Please help…My bunny is destroying my house!

[MorleyanBells]

Please help me! My bunny, Bella, has decided to DESTROY my carpet in my apartment. She will immediately make a beeline to whatever corner she can find and start digging and ripping the carpet to shreds. She has created a bald spot in a matter of seconds. She has now been banished to her cage and not allowed out of it without being on her leash and constantly being monitored. I know that this is not the way to live but there is no way that I can allow her to destroy my home. She has only recently started to do this and was so sweet before. She has tons of things to play with, carboard to chew  plus her boyfriend Morley. She used to be so laid back and I could trust her around everything and now I cant even let her out with Morley to play and she has to remain locked up until i can sit there with her. If you have any suggestions, tips…anything…I would greatly appreciate it.

[mnrabbit]

My bunny did the same thing.   I bought fleece at a fabric store and lined the edges of the room.  She didn’t try to dig under it, but she easily could have.  If she had, my ‘Plan B’ was to use many layers of newspaper, or a layer of thick cardboard.

Carpet scraps/remnants are pretty cheap, especially if it’s a thin piece like you’d need to line just the edges of the room.  Maybe you could buy some carpet scraps to put over your “real” carpet & let her dig on those scraps?

Isn’t there some spray thing that tastes icky to bunnies (but is still safe for them)?  That might stop her from chewing, but I don’t know if it smells strongly enough to repel them from digging in an area.

[Sarita]

How old is she and is she spayed?

[RabbitPam]

Covering the carpet is a good idea, but I use seagrass mattes. They are basically woven hay and much better for the bunny if she chews it.
Sounds like hormones to me.

[Scarlet_Rose]

I have a couple of suggestions that have worked for me.  First off, check to see where the damage is, if it is along an edge by the wall, buy some 1 x 3″ wood strips and secure them along the perimeter with screws into the floor.  If that seems a bit much, try buying some lemon essential oil from a health food store, a huge bottle is about $10.  Rub the oil on the spots where the chewing has occured, this keeps my two from even thinking about damaging the carpet further.  Another thing is that bunnies chew/destroy things because that is how they explore their environment is by chewing so providing more chewing/ripping toys I think may help.  What I would suggest is try placing an old phone book over the spot, buy an untreated plain wicker basket from the hobby store for your bunny to chew.  I usually buy the laundry basket, cut the handhold holes larger to be bunny butt sized and flip it upside down after laying a piece of fleece underneath.  I hope this helps!

[MooBunnay]

The corners of the room are always very popular with bunnies unfortunately. What I usually do is take home some of those xerox boxes home from work (smaller sized cardboard boxes) and put those in the corner of the room with a small hole cut in them, just big enough for my bunnies to get their head and shoulders in. This usually intrigues them because they want to get IN the box, so they will chew on the hole until it is big enough for them to get into. She sounds like she is just a very busy little bunny, so re-directing her attention will probably help a lot.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome!!

I would first like to caution on the use of a leash-accidents are relatively common on them and your bunny could be hurt.

First you want to spay if she’s not spayed-horomones make them very prone to that sort of thing. Spaying is very necessary for toilet habits and behavior/aggression -and the biggie-they are very prone to cancers and spaying really lowers that risk (85% risk of sex related cancer by age three!)

Here’s a link to bunny proofing-it’s imperative to do some kind of proofing. Let your bunnies behvaior (for instance digging in corners) guide you on your bunny proofing quest. This link goes over how to proof any part of your house for any type of behavior and is very thorough

https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/BunnyProofingYourHome/tabid/61/Default.aspx

[Scooter]

 I’ve had the same issue with my bun, and we corrected it using clear packing tape.  Any time he would start to dig in an area, we put the tape down over the area and left a small wood block or piece of cardboard there for him to find when he went searching for a carpet spot.  This left our apartment relatively friendly to the eye, and protected the area. 

He now digs VERY rarely, and has begun to associate the noise of the tape on the carpet with areas he wants to stay away from.  The important thing we had to make sure of was to have secure edges so they don’t nibble, but the sticky deters them if they start.  

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Great tip Scooter!!

[WoWo]

My bun started to chew and dig everything about a month ago but i’m pretty sure its the hormones. She is about 5 months old. She will be getting spay soon. as soon as her cut is healed and her fur is fully grown back. She destroyed the pillow case for the floor pillow i made for her. Thank goodness i was smart enough to make the pillow and a separate case. I guess i will have to make a new pillow case after she is spayed. i wanted her to have a soft place to chill on the floor and provide more traction since my room has hardwood floors. cardboard is a really good distraction though.

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