My rabbit is acting unpredictable

[Kaz]

Okay, about 5 weeks ago we got a second rabbit and then got her sprayed the week after. Now over the past 2 weeks they both have bonded together, which is great but unfortunately being one years old she is very curious and wants to search her environment etc etc … the other night tho, she decided to find her way on top off the dining room table and ate my wife’s plastic house-plants, well she was pissed off but soon just accepted the fact that she is cute, both of them lol ……. that said, I’m not sure why it happened? Since I got her, I have been limiting the amount of pellets they both eat but they both have been hungry when I woke up, was this the reason? Maybe I should them plenty of food when go to bed?

See I have been forcing them to eat plenty of hay and a small amount of pellets, for after 9pm at night… did the nibbling on the house plants happen cos my rabbits were hungry? Or is it just cos she is only 1 years old? My other rabbit is 4 years old, he is usually just chilled out or is looking like a lazy rabbit! Hahaha, but seriously I’m trying make sure that they can’t access the table and therefore the plastic house plants… so I’m doing my best but hope this won’t last forever and is just a young rabbit phase.

[Hazel]

While generally rabbits do calm down with age, this is more of a personality trait than related to age. Some rabbits are naturally very chill, others not so much. All rabbits love to chew though, and a lot of them just aren’t suited for 24/7 free roam, especially if unsupervised. My rabbit is 8 years old and there’s no way I could leave him out over night without him destroying a bunch of stuff.

I would recommend that you get an enclosure for them where they can go when you can’t watch them so they don’t destroy your things and more importantly, don’t get into something that could be harmful to them.

[Wick & Fable]

Chewing (and inevitably eating some) things is a natural and relatively consistent behavior for rabbits — they need to do it in order to keep their teeth in check. Also, their gut moves very fast (they poop 200+ times a day), so I see this as rabbits are constantly open to eat more food, and at the same time, will always chew things when they seem tempting, and that chewing may/may not lead to consuming that stuff as well.

Chewing is not a “young rabbit” phase thing — they will always do it. As Hazel suggests, it is best to create an environment/space where there is no access to things you do not want destroyed when you cannot supervise. This falls under bunny-proofing.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[pinkiemarie]

I let my rabbits free roam when someone is home so they can be checked on regularly. I have noticed that they get very curious about things they know they aren’t really supposed to do when they think nobody is watching. They’re basically 2 year olds/toddlers so you always have to keep that in mind. I have a nice big 2 story condo with a big dog pen attached to the front that’s their home base and they have to go home at night and if no humans are going to be home. Our house is bunny proofed but without supervision they WILL look for trouble and we can’t secure everything well enough since they’re smarter than we are 🙂 There’s usually someone home so it isn’t a big deal since they usually only have to go home at night but if I had to work away from home and my bf wasn’t here all the time I would probably make their home base twice as big.

I would suggest trying to do something similar with yours so they get plenty of play time but aren’t unsupervised too much.

 

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