Yes tape helped some. But not 100%. But a physical barrier would be best.

[jerseygirl]

Icey was an angel if tape was enough to deter her most times!

Here’s an older thread with some ideas. (take care not to reply in the old thread as it will bump it up with the current ones)
I thought what SeaTurtleSwims ended up doing was ingenious!

https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/146549/Default.aspx

[Harlowsgirl]

My little girl blossom was a big baseboard chewer. When she was little, she would escape her cage and exercise pen and destroy the moldings in the room. We tried bitter apple spray and she stopped. We had to recoat every time we vacuumed (about once a week) or else she would go back to chewing. It’s also important to note that it smells sooo bad. So your house will smell weird for an hour. After using the spray for a couple of months, we stopped. She hasn’t tried to chew the baseboards since. I’ve heard some bunnies like the taste of the bitter apple spray so you might want to test it first

[Deleted User]

I used something like these from the hardware store and used a strong putty to attach to the baseboards! Complete coverage! Best idea I had come up with. Just make sure the type of wood you buy is a type that is safe for rabbits and that it hasn’t been treated. Also, this one is kinda long on each end, so you’d want wood that is really short and stubby, since baseboards don’t protrude all that much. It was a little pricey to get enough to cover a whole room plus enough putty. But it actually ended up looking quite nice. I’ll see if I can find any pics of it.

[Deleted User]

You can search “wood corner guards” and should be able to find them. I couldn’t find a picture of the whole room, I got a new phone shortly after I got her and I think the pic got lost. From this picture though you can kinda see what I mean and how it looks. Sorry its sideways, I don’t understand

[Gordo and Janice]

That’s smart. So you just covered the top. My mind was always trying to figure out how to cover and protect the whole thing. But now that I see your picture I realize Icey would only chew on that top ridge that jutted out. Never even considered that just covering that top part would suffice.

(And cute sideways bunny by the way)

[Deleted User]

Yes, I only did the top because I figured that the rest of it is too “flat” for them to get a good grip on! Even if they wanted to chew the flat part, I think that top piece of wood would make it a little more challenging!

[Cookie and Me]

Wow thanks for the ideas!! Unfortunately due to some personal issues this has been postponed to summer. I think i will try the tape and spray at first but if she persists I will try the PVC pipes
Thanks!

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