Nothing will stop buns from destroying carpet, pee pads, and blankets.

[aeri]

Both almost a year old, unbonded, play separately, and 5 months post neuter.

They’ve got lots to chew on and play with including apple sticks, cardboard tubes, grass house, willow and grass balls, stacking cups, etc. They definitely are bored but given their general disinterest in toys, I don’t know what else to do for them. I don’t cycle their toys around because they don’t have a large variety anyways since there’s not much they like.

I’ve spent a lot of time gently correcting them or trying to distract them with things they can chew up and they just don’t care and won’t stop. I’ve even tried a spray bottle with Bokbok who doesn’t even flinch.

The only thing I haven’t tried is a bitter spray or soap or anything like that because I don’t know what’s genuinely safe and affective. If I can get them to stop chewing the carpet, I can give them a bigger area to play in where carpet edges will be exposed without the fear of them destroying or ingesting it. I was going to free roam them in my office, but I’m concerned about them getting hurt on the wood floors, so they’re limited to only where I can put down a rug.

Thank you for reading. I’d really love to get this to stop and expand their play area.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Oof, that’s always difficult with energetic young rabbits. Luckily everybunny has their hobby: tearing through a phone book, chewing wood, cardboard box destroyer, or digging. You may have two diggers.

I filled a box with shredded newspapers for our bun, and we hid his dry pellets in it. He could dig for hours trying to find more food. After digging for his breakfast he was usually too knackered for other mischief and fell asleep with a full tummy.

Another option for people who have more space is to put a sandbox with high edges in the room.

The downside of a digging box is that they may start to use it as a toilet area. Our bun started to do that when he became 8, so we removed the box and found him another toy.

[aeri]

Thank you for the input Ellie! They are definitely both diggers, though Bunbun’s destruction seems to be more chewing and ripping while Bokbok’s is digging.

I was so excited to make their box with shredded paper but they weren’t interested in it, even with pellets in there. I think I’m going to try one again though. Do you recommend making it like a ‘house’, or just a flat box with a ‘wall’ like a litter box?

I really want to try a phone book but haven’t seen one in years lol.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

@aeri: Oh, you’re right about the phone books… I had a dinosaur moment there 😳 Those things used to be everywhere, and now you have to request them if you want one. They were great bunny playthings, and great monitor stands as well 😉

Pet shops sell paper nesting material for hamsters, that can also do the trick. Maybe they’ll be more interested in a digging box when there are small pieces of treats in them. Breintje loves dried banana crisps, we break them into small pieces and scatter them so he can search.

Wick’s post has given me an idea: how about cutting a hole in a large box and filling it with hay, paper shreds or fabric strips and pieces of treats? They can pluck the filling out, crawl into the box and make a nest if they want one.

 

@Wick: that’s an amazing idea, that looks like so much fun!

[aeri]

Haha I know what you mean. Didn’t know you could request them though! I’ll definitely look into that for them. And newspapers are safe too? I’ve read about newspapers that use safe ink but how do you know if your local phonebook or newspaper does? Tried looking it up and found nothing helpful.

What you’ve described is what I already made for them once, but I’m going to try it again and really push them to like it with extra pellets and treats so hopefully it’ll go over better this time around. 🙂

[Wick & Fable]

There is definitely some trial-and-error needed for those more energetic rabbits who aren’t very fond of “traditional toys”. I eventually figured out this was something that fit my more destructive rabbit’s “niche”. I binder-clipped fleece blankets and used an old Oxbow toy to “store” the fleece blankets. She loves pulling them and digging at them, as well as chewing them. She doesn’t eat the pieces, so I just clean up the area each day by collecting all the fleece pieces and tucking the blankets back in the table for her to re-pull out later.

I have observed that rabbits who enjoy digging and carpet-pulling like toys that are anchored, so they can really pull and get at it. The toss toys and small ones are less appealing. Sea grass mats in a hidey-box could also be popular! The rabbit may want to dig/chew at the mat to make a little nest, and that is a safe way to expend that energy.

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.

[aeri]

So you binder clip them to the xpen, and then stuff them in something so they can dig it out? What if they chew on it? They seem to spit out the pieces but I’m not sure if they spit out all of the pieces, which worries me. But I really think your idea is something they would both really love!

I did the grass in the hidey hole and Bunbun loved it, Bokbok didn’t care. Both ultimately still dig at and chew the carpet.

Thank you very much for the idea. I’m going to look into doing that myself for them! So thank you from them as well. 🙂

[Wick & Fable]

The whole point is for both chewing and digging, as that is what would happen on my carpets, haha. She does chew and dig at it. I believe that she reliably doesn’t eat it, or at least not enough that it has caused problems. You definitely want to see how your rabbit interacts with it. A safe alternative could actually be buying some kraft paper/packing paper/wrapping paper. They sell just cardboard-paper-thin rolls, and that would be fine to be ingested, as long as it doesn’t stop the rabbit from eating hay. I would stuff that in something and let them go crazy with it, haha.

