OMG! I just about choked!

[LBJ10]

Leopold has taken a sudden liking to drywall. He has carved out several sections around the heat vent in their room. When I mean carved, I really mean carved. It looks like someone has been trying to dig their way out of prison using a spoon. My husband was threatening to booby trap the area with a scat matt. I don’t think he was serious, he’d better not be anyway.  I have been trying the perfume thing and it does nothing but stink up their room and then some. So I picked up some bitter spray from Petsmart today to give that a go. I was spraying it on the wall just now and I was coating it pretty good to make sure it had the best chance of working. Next thing I know, I’m tasting this awful stuff in the back of my throat! YUCK! I must have inhaled some of it or something when I was spraying it. Has anyone had any luck with bitter spray? I need them to stop wanting to chew there so we can hopefully fix the wall.

[Monkeybun]

I had god luck with it with Smudge, when she was pulling out fur. It stopped her from doign so at the first taste I didn’t get the normal bitter apple, i got some majorly bitter stuff from PetCo http://www.petco.com/product/6433/Fooey-Ultr-Bitter-Training-Aid.aspx

[Michelle&Lolli]

Good luck! I ended up having to use spray vinegar on my end tables and carpet to get my dingbats to quit chewing on everything. lol

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Key to success-

Block the bad behavior (like with the bitter spray-or by blocking access totally)

+

Give them an alternative that is similar (like putting a diggy mat, or a scratching pad or a toss toy or a willow ring-in THAT spot where they were getting into trouble.

This stops them from the bad behavior (the block part-with bitter spray etc) AND instead of them looking for a way around your defenses-they go ‘ohhhh look willow’ and chew that instead. The two tiered approach works so well

(If all else fails perhaps they could help on home improvement shows-you know..the demolition part )

[LBJ10]

I put stuff in that area for them to chew and Leopold just drags it to the other side of the room. He likes everything to be in its “place” and he’s the one who gets to decide what goes where. I think the biggest problem is that Leopold will think something is a good idea and then Wooly will see him doing it and conclude that it is a good idea as well. Leopold was the first to chew on the drywall and has done most of the “work”. But I will catch Wooly over there sometimes too.

Anyway, I think maybe some progress was made just now. I heard the all too familiar chewing sound and got up to check. I found Wooly sitting there next to the chew spot and he was smacking his lips. He looked at me and then decided to hop off somewhere. My guess is that he had gotten a taste and wasn’t sure what to do.

[Elrohwen]

I have a bitter lime gel, rather than spray, that I rub on things Hannah won’t leave alone. She went nuts chewing the walls for a little while (there’s an exposed corner and she can chew on it without us seeing her), but didn’t touch it again after I rubbed the lime stuff on.

If that doesn’t work, I’d just block the area completely.

[paulette79]

my bun just chewed a hole in the plastic baby gate that I have across my bedroom door. I noticed she’d started chewing and then I sprayed vinegar on it…yeah, that didn’t help. I know have a bunny-sized hole in the gate. El certainly has alternatives to chew on…but aparently her curiosity of what’s over yonder was too much of a temptation.

[LBJ10]

Ugh! Leopold was chewing that spot again tonight! Apparently that spray isn’t going to stop him. So how would I block it off? You can’t just put something in front of it since it is around the vent. It’s the only one in that room and they’re gonna need it once it starts getting hot out and I have to turn the AC on.

[lashkay]

Elrohwen, do you have a link you can post to the lime stuff you used that Hannah won’t touch? Or a name for it and where one can buy it?
Thanks!

[paulette79]

LBJ10 is there anyway you can create some type of barrir with the NI cubes? That way the air would still flow out of the vent but it wouldn’t be accessible?

[LBJ10]

I’m not sure how I would do that. I mean, there isn’t anything to attach them to. We would have to attach them to the wall somehow.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

You could just make them in the shape of the wall…it’s a corner right? So make two cubes at a 90 degree angle and then build up! I have a cube gait that stands by itself by having 90 degree angle supports
I also had a wall between my two pairs in teh bunny room-strait NIC cubes with 90 degree angle peices to give it stability. Does that make sense?

[LBJ10]

It’s not a corner. Well, this spot isn’t a corner. It’s in the middle of the wall. There’s no furniture over there since this is their room.

[Michelle&Lolli]

My best idea would be to build a “box” out of the NIC cubes.  I know it’s not ideal though.  I don’t think you’d even have to build it that high.  Maybe 2 squares high, however many wide you would need. You would just set it against the wall.  If you need to anchor it, you could use any free weights you have or something else heavy enough.  They should learn right off the bat that they can no longer get to that spot anymore and hopefully it would deter them all together.  This is what I’m thinking.  Imagine the lines being the grids and it would all be connected of course.  lol

I’ve had to do make this type of barrier for Eddie and Lolli to keep the out from the behind the tv and Lolli from chewing on the recliner.  It worked for mine. 

 

[LBJ10]

I am going to go to the store to see what I can find. In the mean time, Wooly is so freaking adorable! I caught him half-heartedly nibbling at the wall. I yelled no at him and stomped my foot. He turned around, looked at me, yawned (in the cutest possible way of course), and then stretched out until he was in a reclined position on the floor. Silly rabbit!

[LBJ10]

Okay, I was literally all over town yesterday and today looking for those grids. They had some at Target and Bed Bath & Beyond, but they had large openings between the bars. What is the recommended opening size? I’m not finding anything that appears small enough. I know Leopold couldn’t get his head through, but I question Wooly since he has a small head.

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