Digging and chewing in morning

[Moonlightbunny66]

Pinky won’t stop digging and chewing in the morning at the front of his pen while I’m trying to sleep. He’ll do it to anything but he mostly tries to pull anything up to get to the blanket and shower curtain. He either wants to get out or wants me to feed him. But I’m always trying to sleep and he’ll be so loud 😣. I put a log house thing there during the day flat on the floor where he digs. That works but it’s loud when he chews on it. I had hay mats there before but it didn’t take long for them to be destroyed. What can I put there that won’t be loud but stop the digging and chewing? He does it only at the front where I open the pen. Or what kind of tile could I put down if that would work? Maybe I could make cardboard mats. I also have a corner extended in Muffins pen that I could switch to Pinky’s at night if you guys think that would do anything? It might just give more area to dig… Thanks.

[HipHopBunny]

I’m sorry Pinky is keeping you awake. Hmmm, have you been switching their x-pens for pre-bonding and such? If you don’t, and they get too cage aggressive, I’d be wary of trying it now. For, you are going through the pee and poo wars, *dry laugh* those can be pretty messy in the wrong places. With my ladies, I didn’t do pen swapping until it was too late. There might not be a due date for it, I’ve just been cautious of trying it with pairs who have already been in their pens for a while.

You could put them in the other pen, and see what happens. When I did that with my girls, they would puff themselves up big, and start chinning everything in the pen. Sometimes just in their own pens, they would pee EVERYWHERE (Silver, I’m looking at you specifically) Silver has always been my best litter trained bun, so this was a shock to me.

If you don’t want to risk it, then could you put a sheet over the half where he’s been digging? Although, you wouldn’t want to put it too close to where he could snatch it and chew holes in it. One way to teach him to stop digging is to make that spot unappealing. You could put in lots of chew toys (you could find some that are soft and don’t make much noise) and every time he chews somewhere he’s not supposed to, direct him to a chew toy and reward him with treats or pets when he chews something appropriate.

Wishing you a calm Pinky! (and sleep 😉 )

[Moonlightbunny66]

@HipHopBunny Thank you! I was gonna start the cage swapping soon. Maybe I should start tomorrow then. I just expanded Muffins pen because of the big litter box I gave him. I could like close that part of his x pen back up and shove pinky’s part over there instead at night? I would just cover him at night but there’s still a sheet between their pens so there would be no air flow in Pinky’s pen. Pinky has been peeing in his own pen 😣. I had just cleaned his up and changed the blanket this morning. I left the room and came back… and he peed in the corner on the logs and the memory foam mat and the floor… Not fun to clean up! I hope mine don’t pee everywhere when I do cage swapping 🥵. Thanks for the ideas!

[Moonlightbunny66]

I ended up moving his litter box there because he peed in that corner TWICE today… At least the second time was just on the cardboard I put down, so I stuck the peed on cardboard in his litter box. We’ll see if this works to stop the digging too. I hope he doesn’t pee in the back corner now lol. If he does then he gets two litter boxes… He’s eating hay in the litter box now. 🙂

[Moonlightbunny66]

I sat in front petting muffin and pinky and when I was just petting muffin, pinky started chewing his litter box because that’s what’s at the front of the pen now.😭😭😭 I can never win with him… Anything I put there he chews and digs up. I’m just gonna start the cage swapping later today… I’ll see if the space changes his behaviour.

[HipHopBunny]

Oh, I am so sorry! <3 Rabbits are VERY stubborn components, it is hard to win an on-going battle with them, trust me, I’ve been there. Cage-swapping should hopefully make him stop chewing and digging, but, ah… you will have a fifty-fifty chance that he will pee all over there, for it smells of Muffin. *Groans* If only all buns bonded as quickly as Louie and Lola did! I am green with envy. 😆

Since he only chews that one spot, maybe you could put chew toys there? For his pen, is there a way you could get a board that slides in and out so that it is easier to clean? Sending you lots of strength and patience, you will get through this, don’t lose hope! 🙂

[DanaNM]

Hanging a towel or something similar over the bars that he chews can help a lot. Bun Jovi does the same thing in the morning, but the towel helps. Bun Jovi also chews his litter box… I ended up finding this tray that is actually a dish bussing tray, so it’s super thick plastic. He still will chew it but at least doesn’t make much progress on it! Before that I would clamp a piece of cardboard to the spot he was chewing, because he was making a sharp edge on the box.

