Best Cord Protectors?

[BB8]

Hi everyone! I was wondering what cord protectors work best for rabbits? I’m hoping for something flexible. I only really have a sewing machine and various chargers, everything else can be kept safely away from their little bunny teeth. 

I’ve seen some on Amazon but they don’t have a lot of reviews from bunny owners and I really don’t want to take a chance that they’ll get electrocuted. 

Thank you!!!

[Bunny House]

I know there are plastic cord protectors but even bunnies can chew through that. A lot of parents use NIC grids which just blocks them from being able to get to the cords!

[Gordo and Janice]

I’ll try to get a picture of mine and upload it. Very flexible and did a great job. Give me a day and I’ll get on it.

[OnyxMoon]

This video is something I’ve always kept in mind, as I’m planning on transitioning Onyx to free roam (my room only) shortly, and i have wires everywhere! The first thing she says is about how to protect her wires. She uses these wire covers from home depot, she said they only costed a few bucks. I’ve also heard that garden hoses could help, but i always thought they’d be a little heavy to use for cords.

She talks about it to about 1 minute into the video.

[Bam]

I use RABALDER from Ikea. They’re flexible. A bun can chew through them though, buns can chew through any plastic item, practically.

I have made a “cage” of mic-type grids around where I keep my printer and modem etc, maybe you could do sth like that for your sewing-table? Something that’s easily removed and then put back in place when you’re not actively sewing.

[MountainBuns]

I need some cord protectors as well, my bun got to my phone charger, luckily she was ok, but the charger wasn’t!

[BB8]

Thank you everyone!!
I have my sewing area blocked with NIC grids right now in case I drop any pins as well. But both my bunnies are very curious and love to try to go where ever I have blocked off so I wanted an extra precaution just in case.
I’m interested in seeing your set up Gordo and Janice, thank you.

[Gordo and Janice]

Ayyyy! I forgot! With Memorial weekend and BinkyBunny being down for updates it just slipped. Will download pictures tonight (That is if it works, some pics make it and some don’t it seems)

[Vienna Blue in France]

I got ones ! Recommended by GInaJenny. Caught my bun nibbling it the other day. She’d already ‘tasted whilst passing through’ computer cable which needed replacing, so i was very happy when she did the same last week and only made a tiny nick in it.

As bam says buns CAN chew through anything but it gives you 10 secs to see them at it!!

Or get the rectangular wall mounted cable hiders, relatively cheap and though most are stick-on now, you should really put one or two little screws to fix it properly.
Then they don’t look cable’y and buns dont pay attention.

Some think it’s because cables look like roots or twigs or something to eat, that they taste it (and ruin it!!)

[Wick & Fable]

Corrugated loom? It’s pretty robust.

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.

[DanaNM]

I like this type the best out of things I’ve tried: https://www.cabletiesandmore.com/black-wire-looms-40-2929?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsITw0dWu2wIVjP5kCh1H_wHXEAQYAyABEgIFOfD_BwE

They have it at home depot. It seems to make the cords less appealing to chew on as well, especially if you wrap a few together and tape the ends with electrical tape.

. . . 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.  

[Gordo and Janice]

Okay BB8, I used the things called spiral wrap.  I think they sell it in store at Home Depot still, at least where we are in Texas.  Gardner Bender is the manufacturer for what I have.  I couldn’t find it at Lowe’s in store or Walmart in store.  They are selling it on Walmart.com as a clearance item by a different manufacture I think.  But they are selling it at a bunch of different diameters.  Some humongous.  You only want the 1/4 inch, 3/8 inch, or 1/2 inch, I would think, for it to be practical.  But if you know what you are going to wrap with it, buy according to your needs.  Not sure if you are in the United States.  So not sure what stores you have where you are.  They also sell it on Amazon I believe (what isn’t sold on Amazon, right?).  

