Help for exasperated home-wrecking-bunny owners

[cerise]

Our bunny, Entropy, is so enthralled with the paint on our walls and skirting board (base boards) that we have had to become extremely creative in our rented flat in order to keep her.  These are some hints for what to try when you’re completely exasperated by your bunny’s destructive behaviour.

If your bunny is eating skirting board (base boards) and wallpaper or walls or even doors:

Taste Deterrents: Bitter fruit sprays normally do NOT work as a deterrent because most rabbits LOVE endive, which has a very similar bitter flavour.  Bitter Orange (the actual name-brand) is the only commercially-produced taste deterrent that will work for some rabbits.  (Orange peel and Lemon peel can also work for SOME bunnies, IF you rub the peel all over the places they are eating, every couple of days.)  Obnoxious perfumes (we’ve used Armani Code) will only work for temporary measures and can give bunnies allergy / breathing problems.  Vinegar, however, can also be used to deter bunnies by smell and taste, since they do not like the potent acid.  White vinegar will not stain, but it may bleach walls/wallpapers/stains, so be careful (apple cider vinegar your bunny MAY actually LIKE!)  Balsamic vinegars or Malt vinegars may also work, but they STAIN and can get STICKY!  Hot pepper juice can actually also cause breathing/asthma issues in your rabbit and so I don’t recommend trying the pepper deterrents.

Touch Deterrents: Double-sided sticky tape can be a deterrent for rabbits that do not have curly whiskers (mini-rex rabbits have curly whiskers, for example,) because bunnies do not like getting their whiskers caught in the tape.  Bunnies will scratch off the tape after a few tries of biting it, however.

Blocking Deterrents: Living in a flat, we don’t have the luxury of nailing or screwing in wood blocks in front of all of our skirting boards or walls, so we’ve attempted to use various methods to deter our exceptionally determined (and head-strong) little bun from eating us (literally) out of house and home.  The BEST solution we have used (and we’ve used almost everything) are things called Ibex Cubes (in Australia) or Neat Idea Cubes or Great Cubes in the USA.  They are exceptionally cheap (in Australia, a package of five grids is $8.50.)  (Bunnings, Home Depot, Walmart, Big W, Target, K-Mart, Big K, Costco, Sam’s Club are all places to try in the US/Australia/UK)

What we did: We used these cubes plus cable ties (zip ties) to create a movable ‘fence’ all the way around our bunny’s space (our entire flat, minus our bedroom!)  As long as you do not put boxes or other boxy-items that a bunny can land on near the fence, they will not jump over the grid-fence!  They are not like cats and can’t exactly land only on their front paws easily, and so will NOT try to jump the fence!  To space the fence away from walls, we added a small bundle of rope between the skirting board and the fence (anything that is expendable, like a small brick or block of wood will work as well.) in a couple of places.  We also made our bunny a small little cube to hold chew toys secured to the grid and her blankets.  We drape the top of the cube with a towel (so that she can hide in it), and we’ve put towels on the chairs she’s allowed to jump on (so that she can dig without destroying furniture.)

Add a couple of sea-grass doormats, a tube/tunnel, some sisal chewing toys or mats, and some toilet paper tubes and you’ll have a bunny that won’t be so house-wrecking to live with.

You can also use these cubes to make exceptional bunny houses out of them.  You can create a tall ‘bunny condo’ with various platforms for them to jump and run and play in.  Use sea grass mats to cover the grids that they will be standing/jumping on and put their litter boxes / hay boxes in the bottom to catch any accidents.  A tarp can be used as the backdrop behind the condo as well.

*note: when people say that bunnies need a LOT of toys, they aren’t kidding!  Toilet paper tubes, scrap paper, old phone books, cardboard boxes (no tape or staples!), sisal rope bundles, untreated wicker baskets, balls, untreated wood blocks/objects, treat balls, towels, and even some ferret toys are almost necessary in order to keep a bunny from going after the naughty things.  When bunnies get bored or angry, they WILL go after the things you don’t want them to destroy!  Give your bunny many things to interest them and they will be less interested in going after your home. 

[MooBunnay]

Hello Cerise – Welcome to BinkyBunny!

That is some great advice – I am sure we will be quoting this post in the future What a cute bunny by the way!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Welcome Cerise! Thanks for sharing your tips with everyone!

[cerise]

Entropy (my bunny) has been quite the little terror, and so I know (now) how to deal creatively with most of her temper tantrums.

She’s eaten paint, spackle/filler, plastic, rubber, plastic bags, carpet, canvas, cotton, wires, recycled plastic fiber, and nylon.  If she could reach it, she peed/pooped/ate it, or, all at the same time.  I have had a dickens of a time keeping everything out of her reach.  As soon as I got her away from the walls, she discovered my hidden internet wires.  When I got those out of the way, she discovered the handle and hinge enclosures to a tool box.  She discovered my eco-canvas grocery bags, the rubber rim on her food bowl, the seam in my carpet and all of the tie wraps (cable ties) that I used to secure things.  If she can squeeze her fat little bunny butt on it, under it, through it or over it, she considers it fair game.  She even knows how to open all of my cabinet doors.

And all of this is AFTER I bunny-proofed my apartment.  So I completely understand the frustration and heart-breaking situations that an indoor bunny for a pet can cause people.  I mean, Entropy will even attempt to chew on metal.

If it smells good to her, she will be bound and determined to eat it.

I work from home and spend copious time with her, which I know not everyone can do — but because of this, I *can* help people that have to be away all day long by telling them what their bunnies will do when they’re gone and how to try and prevent it.  LOL

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[DustBunneh'sMama]

She is just so darn cute though, so it’s hard to get mad at her!  They are certainly creative little nibblers when they get bored, that’s for sure!  My bunny has the run of his own bedroom, and has every toy known to man, yet has now decided to shred the sheetrock on the wall by the door. Whenever I see him go over there, I just roll one of his ball toys or cardboard toys over to him so he gets distracted. Hopefully he will decide the bunny-approved chew toys are more fun. I could always try the suggestion with the panels though to keep him away from it. That’s a great idea. Thanks for sharing!

[babybunsmum]

entropy is sooo cute!  you have very clever suggestions here… thanks for sharing

[Scarlet_Rose]

I love that last pic, Entropy looks so sweet and devilishly innocent. What a sweetheart!

[FrodoBilboBunny]

Do you have pictures Ceres of that your floorboards look like covered up?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Hi, Frodo….this is a very old thread. From 2007. Feel free to start a new thread on this topic. I’m going to lock this thread to avoid confusion.

[Author]

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