• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Does anyone else's rabbits chew on their cage bars?

Zara

Mama Doe
Rascal has been driving me mad with it all week :lol: he wakes me up at dawn chewing madly on the metal bars on his cage, he also does it whenever I come home as he wants to come out and play :love: usually I let him out, but I've just got home from a hard day with a bad case of nausea and wanted 20 minutes to lie down, but Rascal doesn't agree and is gnawing like mad on the cage wires with such a determined look on his face, he's even chewed most of the paint enamel off!

Why I don't mind him being a fuzzy alarm clock, I'd like to get him to stop D: thinking of rubbing lemon on the bars. It's not like he has nothing in his cage, he has his beloved hooded basket he stole off the cats, chew toys, balls, rattles, toilet rolls stuffed with hay/etc, but it seems all he wants to do is snuggle with people :roll:

Anyone else's buns do this? xD To what lengths will they go to to try and get your attention?
 
Alvin only did it when i had a shop bought rabbit cage, he stopped as soon as i gave him more caged space
 
Rascal has been driving me mad with it all week :lol: he wakes me up at dawn chewing madly on the metal bars on his cage, he also does it whenever I come home as he wants to come out and play :love: usually I let him out, but I've just got home from a hard day with a bad case of nausea and wanted 20 minutes to lie down, but Rascal doesn't agree and is gnawing like mad on the cage wires with such a determined look on his face, he's even chewed most of the paint enamel off!

Why I don't mind him being a fuzzy alarm clock, I'd like to get him to stop D: thinking of rubbing lemon on the bars. It's not like he has nothing in his cage, he has his beloved hooded basket he stole off the cats, chew toys, balls, rattles, toilet rolls stuffed with hay/etc, but it seems all he wants to do is snuggle with people :roll:

Anyone else's buns do this? xD To what lengths will they go to to try and get your attention?

Yes, Biccy munches on the bars whenever i have to lock him in the 4x4 pen to do the house work etc, chews, pushes etc. Before the sheet over the top, he even resorted to jumping ~2.5 feet from floor to the top of his hutch and started stamping at 6am to get me to come down and feed him.

Bless:love:
 
He's learnt that it gets him the reaction that he wants (i.e. to be let out). As hard as it is, you either need to ignore him or find a way to make it impossible for him to do.

You aould also stimulate his environment more, or maybe find a way to extend his area (? if that's an option).
 
Toby Rabbit has chewed the paint off the bars of the babygate. He takes umbrage if any room is closed off to him & he chews & rattles the babygate into the dining room for all his worth.
 
What about bonding him with somebun? If he's bored and in need of attention, this is the obvious solution! Also, what about extending his cage into a play area? You could use NIC cubes maybe?
 
I do try to ignore it, but the racket it makes in the early hours of the morning makes it impossible to sleep :lol: I think it'll stop when he's fully bonded with Batbunny, my poor lads are both all alone at night for now :cry: but bonding two males especially takes time and patience.

The cage he has now, even though it's a decent size, it's not good enough and is only temporary. Me and the bf are planning to set up a NIcube home for them when we have enough spare money to buy a lot, so they won't feel cramped up when we're out/asleep/etc.
 
I hate having to cage him, but he can't free-range around the house on his own, so in the cage he goes at night. Batbunny has no problem with it, but poor Rascal does. It's not our house you see so I'm not allowed to bunny-proof any rooms :cry:
 
I have to cage Basil at night when we go to bed because he loves to chew anything. He doesn't mind the cage (it's pretty big), but he always rattles the door when he sees me, asking to be let out. He's very quiet at night though, so I think quite cosy and content in his base. His does, however have lots of places to romp during the day so maybe he is just worn out:)
 
Donnie and Lady are free range but have a hutch to call their own... however being the little so and so's that they are :roll: they have a number of ways of getting attention.

They sit behind the cage and rattle it :roll:

They jump up on the bed in the morning and lick us to wake us :lol:

Or they chew on the slats underneath the bed :evil:

Think buns just like chewing/waking us :lol:

They're our furry little alarm clocks though 6am every morning without fail one of the above will start :D
 
Cloud was a house bunny for a few weeks when I first got her and she absolutely drove me insane!

I'd shut her in her cage over night - The first thing she'd do was start throwing her litter tray round. So I'd take that out. Then she'd start throwing her bowl around. So I'd take that out too. The jingle ball would be next to go. Then she'd start digging at her blanket. So that'd get taken out. Then she'd start on the cage bars... She acted like a little prisoner!

I did relent a few times and let her out for the night but then she'd sit under my bed and chew all the cardboard boxes instead. I swear the sound of her chewing at 3am is the equivalent to standing under an aeroplane as it takes off. I also woke up several times to find Cloud sat next to my face eating my pillow. :roll:

I was really glad when she went down the garden! :oops::lol:
 
Yes. :roll: Jack unfortunately lives in my bedroom, and if he feels I've slept long enough, he'll scare me awake by rattling his bars... No. His entire cage. He's my smallest, lightest rabbit but he shakes his cage with enough force for it to actually move. When I return home from work and I'm trying to choke down my dinner before letting him out, he does the same then.

