Destroying her hutch

[Lisa]

Butterscotch is 9 months and was spayed this past June, some may remember the fiasco that was! I give her toys, things to chew on and rotate them all the time till we find what she likes best. The other morning I woke up to her making noise I’ve never heard. When I checked on her she had literally ripped the ramp out of the top of the hutch, screws and all, and it was on the bottom of the hutch. She had then taken the part of the top floor that the ramp was attached to, pulled it up and moved it to the other side leaving half of the upstairs completely open but no way to get down. She also had chewed that part of the floor almost in half. I was able to find one of the screws, put the floor back in place, reattached the ramp and cleaned out all the splintered pieces of wood. She immediately ran down the ramp and went straight to the litter box (She didn’t make a mess upstairs). She chews on her hutch sometimes but has never been this destructive. She has since been chewing on other parts of her hutch and the ramp. I’m afraid she may eat the wood, I do find mostly splinters around the hutch. Or just destroy it to the point that I may have to but a new one. And she still hasn’t calmed down from her spaying, still lunges, and growles when I try to clean her cage. Shouldn’t these territorial tendencies have diminished by now? I give her plenty of hay and she gets pellets too along with a few chew toys she really likes. Any ideas why she has become so destructive?

[Wick & Fable]

Is she in her hutch for some time? Now that she’s older and more comfortable, she probably gets much more frustrated being penned up for periods of time, especially early morning when rabbits are most active.

She could be experience physical discomfort from something else. When was the last vet visit with her?

How’s her eating, drinking, and pooping?

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.

[sarahthegemini]

How often is she confined in her hutch?

[tobyluv]

Has anything changed in your household lately? Something that could be causing anxiety for Butterscotch? Many rabbits don’t like being confined in a cage or hutch, especially if they don’t get a lot of out of cage time for play and exercise each day. The fact that there are loose screws and splintered wood sounds dangerous. You certainly don’t want her to be ingesting either of those. Do you have an x-pen or something else that you could keep her in that might be safer?

Rabbits really do need plenty of out of cage time every day, and any enclosure they are in when they are penned up needs to be large enough for them to be able to run around and stand up and not feel so confined.

As has already been suggested, you need to make sure that Butterscotch isn’t having any physical problems, that might have caused this change in behavior. Make sure that she is getting plenty of out of cage time, and look into getting some kind of pen that would be less dangerous (no screws or wood that could be chewed and splintered).

[Lisa]

Unfortunately she is in the hutch more than she should be. We both work during the day so we let her out when we get home. She has access to safe areas in the house and rooms are closed off that she can’t get into. She runs around and jumps everywhere till she gets tired then just plops down to rest till she’s ready to go again. She has even taken to jumping up and down on the cat tree. We have a fence pen that we used to keep her out of the kitchen but she can jump over that now. Outside is not an option. Our neighbor’s Jack Russell has dug many holes under our stockade fence and is in our yard all the time. We used to have lots of wild rabbits in our yard cause it was safe. Many have dug holes and given birth in our yard. Now this dog has killed at least two rabbits that we have witnessed, no telling how many we haven’t seen. So taking her outside is not an option, even with her harness and leash-I don’t trust that dog. Every hutch I’ve checked out is made of wood and are put together with screws. I swear I don’t know how she pulled that ramp off, those screws were in there tight. And pulling up part of the floor-no idea how she did that. She is pretty strong. Even my husband who is 6-2 and 250 pounds has a hard time keeping hold of her, her back legs are freakishly strong. When she was at the vet a few months ago they had to knock her out because the vet and tech could not hold her still to examin her. And he is the best exotic vet in okc and has dealt with lots of rabbits. He said Butterscotch is “different” than most rabbits. Some may remember when she was spayed she ripped her stitches out three times, tore off every kind of bandage or covering they used to keep her away from the incision, and destroyed 3 collars. I think she just has obsession about chewing things. I’ll try to leave her out of her hutch for longer periods of time and see if that helps. And as I’ve been typing this she’s been digging on and trying to pull the ramp from where it’s attached. I tried diverting her attention but nothing worked till I got her one of her favorite treats and she finally left it alone. Now she’s sprawled out in her hutch sound asleep. I’m going to bed now that I know she’s calmed down. Whew!

[Sirius&Luna]

Can you get her a big non-treated apple log or some other suitable wood to chew on? that might contain her chewing to a more suitable item…

My two are currently obsessed with this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbjR77hFQVI/?taken-by=sirius_the_bunny

It sounds like maybe she needs some more things to occupy her when you’re not home. What about a digging box with some treats hidden in it? Or hiding bits of food around the hutch. Could you add a puppy pen to the front of her hutch maybe?

[sarahthegemini]

If she’s locked up too much, she’s bound to be frustrated. You really need to find a way to let her out more.

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