Time out for bunnies

[FooFoosMommy2]

We are trying to help Foo Foo improve her behavior. We are working on litter training as well, and I have read that while training a bunny, if they go outside the litter box or cage, to put them back in the cage. FooFoo is doing well with this, however, we are trying to get her to stop chewing on wires (we are working on bunny proofing our bedroom still). She doesn’t always respond when we say “No” or “Bad Bunny, Bad Foo”. Will putting her back in her cage when she chews on wires train her not to do this? What other “timeouts” have worked for you?

[Sarita]

Well, you could do that, but the best thing to do is the bunnyproofing that you are working on. I think the instinct is to see a wire and destroy it. Certainly Foo Foo can outgrow this behavior, most (or many) rabbits do as they age.

This is what I think a rabbit thinks when you take them away from doing something that in your mind is wrong, okay, this humanoid is putting me back in my cage, I’ll play or loaf here for awhile and then when I’m out, I’m going to chew on that wire some more and destroy it. You could try to divert her to some other more desirable thing to destroy though and keep her occupied – like a wicker basket or something that is meant for rabbits to chew.

Rabbits don’t really think they are doing bad things by destroying wires, they are just doing what rabbits do.

[CinnabunMom]

Timeouts don’t work for my bun. I used to use them when she did something naughty, but Sarita makes a great point; once out of her cage she’d go right back to doing whatever she was doing. The only thing I’ve found that worked was the water pistol. When I saw Cinnabun getting ready to dig at the carpet, I gave her back a quick squirt with the water gun and eventually she’d fine something else to do. It may not be 100% effective, but it’s helped in the prevention of holes in my carpet.

[FooFoosMommy2]

We will have to try squirting her. Foo has chew toys, but she doesn’t seem interested in them. We have tried getting her to play with them, but she doesn’t ever get too into it. She loves her blankie and normally that is enough of a distraction. She hasn’t really chewed on the furniture or anything, she just goes after the wires.

[Sarita]

That’s really not a bad problem to have :~) It does take some time to get all your wires protected but once you do, I believe you will be good to go.

I hate squirting rabbits with water – I don’t think they really understand this, it probably annoys them more than it stops them from doing what they are doing.

It’s true, sometimes they just cannot be diverted. Rabbits are basically the same as a 2 or 3 year old, so if you think like can think like a 2 or 3 year old and get down on the floor and see what they see, you can really see what you need to change. After all, wires are usually at their eye level since plugs are on the floor. If someone was designing a home for a rabbit, they would have plugs up high…or just make everything run on batteries so there are no wires at all :~)

I do find that with many rabbits, as they age, the urge to chew on wires does decrease. Now that’s not an always, but it is an often.

[FooFoosMommy2]

Good to hear that maybe as she gets older, she’ll want to chew on them less. We don’t know how old she is really, we found her and think maybe she was abandoned. When we took her to the vet, she wouldn’t open her mouth for the vet to look at her teeth. She’s a really well behaved bunny though, she only has problem with using the potty when she gets on our bed, she doesn’t nip or bite, chew on furniture, or anything. She’s really quite lovable and adorable.

[TH004]

We use the squirting technique sometimes. However, we found what works best is time out, like you would with a child. If he is running around the house, I give him a warning (No! Bad Rex!) and clap. He then knows that behavior is wrong. If he does it again, he gets put in his dog-sized cage (he normally has the run of a bedroom when not running in the house). If he is REALLY bad (biting, etc), I put him in his small carrier cage for a few minutes.

I have also found rewarding him for good behavior has helped tremendously! He knows so many commands: Go to bed (cage), go to your room, here boy!, dinner time, treat, stop, get down and more. He learned quickly, by me singing his praises and giving him pets for doing what asked.

[Author]

Messages