Redirecting obsessive chewing

[LittleLionMan]

Hi all! I’m not sure where to post this, but I’m wondering if anyone has advice on curbing obsessive chewing? As background, I bonded a 3ish year old female rescue bun (Pixie) to my 5 year old lionhead male (Wolfie) this year, and the bond is holding aside from random mounting. They are completely free roam but have a pen as home base.  Both buns went to the vet a few months ago and despite being “robust” they are in perfect health (I.e., no dental, eye, ear, tummy issues)

Now, I’ve always noticed that Pixie is a chewer. Ive had to significantly up my bunny proofing because she literally puts everything in her mouth. What’s weird is that she’ll get really obsessive about chewing certain things. For example, she’ll get in an absolute frenzy chewing the bars on their pen despite it being open. If I move her aways she zooms back and starts chewing and shaking the pen. She has plenty of toys to chew on, but she really freaks out over the pen and cardboard. My guess is that these behaviors stem from her traumatic upbringing prior to being rescued. I know chewing is natural and I don’t have an issue with it on safe items; however, it gets to a point where she will get small cuts/sores in the corner of her mouth which take a while to heal because of their location. Has anyone else dealt with this before? I know some may suggest removing the cardboard, but I’m concerned that will cause her to chew the pen more or chew the walls or something else. Any advice on softer toys and/or how to redirect her away from the pen?

[martini]

Did you try spraying it with white vinegar? My bunny is not a chewer but once in awhile when he tries to pull the boxes under the couch to get in there, I spray it with white vinegar and he leaves it alone as he hates the smell. Once he leaves the boxes, I reward him with a fibafirst hay stick as a cue that there are yummier things to chew on…

[LittleLionMan]

Thank you! I clean up their pen with white vinegar and water which they don’t seem to mind. Maybe putting straight vinegar on the bars will be more aversive to ingest, though. Definitely will give that a try! thanks 🙂

[DanaNM]

What does he currently have to chew on?

For the pen biting, it can help a lot to hang a sheet or a towel over the pen wall. Something about not being able to see through it makes them less obsessed. You can clip the towel in place with binder clips and it works pretty well.

My bunnies really like organic palm plates. Mine will eat a whole on in about a day so I usually only give them a couple a week. Other big hits are willow and apple twigs, willow baskets, cardboard cat scratchers, and the “snak shak” log. I know the snak shak is a little controversial because it’s kinda of “junk” (made of compressed wood and molasses), but it’s really mostly wood and it’s super hard so they aren’t eating tons and tons of it at a time. I give mine access to one for several hours a day and 1 log lasts them about 2 weeks. My bunny Cooper has a lot of chewing energy and it’s the only thing that keeps him busy for extended lengths of time!

Other DIY things that are softer are phone books for shredding, paper mats, and seagrass mats.

. . . 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.  

[LittleLionMan]

Thanks for your insights and suggestions, Dana! They always have their activity zone, tokihut (not a chew toy but can be chewed), a few boxes (they love a funnel made from the Casper pillow box), and the fling toys that they never touch. Currently on tap we also have a seagrass mat, a plethora of apple wood twigs (not their fave but they decide to like them some days), and a variety pack of toys I got from Etsy which came with toys made of straw, wood, vine, and willow in a palm bowl. They demolished the bowl lady-and-the-tamp style, which was cute but also makes more sense given your comment about it basically being junk food. They seem to enjoy the seagrass and straw mats, so I’ll get some of those and will look into the snak shack as well. In terms of the cat scratcher, are those the corrugated cardboard ones? I saw a corrugated roll from oxbow and considered getting it, but was nervous it would be too hard in their mouths. Any issues with that?

I’ll also have to try the towel trick. They have a lot of toys to chew on, but for some reason she gets in those frenzys where she’s so focused on chewing through the metal bars that no amount of clapping or stomping on the ground will deter her. Out of curiosity, are your bunnies free roam and do you still have a pen? I’m not sure if I should just ditch it, but I know that it will make corralling them more difficult.

[DanaNM]

Oh, I don’t consider the palm plates to be junk food as they are essentially straight fiber. 🙂 I just don’t want to go through them that fast or have them ignore their hay. I order them on Amazon in large packs and they are pretty affordable.

The snak shak is more of the junk food thing because it has some molasses in it. It’s basically bunny-safe particle board.

And yes, I just get regular corrugated cat scratchers, whatever the cheapest ones are at the pet store when I go (they often have them really cheap at places like Ross and Marshalls too!).  I wouldn’t bother getting a “bunny-specific” one personally. I think you are seeing issues with their mouths from the pen pushing into the corners, I doubt you will see the same issue from other types of chews.

My buns free-roam during the day and I pen them at night. Bun Jovi will sometimes do the same thing on part of the pen while it’s open, I have no clue why. I think buns can just pick up habits from past situations, as you suspect.

. . . 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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