Eating foam mats,cardboard boxes, etc

[meow1]

Is it ok that Sunny eats on cardboard boex/paper on cardboard boxes, phone books, other papers? He doesn’t just shred them-he eats them. He also eats his hay and veggies…

 

He also has been eating the edges & corners of this foam matting stuff I got him (since we don’t have carpet) to play on. I yell NO and clap my hands and he stops, but then will come back and do it again.  I’m thinking maybe I could just put a sheet over it. Any other ideas?

 

It’s something like this

http://www.buy.com/prod/interlocking-black-foam-floor-mats-set-of-4/q/sellerid/16111072/loc/66357/218224332.html

[Bella&Whiskers]

I’d also like to know the same exact thing. My bunnies do it too, my one bunny shreds the phone books and my other one eats it. They also eat the fiber stuff they pull out of the carpet.

[Monkeybun]

carpet, foam, stuff liek that you need to discourage. Cardboard and paper is fine if its non-glossy, and if htey don’t just eat that. If they fill up on cardboard and don’t eat hay, then it is a problem.

[lashkay]

All kinds of foam, fabrics, the stuffings in plush animals, carpet, fabric beds stuffed or unstuffed need to be removed from the bunnies if they have any in their area. Also any kind of plastic – hard or soft – can’t be within reach. All these materials can, and have, caused serious blockages. One fellow’s pet rat died horribly from ingesting shredded foam it ate out of a Biddie Buddies pet bed that was found to have impacted his intestines. Please don’t hesitate to take away any such materials from reach of your bunny. I have heard similar stories, one about a pet houserabbit that ate some of a plastic garbage bag within his reach and developed a serious and expensive blockage in his digestive system. Thanks for asking, hope it’s not too late to keep your bunnies and other bunniy owners reading this – from harm.

[peppypoo]

Cardboard and phone books are okay, but foam, plastic, carpet, etc is no good for bunny tummies! These materials can’t be digested, and could cause serious potentially life-threatening issues for your bunny. You could browse around the habitat section of the forums or start a thread for help if you need ideas on what else you could use on the floor of your bunny home, but definitely do remove the foam immediately if your bun is eating it!

[lashkay]

I had a hard plastic interchange cube – described by the manufacturer as “unchewable” connected to my 8″ diameter safe seagrass tunnels. I had long since gotten rid of the plastic tunnels that connected the cube when I caught Dustor nibbling on them. I left the cube but attached it to 3 seagrass tunnels, one which was chewed to bits but is safe for chewing and eating. The other day, the opening of the plastic cube that didn’t have a tunnel attached any longer, was chewed after being left alone for the longest time. Our buns get bored or distracted easily and resort to chewing something that they may have left alone previously. A session of chewing while their owners are not supervising them because they’re not at home, or during the night after everyone is in bed, that’s all it takes to lead to a disastrous outcome. I pray Dustor is passing enough hay and water and didn’t chew off any piieces of the plastic but I can’t be sure he didn’t swallow any pieces so I’m nervous and on pins and needles and the tunnel went right in the dumpster, partially chewed. I’m still learning lessons but thank heavens, not the hardest lesson of all one night in the emergency vet clinic with my baby on the surgery table…or scheduled to be cremated. My motto has become better to be safe, than sorry. So far Petie hasn’t chewed or eaten any of his handmade soft fleece baby blanket but I can only hope I’m vigilant enough to intercept him if that changes.

[meow1]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

The foam mat is not in his house, so he is pretty much supervised when he’s around it, but boy is he fast! I’m going to tuck a sheet around and underneath it so he can’t chew it.

He has carpet in his house, but to my knowledge he hasn’t chewed it. It’s very short/tight, and I also have different kinds of grass mats throughout it to encourage chewing of those instead of carpet.

[lashkay]

A bunny will make short work of a sheet covering foam it wants to eat the foam badly enough and I fear blocking it from him will only make him that much more determined to get at it. So be on the lookout for holes in the sheet. Alas, our bunnies are like determined Little Lulus – no matter how smart we humans are, they’re only too eager to outsmart us…and the thing that’s blocked from them suddenly becomes their obsession. Ykies! Those cute big ears turn deaf when their human is trying to tell them: “This is BAD for you!”

[Dee]

I don’t mind the paper/cardboard eating so much, although it would be nice to own a book without the edges chewed off, but what really scares me is the chewing on carpet. After I read about how dangerous carpet fibers can be, I removed the rug that BunBun had been chewing from the hallway. I tried getting him to leave it alone, but he would always go right back to it when I walked away. My buns are completely free range even when we’re not home, so I really need to watch what they can get into. I have decided that I would rather have them have to hop on a bare, cold floor than to risk a blockage. I guess we just never know what they will eat when they’re bored or hungry, so we have to be ever alert for new dangers. Ugh, worse than having toddlers again!

[lashkay]

Yes, carpet can be tantalizing to dig because, dug up, the fibers fluff up like bedding. You can also lay down those enormous seagrass mats you can get it places like Pier 1 and Cost Plus as they can cover a large area of carpet. Unfortunately, eventually those will be chewed and “dealt with” down to the carpet. I have coconut fibers mats laying over the spots where the linoleum that serves as flooring in my rabbits pen, was being chewed and they’re a powerful chewing deterrent because bunnies don’t (mine don’t) chew or bother coconut mats. DON’T be tempted to use coconut fibers DOORMATS, however as these are usually chemically treated and toxic to bunnies. But the coconut fibers mats intended for bunnies are just great – they clean and brush the bottoms of bunnies’ feet too! bunnybytes.com and thebusybunny.com sell them.

[Author]

Messages