Different Behavior Recently

[bpash89]

 My little girl has been acting different recently.  I was gone on vacation for 2 weeks and I had a house sitter come and stay with her while I was away and all of these things have been happening regularly ever since I’ve been back (about 2 weeks ago).

I’ve noticed that she isn’t eating as enthusiastically as she used too.  She’s still eating just… taking her time and grazing as oppose to inhaling it.  She’s quite young and she does still eat all of her veggies and pellets eventually so I don’t really think it’s tooth related. 

She’s been digging at my legs whenever I lay down on the floor and like will not give up on it.  I’ve tried putting a blanket on and spraying her with a water bottle and she still keeps doing it.  

Also, she’s been spending a lot of time in her cage just laying around but she’s free range and she’s always had her favorite spots to hang out and would rarely go in her cage area.  Also, her cage is a plastic exercise pen and she’s been obessive about chewing new exit holes into it even though it’s always open.  I don’t know if the house sitter tried to lock her in her cage a lot or what but bunny butt has been adamant about having multiple exits now.  I’m planning to take the whole thing down since it’s ugly and she’s just destroying it and littering the floor with pink plastic shavings… 

On a more positive note, ever since I’ve come back she is complete potty trained on the bed now (no idea why but I’m not complaining) and therefore is 100% free range (she used to be blocked off from the upstairs so she couldn’t get to my bedroom) and she’s been extra super cuddly, especially in the morning.  

Is think kind of stuff just a natural progression with age?  I believe she’s about 7 or 8 months old and I think she’s finally finished growing so would that be the reason? 

Idk… I’m not really worried about her since she’s eating and acting fine but it is odd.  I went on vacation and left a psycho bunny at home and came back to the same bunny just with a totally different brand of psycho going on… 

[CheriB603]

Yup, just aging… Is she spayed? Her obsessively scratching at you could be hormone related, as well as her “rearranging” her pen and spending more time lounging inside it. ( A sort of nesting behavior). If she’s already spayed, then it’s just a new version of psycho.

[Beka27]

She is spayed, Cheri.

Her calming down is probably due to the hormones still being eliminated AND her continuing to get older/more mature. But bunnies will always come up with some random thing to do that will have you scratching your head.

I do think it’s a good idea for you to take down the plastic xpen. That doesn’t sound safe if she is chewing at it , she may either be ingesting little bits of plastic, or she could cut her mouth on it if there are sharp edges.

Do you have access to NIC grids where you are? Or would you consider getting a replacement xpen, but a metal one that she cannot chew through? Do you still want to have a “home base” for her, even if she is primarily free range?

[bpash89]

I have never seen NIC grids here. Aren’t they still plastic? She’s pretty much a goat so I think she would eat them one too. And all the metal x-pens I’ve looked at are expensive. She’s pretty much been free range since I got her so this is the first time she’s really shown an interest in being in her cage. I had planned on taking the whole thing down for awhile and just leaving all her stuff in the same place (I was waiting until after my vacation to rock her little world with this) but now that’s she’s acting all attached and territorial over it idk…. I think i’m going to take down part of it now (the side she keeps chewing on) and see how she reacts. Then I can slowly remove the other panels as long as she’s acting okay with it. I’m fine with her having that corner as her own but my apartment is pretty small so if I can get away with not having a cage of some sort than that would be great…

[Beka27]

NIC grids are a coated metal.

I guess give that a try and see how it goes. :o)

[bpash89]

Ohhh I see. Well I’ve still never seen them anywhere over here so I assume ordering them would be expensive too.

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