Goat-rabbit eats everything! Help!

[Lucky Star]

One of my rabbits, George, eats everything he can get his teeth on (I am surprised his brother is still uneaten). I make extra sure that all his toys are completely edible and he has TONS of chew toys, yet he will not stop eating huge pieces off of his litter box! I have tried what the guides on this website suggested. I put no-toxic perfume on the litter box; he ate it. I tried five different types of perfume; nothing stopped him for more than 2 days, even with my re-applying it twice a day! 

I finally tried the lemon juice last night, but apparently he LIKES lemon juice, because when I got up this morning he had a tummy ache and three inches of plastic are missing from his litter box! I know for sure that it is him eating the litter box, as I have seen him do so and have tried to redirect him into eating one of his chew toys. I have never seen his brother eat the litter box.

I can not just remove the litter box as I promised my parents that the rabbits would be litter trained (plus, he eats his bed and food dish as well, just not as much).

Does anyone have a way to stop him from eating the litter box completely? I am terrified that he will finally really hurt himself from eating so much plastic. 

Thanks so much!

EDIT- He is completely supervised with any plastic toys, cardboard toys, toys with bells, etc. However, I can not always be home to watch him every minute of the day to make sure he stops eating the litter box, which is why I am concerned.

[LBJ10]

Well, you could try using a metal tray instead of a traditional litter box. Sometimes bunnies just like to eat weird things, although most of the time it is just chewing and not actually eating.

[Lucky Star]

Are metal boxes available that are large enough for two rabbits but low enough that they can jump in?
Also, wouldn’t I see little pieces of the litter box if he was just chewing it? I thought he was eating it because I never found any plastic pieces anywhere, but maybe he isn’t eating them?

[Deleted User]

This is gonna sound terrible – SORRY! If your cool with buying a HUGE metal tray, try a turkey roasting tray? Or an oversized glass baking dish. Again I’m sorry for my suggestions, but the glass baking dish worked for me till I could get another litter tray for Henry (and I promise you, Henry never knew….). Cheers Lucky Star.

[Sindri]

Have you tried putting hot sauce on things he chews? I found that it worked for me when my rabbit was chewing baseboards.

[JackRabbit]

AH — you and my husband are thinking alike! He had the exact same suggestion (that’s scary!). Definitely a solution but I just couldn’t bring myself to put my bunnies in cooking pans! Ya gotta do what works though!

What about a metal water heater emergency drain pan?

[JackRabbit]

BTW – I know eating the litterbox is dangerous, but I thought the “goat-rabbit” thing was hilarious!

[HECA]

Andhenry has a good idea.  Just don’t put his veggies with him in the pan.

[Lucky Star]

Can I assume that the jokes about no veggies are in fact jokes? You just gave me some doubt that perhaps it tastes weird when veggies are in metal, but that is fine, right?

Sindronia- Is hot sauce okay for rabbits? Is that cruel to give to them, after all, he may not have anything but water to wash it down with, and I don’t want him to hate me.

Andhenry and others- if I get him the metal pan, I am worried that he will hit his back leg(s) on the side and get hurt (he is SUPER clumsy). has this happened to anyone? Also, has anyone ever had a rabbit eat metal? He is seriously a goat-rabbit and has eaten everything from an entire wooden hay rack in one night to half of a stocking when he escaped around Christmas. Will it just take longer for him to eat the metal or will he really stop eating the litter box?

Jackrabbit- I tried to make a fun title and that very much describes him. He has never figured out “food” from “not food”. Sometimes he will nibble both me and his brother.

[Lucky Star]

Oh, and thanks for all the help so far!

[LBJ10]

Yes, a farm/tractor supply store should have some. I like AndHenry’s idea though. Much cheaper. Just don’t get a disposable aluminum tray, he could still chew that.

 

EDIT to add: If it is a solid metal tray, there is no way he could chew it. That’s why I said not to get anything aluminum. That would be too soft. And I haven’t ever heard of a rabbit hurting themselves simply because they were in a metal container rather than a plastic one. Hopefully that helps.

[JackRabbit]

They make metal dog bowls so I dont think metal would affect taste. (I took the veggie in the pan with bunny as a “funny” — sorry, we get a little off topic at times but we mean well!)

If you get a metal pan for a litterbox just make sure all edges are smooth. Moshi kicks off of the door in our hall to pick up speed so I dont think kicking the metal pan would hurt him. The most important thing is to get him to not eat his litterbox and everything else that’s “not food”. Good luck!

[Sindri]

When I say used hot sauce I just wiped some on the baseboards I didn’t use a lot of it.I applied it to a paper towel then rubbed it on all the baseboards. It was dry by the time he tasted it. my rabbit just licked it for a second and then ran away he didn’t try to chew the baseboards anymore. So really all he got was a lick. I have another rabbit that was chewing on the bed in her bunny room I tried the hot sauce with her but she seemed to like the taste of it. I don’t think it would harm them it didn’t mine anyways. Whatever you try I hope you find something that works for you. =)

[Lucky Star]

Thanks everyone! I found some pans on Amazon that I am going to look into (got to measure the bun-condo to see which one fits). This really helped!

JackRabbit- That is so funny that he uses the door to get more speed. I am pretty sure mine only go fast when there is a bug in the room (Cinnabun apparently fears bugs.) or there is a tunnel. I have never seen one try and use a door for speed!

[Deleted User]

Sorry Lucky Star, I just have to give HECA a LOL! That was so funny ‘just don’t put veggies in the pan with the bunny’! No, no one meant that as anything other than a joke LS – I can’t believe I didn’t think to throw that joke in, but I think I was too worried about suggesting the whole baking tray idea in general and yet it worked for me, why I thought it was worth mentioning. If the tray is made from metal your bun CAN’T chew through it, but as LBJ said, don’t buy aluminium – anything a knife can cut through, so can your bun. When I used the glass baking dish for Henry, he never hurt himself, if anything he used it a bit like Jack Rabbit described, he pushed his feet up against the end to give himself a kick start to jump/run out.
I also gave some thought to your concern about having veg in a metal tray…. most cooking show’s I watch they use metal cooking bowls, and I have noticed a few BBer’s feed their bun’s from metal bowls from pic’s posted and I’m sure they use them so the bun’s don’t CHEW the bowls – I use glass bowls/plates for Henry (cause they are heavy and he struggles to turn/flip them over). And yes, every 2nd dog dish I see is metal, so it can’t be bad for pet’s. Also isn’t metal like glass? Easier to clean – more hygienic? Anyhow, I hope we all helped and you got a laugh – I did. Cheers LS!
PS – Cathie (JR), Henry runs/crashes/slides ‘into’ our closed door at the end of our small hallway when he does zoomies – I thought he had the sharp left perfected….. obviously not!

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