Naughty bunny advice

I need some advice please!

I bought a bunny in October he is now nearly 6 months old. He's been a pain since the day we bought him home.
He has a two story hutch with a run underneath, within 20 minutes of getting home and in the hutch he had nearly dug out. The hutch is now on paving slabs.
He's a very michevious bunny, this week he has smashed two food bowls in two days. (He now has a metal cat bowl). He'd chewed his hutch to pieces within days and completely ignores his toys and chews. We had blocked off behind the shed because I was worried he could escape by digging the stones behind it but he's dug under the wood I've put in place numerous times. I've tried putting bricks down but he digs around them so the garden is now trashed. He does have 3 long trough style plant pots which I have put out for him to dig in but he doesn't show much interest.
In the end I let him go behind the shed as I was fighting a loosing battle. This was fine for about a month but now he has started digging behind it and will be able to escape easily.
I had him neutered about 3 weeks ago in the hope it would calm him down and so that we could get him a female for company. I know it can take a couple of months but so far the neutering has made no difference, he's worse if anything!
I know he's a rabbit and these things are natural to him but it's becoming impossible to keep him as a pet! I don't want him to have to stay in his hutch because it's cruel but I'm running out of ideas.
Any advice is appreciated

What can I say? Welcome to the world of rabbit keeping. The trick is to get to know your rabbit and develop strategies for dealing with his/her foibles. People will be along shortly with suggestions. Is your rabbit very handsome? Do you think we could see photographs?

The female company could well work. Rabbits can be very singularly minded when they consider they have a duty to accomplish a certain task & it sounds like you have an expert in excavation :lol: At least you'll probably not have to master nail trimming. There is a chance he might teach his new girlfriend to dig too - they are very crafty the way they work in pairs, often with one on look-out duty. However, I hope she will provide a distraction, they often do :lol:

Charjade said:

I need some advice please!

I bought a bunny in October he is now nearly 6 months old. He's been a pain since the day we bought him home.
He has a two story hutch with a run underneath, within 20 minutes of getting home and in the hutch he had nearly dug out. The hutch is now on paving slabs.
He's a very michevious bunny, this week he has smashed two food bowls in two days. (He now has a metal cat bowl). He'd chewed his hutch to pieces within days and completely ignores his toys and chews. We had blocked off behind the shed because I was worried he could escape by digging the stones behind it but he's dug under the wood I've put in place numerous times. I've tried putting bricks down but he digs around them so the garden is now trashed. He does have 3 long trough style plant pots which I have put out for him to dig in but he doesn't show much interest.
In the end I let him go behind the shed as I was fighting a loosing battle. This was fine for about a month but now he has started digging behind it and will be able to escape easily.
I had him neutered about 3 weeks ago in the hope it would calm him down and so that we could get him a female for company. I know it can take a couple of months but so far the neutering has made no difference, he's worse if anything!
I know he's a rabbit and these things are natural to him but it's becoming impossible to keep him as a pet! I don't want him to have to stay in his hutch because it's cruel but I'm running out of ideas.
Any advice is appreciated

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Hi Charjade

Welcome to the Forum :wave:

I'm sorry to hear you describing your bunny as a pain from the day he came to live with you. He is simply being a rabbit and I don't know what your prior knowledge is of rabbits, but his behaviour is perfectly normal I'm afraid.

You have two choices: either you can rehome him because he's obviously causing you some distress, or you can talk with a rescue about getting him a spayed female - they can help bond the two of them. I can't establish from your post exactly how much freedom and attention he has, but he obviously has needs that are becoming difficult for you to manage.

MightyMax has put it perfectly.

If you still want to keep him and feel you can cope and look after him properly then another alternative is keeping him inside with a designated room for him OR have him in a very large hutch/cage when you aren't there or are asleep or not there and then let him out in the room with supervision when you are there. However, if you choose to do this then make sure the room in bunny proofed and that he is let out for AT LEAST 5 hours a day otherwise he will become depressed and his normal behavior that you are speaking about here could progress and become abnormal.