Not trying to be an ad for Binky Bunny, but the flat single woven seagrass mats have been great for my buns. They will destroy them when they get antsy, but they are quiet (much quieter than shredding cardboard), and last a long time and they don’t completely fall apart like some of the hay mats you see. Newspaper or phone books would also prob work well.

Also how big is his area he’s in at night? Can you expand his space at all? Sometimes that doesn’t really help, but it can. Also how much exercise are they getting each day? Could be he just needs some extra run-around time to get the zoomies out.

. . . 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.  

[Moonlightbunny66]

@HipHopBunny Thanks for the encouragement. 😓 I know I’m jealous of Louie and Lola too… I just swapped them and he was chinning some stuff in Muffins pen. Still chewed and dug at the front ughhh. I did put a towel over it just now. I’ll see if that works… I’ve tried putting chew toys there but he digs them away and they fly under him lol. I do have the lid from the storage bin litter box… maybe that would work? He may chew it. He even bit me when I tried hand feeding him pellets, trying to get him into the carrier to move him to Muffins pen… When will I learn that I cannot hand feed him small things… Then Muffin nipped my ankle but did not break the skin. I think he thought it was a blanket because of my sock? He was trying to get to the empty food bowls. 🤦‍♀️ Thanks for the hope though.😭 It’s been a very difficult day with them…

@DanaNM I’m trying the towel out now. I’ll see if it works for him. Thanks for the idea with the litter box! I might look into more mats then. He’s now in Muffins pen which is bigger than his since I gave him the extra corner. Apparently the extra space did not stop the digging and chewing. But I’ll see what happens in the morning. They both have been getting a little over two hours a day and I wanna do longer when I have better bunny proofing (looking for nic grids or something to cover my wires). So I can leave the room more instead of watching them so closely. Right now I have a big piece of cardboard in front of the wires. Pinky does run around but then when he lays in his pen for a long time I switch to Muffins playtime. It’s also hard to keep him out for longer because he then gets interested in Muffin and won’t stop digging up the blankets I cover Muffins pen with when he’s out. He’ll stick his nose in the pen bars to smell him. I cover it up again but he doesn’t stop until I get him back in his pen. He is such a difficult bunny, wears me out a lot! It stresses me out a lot when he’s out of the pen because he goes to Muffin, and he goes behind my bins even though I cover them with cardboard, and I’m scared he’ll get to the wires. And I don’t want them fighting through the pen bars. I love him though. He’s just very hard to work with. It’ll also be 4 weeks since their neuters on the 9th. So I haven’t even started bonding yet but they are so interested in each other, hard to keep them away. 😓 I plan on starting the actual bonding sessions when it’s been at least 6 weeks. I want to make sure the hormones are flushed more and I wanna do lots of prebonding stuff.

Sorry for the long essay oops…

[DanaNM]

I suggest getting a pack of NIC cube grids for bunny proofing and also to help make double walled barriers for separating their roam areas. You can zip tie them together into whatever configurations you need to block any areas that are not safe (such as areas with wires).

Really they should get at least 4 hours a day (2 hours morning and evening) at an absolute minimum. Even with that, they are still in their pens for 20 hours a day, so it is natural they would be frustrated.

. . . 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.  

[Moonlightbunny66]

@DanaNM Okay, I’ve been trying to find NIC grids in my area but I’ll have to drive 20 mins to get to a bigger store soon. And I know about the time, it’s just hard to watch them for so long since I need to get the NIC grids and they have to be out separately, watching them and pulling them away from each other’s pens for 8 hours is difficult. )):

[Moonlightbunny66]

It’s also just temporary, so when I have the NIC grids and can cover the wires, I’ll be able to have them out like all day (when I’m home). And I’m planning on going shopping this week. Just hard because of covid. 😣

[DanaNM]

They are pretty easy to find online, so ordering them might be easiest!

. . . 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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