I tried ignoring him to 'teach' him that it doesn't work as attention seeking behaviour... but as rabbits go, Jack is not very bright and gets very, very fixated on things. His other current (except, by current, I mean it's been going on for months now) obsession is digging the carpet, and nothing short of lifting him bodily away from it will stop him. Luckily! The morning bar rattling has paused because it's still dark in the mornings and that seems to confuse him.

I liked the idea of a house rabbit very much - I'd happily move him into the garage, with the rest, in a hutch. If I could. But if I try and put him in a garden run for grass, fresh air and company, he goes manic and tore the mesh off his run to try and 'find' me again... He makes me feel so guilty. :lol: He's a pain in the neck, and when he'd wake me at 5:30am of a weekend I'd snarl and curse at him, but he's not really happy if he's not shadowing me like a puppy. Siiiigh.
 
Yes. :roll: Jack unfortunately lives in my bedroom, and if he feels I've slept long enough, he'll scare me awake by rattling his bars... No. His entire cage. He's my smallest, lightest rabbit but he shakes his cage with enough force for it to actually move. When I return home from work and I'm trying to choke down my dinner before letting him out, he does the same then.

I tried ignoring him to 'teach' him that it doesn't work as attention seeking behaviour... but as rabbits go, Jack is not very bright and gets very, very fixated on things. His other current (except, by current, I mean it's been going on for months now) obsession is digging the carpet, and nothing short of lifting him bodily away from it will stop him. Luckily! The morning bar rattling has paused because it's still dark in the mornings and that seems to confuse him.

I liked the idea of a house rabbit very much - I'd happily move him into the garage, with the rest, in a hutch. If I could. But if I try and put him in a garden run for grass, fresh air and company, he goes manic and tore the mesh off his run to try and 'find' me again... He makes me feel so guilty. :lol: He's a pain in the neck, and when he'd wake me at 5:30am of a weekend I'd snarl and curse at him, but he's not really happy if he's not shadowing me like a puppy. Siiiigh.

:lol: Bless him! He loves his owner! ;)

As much as I love my pets, I'm in no way tollerent enough to have them in the house. I wouldn't mind if I had my own place and they could have a room of their own, but in my room with me... NO! :lol:
 
:lol: Bless him! He loves his owner! ;)

As much as I love my pets, I'm in no way tollerent enough to have them in the house. I wouldn't mind if I had my own place and they could have a room of their own, but in my room with me... NO! :lol:

tolerance is a huge part of having a house bunny i think. I am slowly finding out as time progresses with Biscuit :) He's in the living room, so not with us at bedtime, but if for any reason i have to shut him in the 4x4 he does get rather upset and go mad at the bars!
 
tolerance is a huge part of having a house bunny i think. I am slowly finding out as time progresses with Biscuit :) He's in the living room, so not with us at bedtime, but if for any reason i have to shut him in the 4x4 he does get rather upset and go mad at the bars!

I wouldn't mind them being a bit of a pain during the day, I just got so grumpy with Cloud when she'd keep waking me up all the blimmin' time! :lol: If they were somewhere out of earshot, fine! :lol:

Although saying that, I used to have a canary in my room which I didn't mind at all. He'd sing at 5am but it was such a nice noise, it didn't bother me. I think it was because it was a 'happy' noise where as bunnies chewing cage bars is not because you know the bunny is getting frustrated. That doesn't make sense does it?! :oops:
 
I wouldn't mind them being a bit of a pain during the day, I just got so grumpy with Cloud when she'd keep waking me up all the blimmin' time! :lol: If they were somewhere out of earshot, fine! :lol:

Although saying that, I used to have a canary in my room which I didn't mind at all. He'd sing at 5am but it was such a nice noise, it didn't bother me. I think it was because it was a 'happy' noise where as bunnies chewing cage bars is not because you know the bunny is getting frustrated. That doesn't make sense does it?! :oops:

lol, it does make sense, i got you anyway!

If i havent fed Biscuit by 7am, i can put money on the fact the left side of the cage will have him rattling it until i get there with pellets. You could almost set your watch by him :)
 
I know how you feel!

My year old boy taught my 4 month old girl to do this it drives me mad as well! I have to close my front room and bedroom door in my flat to block out the noise. Its purely attention seeking as when i talk to him hes quiet and he is even worse when i let my girl out! Cant wait for my 2 to be bonded it should stop him doing it so they can come out and play together!
 
My two are free range and I have a couple of those metal run panels I use to block of certain areas. One is on the landing blocking their way into my study the one place they're not allowed...and they know it D&D are constantly chomping on the bars to get through :roll::lol::lol:
 
Doodee likes to give the bars of her cage absolute blinding hell.

Thing is she has a cage without any doors on it as the place her litter tray is in, her huge pile of hay and hidden nibbles. She has free range of the lounge 24/7 yet she has these moments where she just has to attack that cage.
I got so concerned about her I bought wooden gnaw toys and strung them up so she can chew whatever is going through her bunny brain out on them.

I think in her case this behaviour may be tied up with the reason she ended up needing to go as a special rehome case.
 
Back
Top