furniture chewing and radiator questions

[Dee]

Hi Everyone,

I haven’t been around in ages- I’m surprised to see I’m still signed in here! Good thing- saves me from trying to recall my password. Ludicrous and Nelli are fully bonded and very much in love. It really was an easy bonding, and they have never fought- lucky us! Fortunately Lude made it clear that he was boss from the start, cuz Nelli has doubled in size! She could very easily knock Lude across the room with one thump, but she doesn’t know it . I love to give them lettuce one piece at a time- Lude starts out with the lettuce, then Nelli reaches right under his chin and grabs it rom his mouth, so he snatches it back- they go on like that til the piece is gone, without ever getting mad or aggressive. My husband and I should be so nice to each other- lol.

  The only problem with them is their insatiable appetite for my antique wooden furniture. They have gnawed e bottoms of quite a few very nice items and I would love to get them to stop. They have the run of the downstairs execpt for our bedroom, even when we’re not home, and they love it. I couldn’t bear to cage them or confine them to the kitchen- not when they have become accustomed to all this freedom. But they have also eaten a good portion of my couch, ad the carpet. Lude is very stubborn and doesn’t seem to be intimidated by discipline, and oor Nelli is so timid, I’m afraid any kind of spray bottle or loud noise would give her a bunny breakdown. She is still so timid, poor thing.

  Are there any effective ways to stop the chewing, like some kind of bad-tasting stuff to put on the furniture? And what tree branches are safe for them to have?

  My nect question is- do buns know enough to stay away from hot radiators? We have an electric radiator that must be on at all times for our elderly hamster. I block it off every day, but my living room would look  so much nicer without he large plywood barrier in place. However, if the buns will end up burning their twitchy little noses, it’s not worth taking it down.

  Thanks fo rany advice- and it’s good to be back and “see” all of you .  I’ve missed being here!

-Dee

 

 

 

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome back! I was wondering how Nellie and Luda were doing

For wood chewing you can put vinegar or perfume on the wood. It should deter them. If not you can use the cubes that we use to make condos, called wire storage cubes, to make a temporary blockade around the bottom of the furniture. Once they’ve lost the habit of eating the furniture it *should* be ok to remove the barrier. Also you’ll want to give them something OK to chew on near the furniture, so deter them from chewing it and give them something else to chew.

Woods that they can chew are typically pine and apple. I know there are other kinds so someone should be on soon with a more comprehensive list of ok woods.

On the radiators, perhaps there is something more astetically pleasing you could use to block them off? They’re very hot, and even if they realzie that, buns are sometimes clumsy when they run, and very curious and I don’t think I’d trust them to stay away on their own.

[Beka27]

welcome back! K&K covered it all well. furniture is tricky b/c once they decide they like something, it’s hard to get them to knock it off. you can try either moving furniture where only your “disposable” pieces are accessible to the buns, or just block them off. sprays don’t always work b/c many buns find the chewing reward much greater than any temporary icky taste.

in terms of the radiator, could you build a NIC grid cage to go over it so the heat can still get thru, but they cannot get close enough to get burned? if you had NIC grids that boxed it in and still left at least 8-12 inches of open space betw/ hot surface and grid, i think that might be a better solution. it’s not worth the risk of them getting burned to leave it completely open. buns have very delicate skin and i would be too scared to leave the room in fear of coming back to a singed bun!

[bunnytowne]

For your wood furniture  you could try taping bubblewrap around the legs of it. Or just tying bubblewrap in a knot after wrapping it a few times around the legs. They normally don’t like chewing bubblewrap. To hard to get their little teeth and mouths around.

[Dee]

Hi Kokanee&Kahlua, Beka and Bunnytowne,
Thanks for your replies! Sorry my response time was so slow- I had quite a week between work and the kids. I’m so glad my husbad has fallen in love with the buns, otherwise they wouldn’t get much attention, since I’m always rushing around lately. It’s so funny, he is the one who put up such a fight about getting the buns, and here he is absolutely obsessed with them now. Every day I come home to endles stories about Lude and Nellie- he’s like a poud parent- lol.
I will try your solutions for saving my furniture- I’m sure at least one will work! And I will be sure to check out any wood I bring in or them to chew on- I’ve heard certain woods can be poisionous to bunnies .
That’s a great idea about the NIC grids! Definitely more attractive than plywood! I have started keeping the radiator on a very low heat setting while the buns are out- I can actually put my hand on it with burning myself so I’m sure it couldn’t hurt the buns. But as the weather gets cold and I need to crank the radiator up, I will jus block it off with the NIC grids. I worry especially about Nellie around the radiator- Ludicrous is quite composed and rarely has any clumy incedents, but Nellie is still a baby- she’s always doing binkies and running into things or hitting her head, and when she hops around her big ears flop everywhere. I just picture one of those big ears smacking into the radiator- ouch!
Anyway, thank you all so much- as usual you were very helpful .
-Dee

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