Back when I got mine they sold them 3 in a pack.  1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 inch diameter pieces by 3.5 ft long.  But now it appears they only sell them in a 2-pack (3/8 and 1/2), at Home Depot that is.  On Amazon they are apparently only one diameter but much longer pieces.  Anyhow, back when we bought it, we had to buy several because they were only 3.5 ft long.  But let me tell you very worth it.  Very versatile.  The cords do not come out when you move or bend it.  And because of the spiral they are very flexible.  You don’t need tape to keep it closed or keep the wires from slipping out anywhere along the length.  You can overlap them.  You can cut them to fit.  Cords can come into and leave the main bundle through the spirals at different points along the main bundle.  Most of my cords that were exposed and needed to be wrapped and bunny protected were individual cords.  Occasionally I wrapped two at a time and sometimes three.  There are pictures in images on the internet where you see the cords through the spiral wrap to the point it looks like a rabbit could get to them, but our cords were never exposed.  You just bunch the spiral wrap together and it stays nice with no cord visible or accessible.  In the 7 plus years we had the cords wrapped Icey never chewed into or through it.  And she was free roam 24/7. And she was definitely a cord chewer, like most.  We lost two corded computer mice and a phone charger before we knew what was going on and who was to blame, back at the beginning of our sessions of being educated by our rabbit.  Now every rabbit is different for sure.  Some very focused OCD rabbit with its mind set on destroying that cable protector could do it for sure, no doubt.  But what I noticed is Icey going over to the cord and trying to test it or get her teeth on it or mouth it and because of its nature (the hardness and smoothness of the plastic cord wrap as well as its tendency to roll around and slide around on the cord or cable) it wasn’t chew friendly or teeth friendly to get a good grab.  She would attempt a couple of test nibbles and it just wasn’t simple enough or easy enough so she would just pause, raise her head up, and move on.  She was also only 4.5 pounds too so a much bigger bunny may be able to mouth it much easier, you would think.  I don’t know.

Also certain cords or cables that I felt were more vulnerable in their location or out of my sight I would double wrap which is another bonus of this design of the spiral wrap.  The same size can wrap around each other because of the spiral nature.  However I would make it easier and wrap the 3/8 size over the 1/4 size or the 1/2 size over the 3/8 size.  Basically I used what I had however I needed.  I believe they come readily in black and a kind of opaque to clear.  There may be some colored ones but just black and the opaque were my choices in the store so I chose black.  Probably the only drawback, if you try really hard to find one, is the initial wrapping of the cord.  You have to wind it around and around and around and around.  Each spiral.  But once done, done.  

Okay I think I have exhausted that subject.  Now for the picture is worth a thousand words (fingers crossed).

Welp, as I feared.  Pictures are too big.  Don’t know how to lower the file size and if I did know, not sure what that would do to the viewing quality of the picture.  Charging battery to old camera.  Maybe it’s pictures will be smaller since it’s older.  Will post pics later if that procedure works.  Sorry.  One or two pictures would do you more good than everything I wrote.

[Sirius&Luna]

I also have spiral wrap… Now, it does stop them from chewing… But you will regret it if they manage to pee on it. Gross pee stuck in the spiral forever and it’s impossible to clean properly, then they can smell the pee still there, so they keep peeing on the same bit.

Is it obvious I’m speaking from experience?

[Gordo and Janice]

Okay, figured out that if I took the picture from a thousand miles away and then cropped out most of the excess it would get below the threshold of 500 KB.  But there is a loss of quality, evident in one of the pictures for sure.  Here goes…

First one showing double wrap.  Pulled back the 3/8 so you could see the 1/4 wrap underneath.  Notice no exposed cord.  And even better is the double protection.

Second one showing how you can combine a couple of cords.  Used about a 6 inch piece on the yellow lamp cord and then wrapped the long piece starting at the base of the black cord and overlapping the wrap on the yellow cord.  Again flexible and no tape and no exposed cord and clean looking. 

And finally an aerial view so you can see how truly flexible it is. 

Sure hope this helps you in some way.

[Gordo and Janice]

Well we politely asked her to not pee on ours. It seemed to work. She indicated she understood and obliged.

