Need some advice about my picky bunny…

[lionhead_lover]

Okay, I need a little advice from some bunny people. I have a 3 year old lionhead mix rabbit named Elvis who just loves to get out of his cage and play and do binkies. His cage is in my room and when I let him out I normally sit on the floor with him just to make sure he doesn’t get into anything he’s not supposed to. Then I thought of connecting his x-pen to his cage so he can come in and out freely even if I’m not in the room. That has been going well EXCEPT he chews on any ground cover/surface I put down to pretect my carpet. I’ve tried flat sheets, plastic sheets, thin carpet, and I even bought some colorful puzzle mats for kids but EVERYTHING I put down, he destroys. He has tons of boxes and chew toys but he keeps going back to chewing on the floor. I know he’s not happy being cooped up in his cage all day until I have time to let him out myself.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what kind of flooring I could put down that he can’t get his teeth around?

Any sort of advice would be wonderful. Thank you.

[Monkeybun]

You could always try just flattened cardboard boxes, that way he can destroy them, and you won’t have to worry about it harming him at all.

[lionhead_lover]

Great! Thank you Monkeybun, I’m not sure why I never thhough about that. :]

[MooBunnay]

I’ve noticed that my bunnies will destroy anything if they can get a hold of the edges of it, so I purchase cheap rugs from discount stores (like Ross or Marshall’s) – that are larger than the cage. That way, the edges are on the outside of the cage. Recently I bought those bamboo mats and those have worked well because my bunnies can’t really pull on them, and the edges are outside of the cage as well.

Cardboard boxes like Monkeybun suggested are also a good idea – that way his flooring will also keep him entertained! I also usually put a tile square somewhere in the cage for my bunnies to lay on in case they get too warm.

[lionhead_lover]

I understand completely what you are saying MooBunnay and I thank you for the advice. However, my little demon bunny perfers to chew right in the middle of things. I purchased puzzle mats thinking that since the corners will be out of his reach, he can’t get ahold of it because it was very flat. Boy was I wrong. Everytime i wasn’t looking, he’d chew a hold right in the middle of one of the squares. I attemped to disipline him using a water bottle and a firm “NO” but after a while he thought it was a game. He’d eye me to make sure I wasn’t looking, then he’d nibble on the mat and jump up and binky. Finally I just took the mats away and now I’m caight up in this delema.

It would be a lot easier if I could put down some laminate flooring but he strongly disapproves of slippery floors. :{

[RabbitPam]

I really like large seagrass mats. They are flat, roll up easily to store them, and are very good for bunny if he chews on it. They’re not expensive, so your could even put down some and then others on top so he doesn’t chew the bottom layer.

[lionhead_lover]

OHH! Thank you so much RabbitPam. I will definately think about using those. Thank you. =)

[jerseygirl]

Once you have your flooring sorted out, provide him with something to chew that is safe. A simple thing is a cardboard box. I have some around the house that have something heavy in them and my bunnies go to town on them. I find if the box stays still, they chew at it for ages = cheap entertainment. Even just an empty one they can sit in an tear at the sides. If you do add something like that to his pen, just ensure he can’t launch off it and over the pen side!

[Author]

Messages