Using Noise to Stop Chewing

[happymoon]

Hello. I’ve been rabbit proofing my place and I noticed my bunny wants to take off the rabbit proofing by chewing it up. So I took to making annoying somewhat loud noises to stop him once I notice him chewing something he shouldn’t be. Is this bad? I’ve head many people say not to yell at them because they may get stressed. It does work though and he doesn’t seem to dislike me for it.

[sarahthegemini]

I had success either shaking a jar of coins and then saying ‘no’ in a firm voice, or by clapping and saying ‘no’ I did it primarily to stop Peanut digging at Buttercup’s butt and it seemed to do the trick. Now, he knows what ‘no’ means if I say it in a specific tone without needing to make special noises and maybe 90% of the time he listens lol. Occasionally if he doesn’t stop whatever it is I want him to stop, I’ll clap and say no and he listens then. I usually only resort to this if he’s digging at Buttercup or if he’s chewing something that he shouldn’t.

It’s important to distinguish between yelling and being firm. For me, when I say ‘no’, I don’t really raise my voice I just use a different tone. I would never yell because that could scare them, and I just don’t think it’s necessary.

Using the distraction method is great too though. If either bun is chewing what they shouldn’t be, I sometimes just get down on their level and put my hand on whatever it is they’re going at (table leg for example) and then point them towards something they can chew.

[happymoon]

Thanks for the advice. I’ll make sure to be clear about yelling vs being firm.

I’ve tried distractions, and it sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. He doesn’t always want the thing I give him. To be clear though the annoying noises tend to be things like really bad bird calls, tribal calls, and rolling my tongue while making a semi high pitch noise. It’s a little weird for my neighbours I would imagine.

Is Buttercup another bun that you have?

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By happymoon on 9/10/2017 9:23 PM

Thanks for the advice. I’ll make sure to be clear about yelling vs being firm.

I’ve tried distractions, and it sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. He doesn’t always want the thing I give him. To be clear though the annoying noises tend to be things like really bad bird calls, tribal calls, and rolling my tongue while making a semi high pitch noise. It’s a little weird for my neighbours I would imagine.

Is Buttercup another bun that you have?

I can imagine what your neighbours must be thinking   For the distraction method, you don’t necessarily have to give him something to chew on instead, you could try talking to him and petting him or playing with him. But I understand some bunnies can be relentless  So if that doesn’t work I would try clapping and saying ‘no.’ If the clap itself doesn’t stop him, physically stop him after clapping and saying no. Hopefully you’ll have success with that. Eventually, you should only have to say no and/or clap.

 

As I said, it works majority of the time with Peanut. Buttercup on the other hand (yep, she’s my other bun, she’s the white one in my avatar ) will generally do what she likes when she likes. She doesn’t care about noises so with her I have to physically distract her lol. 

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