Kidding of course. Maybe we got lucky. It would seem if you unwrapped it (a pain for sure) and then cleaned the cord and used a cloth with vinegar holding the spiral between your fingers at the end, so you are holding the flat surface, inside and outside at the same time, then pull it through working your way through the entire wrap or at least where the pee was it would clean easily. Don’t know if I explained that right. Have never had to do it so… Worst case scenario you take it off, clean the cord real good, and put on a new piece. But if it is a regular occurrence, then…….back to the drawing board.

[Gordo and Janice]

And finally, again can’t see your area to give specifics. But where some items were stationary, we wrapped the cord but also took out the slack with a twist tie or velcro cable tie so the cord was suspended in the air along the wall and not lying on the ground. But this was mostly behind structures. If your sewing machine is always in the same spot and always plugged in you could take out the slack from the plug to the table. This would prevent your bunnies from being able to pee on it. Or if you need the slack then you could unplug it and keep the cord off the floor when not in use and just have it plugged in when being used to minimize the opportunity for the bunnies to pee on it. And it’s totally possible you will get lucky regardless of any special effort and your bunnies will choose to pee other places (like only the litter box….one can only wish, right?) rather than on your wrapped cord.

[Sirius&Luna]

Unfortunately it’s the tv cable that goes from one side of the room where it’s plugged into the phone socket thing, to the other, so not just an occasional item. We’ve since added a litter box to the area where they pee, which seems to have solved the problem. And honestly, I’m too lazy to untwist the whole thing and twist it back on!

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

I often use alu foil to cover up the smallest cables like the one which goes to the foot pedal of my sewing machine. Rabbits don’t like to bite it. There are also large sheets of foil underneath the couch and in other places where he shouldn’t be. The rustling scares him away and alerts me that he’s up to no good.

[Gordo and Janice]

@Sirius&Luna – Lol…yeh, it is time intensive. And you get to practice your manual dexterity for sure. I wasn’t happy about them when we moved into a new house.
The unwrapping, reconfiguring, and rewrapping of wires and cords on top of everything else with moving. But they worked really good for us. Never a problem. Looked great. No more rabbit teeth munching cords. The whole nine yards. But……I’m sure when we get another rabbit, most things that worked with Icey will be thrown out the window and we will have to learn new strategies all over again. So hoping that figuring out a new cord protection method is not one of them!

@Ellie – Not allowed underneath the couch!? Wow, you run a tight ship over there in the Nethers! Poor little “sweet potato”. Now that you said he looks like a little potato on legs (stilts I believe was the term), all I ever see when I see his avatar is the absolute cutest most precious little potato on the planet!

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Lol, I’m a horrible drill sarge indeed Except for the cuddles, the cuddles can stay! Small apartment life, there’s a lot of stuff packed everywhere underneath the bed etc. My meds often mess up my temperature regulation, so I have a hypothermia emergency kit in the corner between the two couches. There are a lot of blankets and an electric floot warmer, so that people can quickly grab stuff to cover me. This mountain of soft and warm stuff is bunny heaven, and an ideal place to go #1 according to some fluffbutts. And every pet owner or parent knows: every place which is off limits is instantly the most interesting place in the world ^_^

Speaking about potatoes, excusing yourself to go #1 is sometimes called “Off to drain the potatoes” here in NL. My little sweet potato has some interesting ideas about where he’s allowed to drain himself.

[peta the vegan bunny]

hi 🙂 i’ve been learning a lot from this blog. thank you <3

bc of ‘lennon the bunny’, i let peta roam free. i learned the hard way (many cables later) that the ‘no’ a cat or dog get a bunny doesn’t care. i’ve been using ‘Alex Tech 25ft – 1/8 inch Cord Protector Wire Loom Tubing Cable Sleeve Split Sleeving For USB Charger Cable Power Cord Audio Video Cable’. it’s been holding up really well. i use 1/8 for iphone charging cable, 1/4 & 1/2 on other cables. i recommend buying the 25ft ones.

[DanaNM]

Thanks for the info @peta the vegan bunny

We ask members not reply to old threads, so I will go ahead and lock this now. 🙂

. . . 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.  

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