Teddy is driving us nuts!

[Tessie]

Teddy is being so annoying lately! 
He’s never been as awesome and well behaved as Luna but the last week or so he’s being a right little mister. 

He can now climb out of his pen  (ordered netting to cover it this morning to solve that problem), he climbs up the bookcase and nibbles and tears all the books, he jumps up on the dresser and nibbles books we keep up there, he’s nibbling on my handbag, my boyfriend’s jeans, he keeps fighting with Luna through her cage bars (that’s not just his fault, it’s her too). 

I feel like I all I ever do with him is go ‘THEODORE STOP THAT’  so I think he’s a bit scared of me.

Also, he hates hates hates being held or touched, which isn’t really a problem for me generally, I don’t mind if he doesn’t want to be held, but he runs if I go towards him… I guess he’s just not bonded with us yet.

But the point is that when he’s being naughty or I need to move him for whatever reason, it’s pretty impossible. If I do get him he kicks like crazy, it’s pretty awkward going to the vet, cause he really won’t tolerate it at all. 

Anyway, I just wanted to vent I suppose.
Is there any way I can get him to be a bit better with being held? Like I said, I’m fine with not picking him up, but occasionally it’s necessary so I think he need to at least tolerate it. 
Also, any way to get him to stop climbing up everything? It’s driving us absolutely mad! He is not a joy to be around right now 

[jerseygirl]

Hopefully this is just some post-neuter craziness and it will calm down. Probably age related too.

Have you tried get him hop into a carrier or box then lift him up like that?

That’s what works for Rumball. I still have to corner him and prod him into box but he handles it better then being picked with hands.

[Tessie]

I hope so!

Umm, I haven’t tried that, but it’s not so much moving him around that bothers me, it’s more if the vet needs to check him over and stuff like that, he just won’t have it. :/

[GemmaW]

He sounds just like our boy Jay He’s also a little monkey who has managed to get onto windowsills, the dining table – pretty much anywhere we don’t want him to go. I realised pretty quickly that I’d had it very easy with Mini – there are so many places that she just won’t go, so keeping things out of reach was easy. Whereas nowhere’s off limits for Jay – we’ll have to start nailing our belongings to the walls…

He won’t be picked up either so I do worry that I can’t check him over at all like I can with Mini – I just don’t think he trusts us yet the way she does. I haven’t even been able to trim his nails since we got him. We’re trying to acclimatise him by picking him up for literally seconds at a time, just holding him still and stroking him, and hoping that he’ll learn that nothing bad will happen when we do. He may never like it, but hopefully he might tolerate it a bit more when it’s necessary?

Mini doesn’t like being held either really, but will tolerate it and because she’s bonded to me will try to snuggle into me at the vets to hide, which helps to calm her down. I would say that being bonded with Mini has calmed him down a bit. She’s less adventurous and a sickly wee thing so when she’s poorly he sits quietly with her He definitely has mad phases though. We just need him to bond to us as well really…so we’re trying to spend time on the floor with him as well to build that bond up.

[Deleted User]

Teddy being annoying – I don’t believe you Tessie, haha ha ha!
I can’t help but wonder because Luna is such a good girl maybe Teddy seems naughtier? And I’m sure being so much bigger gives him the advantage, lol! Henry is just as naughty and I’m sure he’s not fond of me cause I’m the one who goes crook at him – my hubby never does and is the treat giver – no wonder he lets my hubby pat him and follows him around, gggrrrrr! As soon as I start to bend over to give Henry a pat he runs off. And pick him up? No chance! (my scratches and wounds have finally healed from the days when I use to try…..). Being serious, I am so sorry Tessie, and I don’t have any suggestions for you, as I said, I think my Henry is just as bad if not worse – why I feel for you. Take care Tessie, cheers.

[Elrohwen]

I would just try to manage him better. He can’t chew up your stuff if he can’t reach it! When mine were younger they didn’t have access to anything at their level except basic furniture. No books, no purses, no shoes, etc because they would investigate and chew them. I really like NIC panels for covering up access to things like bookshelves.

[Tessie]

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts!

He’s getting at stuff which is 3 feet off the floor, so I’m running out of places to keep things… :/
I’m really hoping it’s still residual hormones!

[Sarita]

Naughty rabbit!

He is still young and some rabbits as they age they outgrow this behavior – some don’t, those that don’t usually cannot be free roam as they need a project – I had a female rabbit who was sweet as can be – she was spayed later in life but she just needed a project and could not be free roam (ever). I hated that she couldn’t be but she would destroy everything…usually these rabbits are too smart for their own good.

I think maybe redirect him by gently distracting him to another thing to destroy – that he’s allowed to destroy that is rather than yelling at him if you think that is making him scared of you.

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