Chestnut INSISTS on chewing the wall

[JuliaD]

My doe, Chestnut insists on chewing on our walls. She and her mate, Jackson, have been living free in their own room for a little over a month with numerous enrichment toys to play with, including 4 or 5 cardboard boxes to chew on, countless paper towel and toilet paper tubes usually stuffed with hay and treats, 2 makeshift bunny tunnels lined with hay for them to dig through and nibble on, and several wooden bird toys to chew on, but so far Chestnut has chewed 2 massive holes in the corner of the wall (now blocked by a cage since rearranging the room and putting a cage there was the only way to keep her from chewing in those areas. 

She stopped for about a week and took to chewing on one of her carboard boxes until i guess that stopped being fun and now I’ve caught her chewing in 3 other places. I DON’T GET IT!! WHY THE WALL? WHY DOES SHE NEED TO CHEW THE WALL? I almost wish she’d go back to chewing on the baby gate and driving everyone crazy with that so I would at least be able to rest knowing what she’s chewing on, rather than hurling myself out of bed and down the hall every time i hear a scratching sound coming from their room.  Will getting her spayed help reduce the urge to chew through the house??

Disclaimer: I am very very aware of the high cancer risk in females and every cent I make (i dont have a very steady income yet) is going toward getting Chestnut spayed.

[Lee]

I have a disclaimer too: I am new to Bunnies but a professional dog trainer, so all advice is based on my knowledge of learning theory and animal training, in most cases it is the same for all animals, there care and needs are just different. But if someone with more experience gives you different advice I wont begrudge you listening to them haha.

If this was a dog my advice would be to manage the environment so the dog cannot practise the unwanted behaviour. Animals, especially when young and adolescent (like us really) develop habits quickly, once a behaviour becomes a habit it is much harder to stop. Where as if you manage the environment while the animal is young, and they never get to practise it, then as they get older you can gradually give them more freedom and they are unlikely to begin practising that behaviour because by that stage they have developed other habits such as using their own provided toys and cardboard boxes etc.

So if I were you, I would be either placing cage/play pens around the entire edge of the room like you have done with the one spot already chewed, or I would be moving Chestnut and Jackson into a play pen for the time being until they are a little older and have learnt to play and chew on their provided toys. And I would continue to provide daily enrichment, but I would also rotate their toys/boxes/chews, and I would be offering their food in new and differing ways to keep them occupied, ie: pellets in a food puzzle toy, or pellets/greens for training, so on.

[LBJ10]

Well, of course she will want to chew the wall! Don’t you know that drywall is the tastiest thing EVER? LOL

Seriously though, I have dealt with this on and off with Leopold. Boy does he love drywall. We put a “fence” up along the wall using NIC grid squares. It is right up against the wall and then cardboard is between the fence and the wall. So if Leopold wants to chew the wall, all he will get is cardboard.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Lee has awesome advice! The key is to not let it become habit, and you can intervene by not letting them access the wall (however you do that, block access) and provide something that is OK to chew) -you won’t have to barricade your wall forever, they’ll move on to appropriate behaviours if you provide something similar and block that access

[BunsAndDolls]

Posted By LBJ10 on 6/17/2015 10:27 PM

Well, of course she will want to chew the wall! Don’t you know that drywall is the tastiest thing EVER? LOL

Seriously though, I have dealt with this on and off with Leopold. Boy does he love drywall. We put a “fence” up along the wall using NIC grid squares. It is right up against the wall and then cardboard is between the fence and the wall. So if Leopold wants to chew the wall, all he will get is cardboard.

I did this same thing and it worked well.  We have a corner blocked off in the living room for them to use as their little home base, and Hershey started chewing on the corner of the wall over there…so I covered it with cardboard and cube panels until he lost interest in it.  I’ve taken them down now, and he hasn’t chewed the wall in a while.  

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