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.

[DanaNM]

My diggers have all really liked cardboard cat scratchers, especially the ones that are different shapes.

Not digging specific, but my buns also all really like palm plates (if you search organic palm plate you will get some options).

I also use heavy ceramic tiles to block the spots of rugs they obsess over, especially along edge or corners.

. . . 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.  

[aeri]

Thanks for responding! I’ve tried a cardboard scratcher that’s like a ramp. They hop on it for a minute but never chew or dig at it and I’ve tried to convince them to.

Will definitely look into the palm plates!

I used heavy plastic bins on the outside of the pen to keep it from moving but they still manage to scratch and get enough up to chew in seconds. They’re really heavy, too. Bokbok is strong enough to shove the entire xpen in whichever direction if I move the spot to the outside of the pen.

[DanaNM]

That’s too bad about the scratchers. I would still give the tiles a shot, you can get the ceramic ones that are about 1 ‘ x 1’, and just lay them all along the carpet edge. I’ve never had a bun move them, even the very persistent ones, because they can’t really get a grip on them.

. . . 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.  

[ALRyder]

I clicked on this because I’ve been having the same issues recently. The cat scratcher would probably be a great idea for my buns because he loves to destroy his cardboard box in his cage. I might also put something in my room that is more anchored for him to tug on in my bedroom (that’s where he does most of his free-roaming and we inevitably have the most issues.). I’m curious how you discourage bad behavior like this and keep it from turning into a game. Every time I get after my buns, he either perks up his ears for a few seconds then goes back to it, or he runs off real fast then in a few minutes, creeps back to where he was sitting earlier and again goes back to doing what he just got in trouble for.

[DanaNM]

@ALRyder  RE: it not turning into a game, that’s a great question! That is definitely a thing that can happen, especially with social buns that just love any attention.  I tend to try to distract from the negative behavior by making a loud sound first (usually a loud clap), or if that doesn’t work, a very light spritz of water. I probably go overkill because I will try to make it so they don’t see that I’m the one spritzing them and they just think there is a mysterious and annoying rain.  Then when they leave whatever they were doing, you can offer the good alternative.

There is this dog trainer I love who uses the acronym “TRIP” to solve unwanted behaviors, and I think a lot of the concepts apply to rabbit behavior as well. It stands for “Train, Reinforce, Interrupt, Prevent”. Meaning that first you train the animal to do what you want them to do, instead of just focusing on what you don’t want them to do. So this could be training a bunny to chew an appropriate toy, or to come when called, etc. Reinforce means rewarding the positive behaviors. If your bun only gets attention when they get into trouble, they will keep getting into trouble (I’m guilty of this often)! So being sure to give snuggles and treats when a bun is doing something positive is important. Interrupt means disrupting the negative behavior. The trainer uses an attention noise or teaching the animal a cue that will interrupt the behavior (so you could train the rabbit to target to you), but I think the water spritz would count too. Then prevent means taking away the problem area as much as possible, which I think in bunny land means our bunny proofing!

You can see the full vid here, I think it’s really interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vAk98000wc&list=PLXtcKXk-QWojGYcl1NCg5UA5geEnmpx4a&index=22&ab_channel=DogTrainingbyKikopup

. . . 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.  

[ALRyder]

Ha, I love the mysterious and annoying rain. I don’t know why I didn’t think of the spray bottle. It seems like a no-brainer and I think I need a few around the house for the cats too. This is apparently an issue with my animals because one of my cats likes to go after a certain chair in particular with her claws and every time I get after her she just stares at me and continues. I’m sure a good spritz of water would help. I’m just happy she’s not as aggressive with the chairs as she is with her cat tree, that thing is ripped to shreds.

As a side note, I got some cardboard cat scratchers (I already had a few, which have been entirely ignored by my naughtier cat) and put them in my room where I noticed Snicker, the naughty bunny, liked to dig the most. They definitely helped, though haven’t curbed the problem entirely. I also connected a new toy to my dresser that he can tug on because another issue I was having is him chewing the bottom of my dresser. I think he likes the angle he gets at it with his teeth, not sure what else I could get to give him the same feeling. Anyway, he kind of liked the new tug toy. So, I guess I just need to fill the room with more toys and get a spray bottle for bad behaviors.

[DanaNM]

Sounds like a good plan! I am dealing with very similar issues with my Cooper. I would LOVE if he could free-roam all the time, but he keeps finding new things to nibble so I’m not 100% confident in our bunny proofing yet. Hoping as he gets older he will calm down a bit too (he’1 about 1 right now).

 

. . . 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.  

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