Hello. You mention a shed. Could this be converted to a rabbit home? I have a group of four rabbits who live in a shed with an aviary run permanently attached.

They have a large ceramic dog bowl for their water and I scatter feed them and give them loads of hay. Rabbits need space and more space. Perhaps you could make the run larger?

Hi mightymax :wave:

Maybe a pain isn't fair but he's definitely been challenging.

I have previous experience with rabbits but they were never quite as active as Thumper. I know it's normal behaviour but it's constant, you very very rarely see him lying down. I think I should have named him taz the Tasmanian devil :lol::lol:

I can't imagine rehoming him he's a member of the family. I'm more than happy to put the work in and I'm not concerned with the garden I'm only worried about him escaping or managing to hurt himself.

He gets lots of attention and spends the majority of time outside of his hutch, either in the house if he is supervised or he has the run of the garden.

Charjade said:

Hi mightymax :wave:

Maybe a pain isn't fair but he's definitely been challenging.

I have previous experience with rabbits but they were never quite as active as Thumper. I know it's normal behaviour but it's constant, you very very rarely see him lying down. I think I should have named him taz the Tasmanian devil :lol::lol:

I can't imagine rehoming him he's a member of the family. I'm more than happy to put the work in and I'm not concerned with the garden I'm only worried about him escaping or managing to hurt himself.

He gets lots of attention and spends the majority of time outside of his hutch, either in the house if he is supervised or he has the run of the garden.

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Ah, I like 'challenging' much better! I'm glad he has a home with you and someone to look out for him. Sounds like he needs it! A friend will no doubt keep him occupied much more than you could, and on a 24 hour basis ..

MightyMax said:

Ah, I like 'challenging' much better! I'm glad he has a home with you and someone to look out for him. Sounds like he needs it! A friend will no doubt keep him occupied much more than you could, and on a 24 hour basis ..

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A friend will certainly help to channel his active behaviour as he will have somebun to play with.Most bunnies love friends to have fun with

:wave:
I haven't posted for a while, but this thread did make me giggle... only because it reminds me of my ASBO bunny, 'Rabbit' - yep that's right, she is a rabbit called Rabbit (in all the years I have kept bunnies I never thought I would name one Rabbit! :shock: )
Anyway, my point here is, when I first took Rabbit in she was 5 months old and a real handful. She was initially a house rabbit and no matter how many toys she had, the run of the house when we were home, she would always get in to some sort of trouble: chewing carpets, attacking the cats as they walked passed, jumping on top of chairs and onto window-sills, she was out of control!
Of course, when I took her on it was my intention to spay her then bond her with a rescued male neutered bun.
Approx 2 months after having her spayed, I rescued a male, Rupert, the bonding went (surprisingly) very well, and Rabbit has now calmed down enormously, still with her cheeky behavior.
I think you have the right intentions, and hopefully if you can rescue a spayed female Thumper will be much happier and you will get to see that calmer side of him :thumb:

I think you need to tackle it from two directions - one you need a large but super secure safe space for exercise so he can have the space without you worrying about him getting out or injured. Mesh or paving under the run is the most secure option, you can mix and match - for example lay mesh, and pave around the edge of it where the run touches the floor. You might also look at aviaries or adding a second run to extend the space - or extending into the shed.

The other thing is to make sure he's always busy. He's not making trouble - he'll just be working on important rabbit things that don't always make sense to us So he might be digging a warren to sleep in, looking for a good foraging spot, getting rid of the obstical to checking his territory etc. Food is a good motivator, what diet is he on? It might seem unrelated but rabbits would naturally spend about 80% of their time eating and if they have quick easy meals that's a lot of free time for trouble!! I'd suggest mainly hay and veggies - make him work for everything other than the hay - so hang food up, hide it under things, put it in a box, etc. for dry food use a treat ball - try the cat section. That makes him work to get his meals leaving less time for trouble.

Toys and activities generally need to have a purpose for rabbits to be interested so involving food in things is a good way to make them interesting. For example, hang or pile a bunch of sticks so it dangles in the way of his favourite napping spot and he'll dedicate some time to getting them out the way