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Chewing... Digging... Carpet... Furniture...

PeachyDragon

Young Bun
I'm surprised there aren't more sticky's on this...
I modified Luna's housing with corroplast/corroplex and added some mineral stones
and chewing wood blocks with parsley inside that she seems to like. She spends more time in the
housing now. I wanted to leave it open at all times so I got NIC panels in South Africa after searching a lot
online. I bunny-proofed but found that she is able to make the 35cm jump in some areas which is problem number one.
She also started chewing the furniture edges... the chewing toys seem to have severely cut down on that but not completely.
I tried putting a chilli sauce on the areas she chews but I'm not sure exactly how much that helped.
She also bites the carpets and the cushions sometimes and has damaged my carpet where she wants to dig
under the couch... a couch that she can get under from the other side anyway. I put a small plastic sheet over the affected area
of the carpet... The result is that I now have to leave her in the housing during the night and during the odd 33 hours a week that
I'm not home... those hours include work and social activities so it really isn't much. How can I help the chewing and digging behaviour?
She doesn't seem frustrated. I only saw her biting the cage door once and that was before all the renovations.
Pictures of housing below:
house2.jpg

house.jpg
 
Bored I expect, the NIC need to be at least 2 to 3 panels high, 2 panels will probably be ok for her as she's so small. I personally would extend the height of the NIC and also put a cheap lino or old carpet down in her total area e.g. where the NIC are. That way if she digs at it, it's "ok". Maybe she needs a digging box too? Doesn't need to have mud, maybe some old books? We use "the yellow pages" books here, I don't know if they have them there? It's a phone directory book anyway, paper is thin and damage free, but great for digging in.

Maybe she'd like a partner too?
 
Hello, I am by no means an expert but we have a Netherland Dwarf that likes to chew EVERYTHING..I read on here that sometimes if you put a phonebook, magazine etc. where they are chewing this will cut down on the carpet - furniture abuse..It really does work...there is still some chewing but no where near as much damage. Good luck..from what I have read and seen they will never stop chewing on things, it's in their nature. We also use toilet paper rools, pieces of cardboard, and wood - as well as several toys and we put them in all the places she likes to sit and chew.
 
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