Help! Duvet destroying

I dunno what's got into my lops recently. They've now destroyed another duvet. Again at the head end. Could it be them missing me or something? Today I got up early so I thought maybe this afternoon it may have been that but they've been doing it this evening too. I don't really want to go back to having to cover my bed with the tarp all the time.

My rabbit has a duvet over her dog crate in her shed and she too chews it. I think bunnies just like to chew duvets! Could you move it somewhere out of bun reach? Or give them lots of chew toys as a substitute? Although buns tend to go for the things they're not supposed to :roll:

you dont wana see what Biscuit has done to one of our duvets Schuette... :shock:

Liz47 said:

My rabbit has a duvet over her dog crate in her shed and she too chews it. I think bunnies just like to chew duvets! Could you move it somewhere out of bun reach? Or give them lots of chew toys as a substitute? Although buns tend to go for the things they're not supposed to :roll:

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I have to give them access (up and down) to the bed or they will jump on it and not be able to get down and then wee, so not really. They do have chew toys. They were ignoring it providing I covered the top end with my pillow but not tonight. I definitely think it's a 'where are you? why aren't you here?' kind of thing. I have a fleece on my bed that I'm not worried about holes in (cos they're cheap!) so I'm going to try to remember to pull it up and over the pillow to the top, they ignore the bottom.

I know I shouldn't feed them their pellets at night in bed I expect this doesn't help but I love doing it!

GrahamL said:

you dont wana see what Biscuit has done to one of our duvets Schuette... :shock:

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:shock: I can see the headline, Biscuit eats duvet shocker :lol:

It's not the duvet itself but the covers (my favourite one :evil I only have two now :shock: I'm going to have to buy myself some.

Schuette said:

I know I shouldn't feed them their pellets at night in bed I expect this doesn't help but I love doing it!

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Err..... Methinks you've made a little bed for yourself to lie in here.
I bet you a million this is the route cause. Attention for reward!
And frustration when reward not forthcoming if association made is we get fed on the bed.

I know I didn't last night, I made them sit on the floor for it.

*is very naughty*

Schuette said:

I know I didn't last night, I made them sit on the floor for it.

*is very naughty*

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They make associations VERY quickly, and in the absence of vocalisation the next best thing is chewing to get attention. I used to give mine a fenugreek crunchie or dried fruit piece through the bars of the hutch at bedtime everynight.... within a couple of days Nino started chewing the bars of the hutch (plastic coated so not something we wanted to encourage!) at this time, which then escalated to chewing the bars of the hutch whenever we went in the room! :shock: If we stopped the treats through the bars.... within a few days the behaviour disappeared, started it again.... it came back
It became quite ingrained and took a few weeks of ignoring him completely when he was doing it to stop him. I don't think he's done it since, about a year or two now, and if he starts a quick nibble once in blue moon we just ignore him and leave the room and he of course stops. No more treats through bars.... :lol:

I strongly suspect the association of treat/food on bed (pellets being a very high prize food due to nutritional value) is what is triggering the duvet attack even in the absence of you or the pellets -the association has been made. :wave:

ETA chewing the duvet is a bit like banging spoons on table saying 'where's my dinner!' :lol: It is possible if you feed on the bed that the scent of pellet is also on the bedclothes.... and with their sense of smell they will dig and chew as they believe the pellets are their somewhere.... smell is much more accurate than sight. Mine rarely use their sight when hunting out food!

It's all fascinating isn't it! I used to sit on the floor and feed them but stopped cos I found it difficult getting up and down. I think I'll get myself a cushion (to store out of reach!) and go back to that. :thumb:

Schuette said:

It's all fascinating isn't it! I used to sit on the floor and feed them but stopped cos I found it difficult getting up and down. I think I'll get myself a cushion (to store out of reach!) and go back to that. :thumb:

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Bunnies are very norty! :no: and far too clever for their own good :roll::lol:

I hope it all settles down soon. Nino, after 4 years, still occasionally tries his tugging on the sofa skirt to get my attention (it hasn't worked in years and the only way we could stop him was to ignore him but somewhere in the back of his brain it's still an association worth trying). We have a brand NEW sofa since two days ago and Mr Nino was caught with the corner of the skirt tucked into his mouth! :shock::lol: I was very cross... and I did give him attention by pulling it out of his mouth! :lol::lol: He may of course try again now. Fortunately, because his incisors are so wonky he can't do any damage and ends up just sucking and tugging on it... but I was NOT impressed! :lol: