How to get bunny to stop ripping out carpet?

[Trixieandcookies]

Hello everyone! My bun bun trixie has a bad habit of ripping out carpet. I’ve blocked off the places where she will REALLY dig in and it seems to work. I’ve tried putting her on the wood flooring upstairs but she will not at all walk on it she’ll just scramble onto my lap. Another reason why i don’t want her on the hard wood flooring is because it is so dirty (we are renting and i don’t think its ever been cleaned plus the owner won’t do it but don’t worry we are looking to buy a home and it will definitely have no carpet except for a few rugs because one of our cats has an issue with peeing on carpet. I’ll probably worry about this later when we find one). Trixie even sometimes eats the carpet which is bad I know and I don’t want her to get gi stasis again. It’s not really a big problem because I watch her every move when she’s playing outside her pen so she’ll be stopped and won’t have the time to eat anything. But if you have any possible solutions I would REALLY appreciate it! Thank you everyone for helping!!😁

[HipHopBunny]

Here’s what I’ve found from my research, there are ways to train your bun to not chew the carpet. Step one would be to make the carpet undesirable to your rabbit. You can put in chew toys for her to chew, and when she chews on something more appropriate, reward her with extra pets. Another way is to put small items on top of the spots where she is digging, such as cardboard boxes. You can also satisfy her digging habits with something like a box with shredded newspaper. There are also grass mats, which you can put on the rug for her to tackle instead (My rabbit’s LOVE them!) rabbits also like toilet paper tubes.

I hope this helped, and that Trixie stops chewing the rug! Best of luck! 🙂

 

[LBJ10]

A big (12″x12″) ceramic tile placed on the dig spot has always worked for me.

For the wood floor, could you put a fleece blanket down?

[Louiethebunny]

Louie has his own little mat he likes to dig at, and a nice ceramic tile fixed that up. He sometimes lays on it to cool off too, so it works for two things! We had our leftover in the garage from a bathroom remodel years ago but they can also be picked up at the hardware store.

[Asriel and Bombur]

I’ve gotten my boys hay mats and blankets anywhere they’re prone to dig. It gives them something useful to dig at.

[Trixieandcookies]

Thank you guys!! I’ve just started putting lots of toys out and it seems to be doing the trick! 🙂 I do have a big tile that I originally bought so she could cool off but she’s defiantly not interested in laying on it. So I can use that too in the places that are hard to block or just that I don’t want to block. I have tried to put digging boxes out but trixie thinks they are litter boxes and she’ll eat the paper like its hay and poop and pee in the box. Then if i dont catch it in time the pee will get into the rug. Plus when the box it self is not under super vision my silly cat will also think of it as a litter box🤦‍♀️  so i’ll have to put it away instantly. I eventually gave up on that but I do still have boxes but with nothing in them and everyone seems to be okay with that.So far all of your tips are really working 🙂

[HipHopBunny]

Yay! 🙂 I’m glad that she has stopped digging! Bummer about the digging box not working, though 😯 I didn’t think about her going to the bathroom in it, or the pee soaking through.

I hope everything else continues to work out! 🙂

[prince dorian the bun]

I have plastic mat in the corners (stuff used for high traffic areas). that and a combo of toys, and things he can dig is really working for us.

[Trixieandcookies]

Thank you so much guys!!!

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