Very Naughty Rabbit

[Philomena]

My good friend and new bunny mom has been having trouble with her little bun Benny. She has had Benny for 8-9 months. Benny is also spayed (and yes we mean spayed, she went into get neutered and left without a uterus). She was spayed this past October. 

Well, Benny has always been a naughty little bunny and correcting her has always been difficult because you can’t clap your hands and distract her from chewing the carpet or baseboards. She gets plenty of supervised playtime outside of her cage and she has plenty of things to gnaw on and play with. 

Despite all of this Benny loves to chew up the carpet. My friend has tried putting down old sheets in her play area so she can’t get to the carpet. Benny just digs it up and pushes it aside and goes after the carpet. My friend even got a rug for Benny to tear up and she still just moves it and goes right back to the carpet. 

My friend is at her wits end and is out of ideas. Any suggestions?

[kathybunny]

Lots of people say to put ceramic tiles down. Does she dig in the middle or more around the edges? It’s going to have to be something heavy enough bunny can’t move it.

[LBJ10]

Yep, something heavy will make them “forget” about a favorite chew spot.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

You (or your friend actually!)want to interrupt and redirect to a new behaviour. So clapping to stop is fine, but then give the rabbit something to do the same activity on. If she’s digging, give her something to dig on (a box filled with shredded paper or a cardboard cat scratcher or other cat scratcher), if she’s chewing give her something to chew -a phone book, newspaper, wooden chew toys etc.

The behaviour is fine and natural, you just want to give them something you can live with them doing the behaviour on digging and chewing is fine, just not on the carpet!

[Author]

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