No idea what I’m doing

[Button's Buddy]

Hello Everyone!

I recently joined this site because before and after the arrival of my bunny I’ve had a lot of questions and while some I’ve found some answers to…others not so much

A little background: I came into owning my first pet, Buttons, around late December as a Christmas present from my boyfriend. I was told she was 4 months old at the time, and had been brought to him in a cardboard box. So I have no idea what living conditions she was in beforehand. Since I did not have a cage for her yet I kept her in an old bird cage until I could get her new cage. I was also still at my mother’s house over winter break so I couldn’t let her out to play a lot. Now that I’m back home and she’s in her new cage I have 3 main issues…

1) Now that she’s in her new cage I put her litter box in a corner i assumed she would use based off her old habits. Its near her water but not her food. She sits on it a lot but doesn’t use it. She instead goes right beside it. I have put her old litter in the box and have moved it to the spot she goes to, but all she did was use the bathroom somewhere else in the cage. 

2) As soon as I let her out to play she bites on the headboards and tears up the carpet. I live in an apartment so I would like to stop the damage before it gets too bad. 

3) I don’t know how to bond/ play with her. She lets me pet her sometimes but I feel like most of our time is spent with me constantly trying to make sure she doesn’t tear up anything.

Thanks in advance, any advice will help

[Diamond]

I’m not an expert, but from what I’ve gathered, those may be signs of bunny puberty.

[J Ships]

This is just normal young rabbit behaviour, which happens to be a little on the destructive side.

As for the bonding, just spend time with her. Sit on the floor, sit by her and try to pet her while she’s eating, and just get to know what she’s into. I remember my first rabbit, 4 years ago, when he was that age, would love to play “tag”. As in we would just run around the house and sort of chase each other. It might sound crazy but you never know what game your rabbit will like.

And the bathroom issue, just see which area she goes in consistently and then put the box there with some poop from before for her to get the hint.

[Deleted User]

Sorry but I’m not sure from what you’ve said but in case this helps, …. You want to have hay in, or close enough to her litter box for her to be able to munch while she is in it. This should help her habits, at least some what. Putting a little something extra that she likes to eat in there can be an additional reward for getting in. However, as has been mentioned if you have her age right she will probably start to want to mark her territory more, and that won’t stop until after she has been fixed.

Afraid you’ll probably want/need to get a little creative about digging and chewing etc. Perhaps try to limit where she goes and when she is out put something out to cover the rug, something you don’t mind if she digs at. And make sure she has plenty of things to play with, maybe make a digging box for her, give her some phone books to shred and dig at, … stuff toilet paper rolls or fill little paper bags with hay, re-focus her attention. Check out the toy section on this site for some excellent ideas.

Bonding takes time, often a lot of time. Try to let her explore you, spend time sitting or even better stretched on the floor with her and expect it to go slowly.

I’m sure other people with more experience will have more advice. Think you might want to make a trip to the vet though, Get a better idea how old she is and shop around for spaying prices.

Good luck!

[LBJ10]

I have to agree. This all sounds like normal young bunny behavior. Have you taken her to the vet yet? Perhaps you can get a better guess of her age and if she is indeed a she. Then I would look into having her fixed since that will help with behavior a lot.

In the meantime, you could try using NIC grids to keep her away from the baseboards. Or perhaps she just needs to be confined to an exercise pen until she can be trusted. You can keep trying with the litter box, but things might not improve drastically until after she is fixed. There isn’t any “bedding” elsewhere in the cage is there? That can be confusing for bunnies.

As for bonding with her, try sitting quietly with her and ignoring her. Offer her treats and other nice things. Don’t force pets or pick her up. You want to show her that you can be trusted.

[BerrySoda]

I have an idea for the bonding. Perhaps you could put yourself and her in a quiet room, or a bathroom and close the door. Ensure beforehand that there’s nothing she can chew up. Maybe put some towels down on the floor. Sit in the floor, you might need a cushion for yourself, and get some treats or food she likes, and just sit in there in a small environment. I think eventually she would start to come up to you and probably climb on you and things.

I did that for a bit when I first got my bunny. We’d spend time together in the bathroom (Its a pretty big one) and I’d just watch her do her thing without hassling her too much. Sometimes she would binky on the towels, or circle around me, eventually she would climb all over me. I think it helped her get used to me. After a while I tried moving away from her and calling her to me for a treat, and then turned around and noticed she’d followed me when I moved lol.I kept it up, calling her to me and holding out food, and now she comes when I just call her name anywhere in the house. Or open the fridge haha.

Now she is 6 months old, she goes in the whole house, and when she is out of her hutch at night times for her play time, I usually lay down on the floor with her in the lounge room and read my book or watch tv. She climbs on me, runs around, binkies, runs through her tunnel, or lays next to me. If she does anything naughty like nibble the carpet, I’m there watching and can stop her.

Keep trying, and good luck!

[Author]

Messages