Inappropriate chewing

[Catlynn]

Hi All.

I introduced myself and Cocobun in the welcome section yesterday.Seeking assistance with one behavior frustration – chewing stuff she shouldn’t. Well, stuff I think she shouldn’t.  I’ll include a photo of typical destruction – one of the 20 towels I carpet her room with. Once a week I roll up the whole towel layer for laundering – preserves the rug, makes clean-up easy. 

Cocobun is a throw-away rescue, and I had to learn rabbit care, needs and behaviors very quickly – thank goodness for sites like this! I know rabbits are chewers, and I have tried to provide a rich environment: natural organic maple or willow twig bundles, seagrass mats and toys, paper towel rolls, cardboard boxes, dried mature basil stems – get the picture? She noses at these for one minute then loses interest. Instead goes for her towels, her blankets, edge of her dog-carrier hideaway, MY rubber door seal, grr… I don’t think she is ingesting the naughty stuff she chews, because all the divots are left behind. But is she crazy? Why won’t she play with and chew the stuff designed for rabbit play? Any ideas? 

[LBJ10]

It’s just like when you buy your cat an expensive toy and all they want to play with is the plastic ring off of a milk jug.

Is Cocobun spayed? Do you know how old she is? Spaying sometimes helps with destructive behaviors. It doesn’t solve the problem completely, since bunnies will naturally want to chew. But it does help calm them down. Another factor is age. Bunnies tend to be more destructive when they are young.

If she wants something solid to chew on, maybe try making something out of wood (bunny-safe, of course) that could be fixed into a stationary position. Bunnies won’t chew on hard things that they have to chance around. That’s why they like baseboards so much. You can also try phone books. I know, who has a phone book anymore? LOL But the soy-based ink is safe and bunnies absolutely love ripping the papers and shredding them.

Be careful of cotton towels, those can be dangerous is strings are ingested. Try fleece blankets instead. The short fibers are less likely to cause a blockage.

[Chrystie]

Our Holland Lops have chewed so many inappropriate things it’s insane and they spoiled with toys, boxes, snack shacks, wood blocks and a bunny play ground!!!! I’m on my 5th laptop power supply, 6th phone/tablet charger, past counting the number of ear buds and headphone cords and speaker wire. And that’s just me………other family members have items as well.
We just try to be as careful as possible with what we leave laying around and we did some serious bunny proofing. Since our buns have access to the entire house, we learned to close the doors instead.
My only advice is visit your local thrift store for inexpensive fleece blankets. Typically you can find large blankets for a few dollars or less. Another option is some gray indoor/outdoor carpeting from a home improvement store. More expensive but if it’s an area that is visible, it will look nicer and hide the bunny poops. We use the carpet on our bunnies condos and on areas like the fireplace where they have insisted on peeing. I vacuum the carpet daily and spray cage cleaner and wipe up with a cleaning towel every 2-3 days.
My rule of thumb is to only put down for the buns things that I don’t care if they chew holes in because they WILL chew holes in it. I’m even careful about what I wear when I’m around our buns. I think I may have a few things that don’t have bunny nibbles or ruined zippers.
Hope this helps.

Chrystie

[Chrystie]

I forgot to say how helpful buying the “snack shack” chewable things were. My buns don’t like the stiff hay roof so I remove that and they spend a lot of time chewing and grinding down their teeth on that!!!

[Catlynn]

Thank you for the responses, especially the info about cotton towels being a hazard – although as I mentioned I don’t think she is ingesting any of the stuff she is chewing. That towel in the photo above? I found all the holes. I mean the part that used to be in the holes. I don’t know her gender; somehow “she” just feels right. I would guess she was probably born last Easter-ish. Don’t know if she is spayed. No local vet, so I can’t ask an expert. I’ll see if she likes a phone book to play with. I left a roll of paper towels in her room by accident and she made a grand mess of it. Funny about expensive toys -vs- milk rings. Just like toddlers with pots and pans. I have some scraps of clean untreated wood in the basement – maybe I can build her a sturdy chew toy. Maple and pine – both bun safe? Any wood that is not safe? Of course I’d never use anything chemically treated…

[LBJ10]

Apple, aspen, willow, etc. are all safe. Pine is okay, but I would prefer it is kiln dried. Pine shavings are actually not good for rabbits, but it’s safe to use kiln dried pine pellets, for example.

I would go with the assumption that she isn’t spayed then. You don’t have an animal shelter nearby that deals with bunnies? They might be able to give you a name for a vet.

[Catlynn]

We have access to maple, apple and willow trees, but at the moment they are six feet deep in snow. I’d prefer to use natural wood rather than lumber, but the scraps are untreated. For now I’ll stick to using the maple boards. I use Carefresh bedding. It seems expensive, but the compressed block expands to like four times its packaged volume – so a pretty good value especially if you score a sale. Plus, I know it’s safe for her, unlike pine shavings or especially cedar!
I’ve had her for six months now, and she has never exhibited aggressive or “hormonal” behaviors described here and elsewhere; but because her prior people dumped her it is unlikely they would have bothered with spaying (or neutering…). Local shelter only takes dogs and cats. They directed me to a vet who, it turns out, retired several years ago. No other vet in the area treats “exotic” animals. The closest is over a hundred miles away.

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