Destructo Bunny to the max! Please help !

[bunnyhophop]

Hi,

I am at my wits end and really need some help. I have an extremely cute but extremely naughty little bunny at home. He is a neutered male who I adopted about a year and half ago. I’m not sure how old he is because he was found on the street but before coming home with me he probably had a previous home because he loves being pet is not at all afraid of humans and was 100% litter box trained in 3 days. Recently he has become more and more destructive. I live in a small 1 bedroom apartment and he has his cage in my bedroom. He stays in his cage when I’m not home but as soon as I come home he gets to hop free. In the beginning I suffered with losing a computer cord, a cell phone charger, a pair of jeans and a lamp to his chewing but now that I’ve figured out how to get him to stop doing that he has started eating my bed. I have a set of drawers built into the bottom of my bed so he can’t get underneath and my bed is fairly high up but he still manages to get on there. He has taken large bites out of my pillow cover, my sheets, my blanket and my mattress. The mattress appears to be his favorite. I have tried yelling “NO”, spraying him as soon as he gets on my bed, making loud noises to scare him away, rubbing perfume on my drawers and generally just trying to make sure when he is in my room that he is actually using his litter box or playing with toys and not destroying my bed more. He has tons of toys. I would even call him spoiled because every few weeks I buy him a new toy and continuously rotate his toys in an effort to make sure he is not bored when I can’t be with him.  I can’t raise my bed any higher or else the drawers wouldn’t open and I really need them for storage since he will destroy anything that is not in the closet or hidden in the drawers. The only litterbox he will use is in my bedroom so I am forced to keep the door open between my bedroom and the rest of the apartment so he can go in there and do his business. He refuses to use any other litterbox .PLEASE HELP ME! I am losing my mattress and have no more unholey sheets, pillow cases or blankets.

[jerseygirl]

He sounds like he likes to keep busy during his free time. Do you provide bunny areas for him outside his cage. Like hiding boxes and straw mats he can destroy. Cardboard is a good distraction from the things he should destroy.

[bunnyhophop]

He has the entire apartment to play in during his free time.He has a straw mat in his cage as well as one underneath the table which is his favorite play spot. He also has a nice phone book to destroy, some safe wood blocks hanging from a gate to keep him from going behind the television and bunny tube to crawl through.

[jerseygirl]

I hate to say it but you may just have to block the problem areas off to him. I have a brat and once she knows an area is a no go zone, she is all the more persistant.

How would he react to you shutting off the bedroom and placing his cage/litter box just at the door during his free time?

I’m not surpised under the table is a favourite spot. What about making it even more enticing? Block of some sides with cardboard sheets, provide heavy lengths of wood or branches for him to gnaw on. (Sorry, i tend to let my place become overly rabbitfied.)

 

[bunnyhophop]

Given that currently his only problem area is my bed which he is eating I’m not sure that there is a way to block off his access. He is a really good jumper and when I say really good I mean really good. I used to use a 36 inch x-pen with him and the second I wasn’t looking he would leap it or scale or or something. I have already tried moving his litter box to various other locations but he refuses to use any of them. He really is set in his ways.

[jerseygirl]

Mmmm…. I know some people have suggested putting something on the bed like a slippery shower curtain so it’s less appealing to jump onto.
Other chewing deterrants I’ve heard of are Dove soap, rubbed on dry or menthol based ointments.

Not sure what you could do about the mattress, is he able to chew on this from the floor?

[bunnyhophop]

A shower curtain is a great idea ! Thank you so much for your help. I will definitely give that a try. I am seriously at my wits end with him. Instead of stubborn as a mule they should stay stubborn as Freckles (my bunnies name). Thanks again.

[Michelle&Lolli]

As yes, the fascinating NO object! lol Soon as something is forbidden, it becomes the most fascinating place/thing on earth.

Mine got into doing all kinds of stuff and not listening. The only thing that worked for me in the end was telling them no and then putting them back in their pen for a bit. We went for maybe 3 days of them having very little free time because of Eddie’s stubbornness but I won and he finally learned that x behavior = time in the pen so he quit. However, mine had a big pen area so even though they hated being in it, they still had plenty of room.

But could you try this with him and his cage? Maybe leaving him there for 15 minutes at a time? That way he’s still getting a lot of free time (hopefully) but you have a way to “discipline” him. It may take a while, but he should eventually learn that being on the bed = cage time and will quit. Worth a shot at least.

It has also been suggested to use one of the loud noise mats they make for dogs and cats to keep them off the furniture. I know it’s been suggested on here to deter bunnies from other furniture. If you know he doesn’t like crinkling noises, maybe those crinkling mats would deter him too. Or aluminum foil. Even though a beds a big space. lol But maybe you could just put it in strategic spots.

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