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Naughty buns!

(Sorry this is so long! Unsure whether to post this in housing or behaviour as it covers both).
I'm losing it with my 2 bonded neutered buns (male and female). I moved house in November into a carpeted flat - we had laminate flooring before (the bunnies love the carpet now because they've got lots of grip for big binkies!).

However in the last month or so they've become very destructive and naughty. In 5 months at my last flat they never destroyed anything, never went for any furniture and seemed happy with their toys. A month ago I came home to a 6x2inch area of carpet behind the sofa completely chewed up, of course I know bunnies do stuff like that but I've recently had some money worries so I'm terrified of having to pay for recarpeting when I leave. They have also chewed small chunks out of the armchair and sofa. All of this stuff belongs to my landlady and while I'm responsible enough to have savings for emergency illness/damage, I never expected this level of destruction to appear out of nowhere! I kept Lily mostly free range in a carpeted house for 8 months a couple of years ago and she only ever nibbled a couple of times.

I blocked off behind the sofa and kept them in their pen while I was at work for a while as every time I let them out they managed to get into blocked off corners, try to eat the furniture, and chew up even more carpet. Unfortunately now when I let them out they are super determined to destroy things because I guess they are frustrated, and I know it's not fair on them because they have been free range since August!

I have tried lemon oil/perfume/soap on the carpet, it doesn't bother them and anyway they just find another patch. They have several cardboard boxes with hay and paper in, tunnels, a large plastic digging box with a towel and stuff in, willow balls, corrugated cardboard rolls, woven chew mats, yellow pages to rip up... I'm at the end of my tether and not sure what else to try. Hoping that as I move them back into free ranging they'll calm down and see it as less of a novelty, but there are areas I just physically can't stop them getting into (blocked off with xpen panels but they can jump over from the sofa if they're really determined, spaces that xpen panels just don't work in, etc). I can't think of a reason for their change in behaviour...

Any advice greatly appreciated!!☺
 
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I really wish I could be of some help but I don't know what to suggest. :( Hope someone will be along to help you soon
 
Is it a whole house/flat that they are in? If so keep it to one room and then once they stop-if you do mega bunny-proofing maybe like as a reward give them another room to roam in...?!
 
Thanks for your response rolopolo!

They're only free range in the living room which is quite large. I live in a small flat so the only other rooms are the bathroom and bedroom. They have a habit of weeing on my bed and I keep stuff that I don't want them getting to in my bedroom. I could try letting them into the bathroom occasionally I suppose as a reward, but I'm not sure I could permanently allow them into there/the hall as there is wooden furniture that they might see as a tasty new treat!

I ended up letting them go behind the sofa again but covered up the chewed area with a rug to discourage it. They were spending all day trying to get round the barriers and chewing/digging at the xpen bars frustratedly, and actually managed to cause more damage getting through the barriers and into my storage areas than they did originally to the carpet! They've seemed happier since then and I'm just hoping the extra distractions/toys I've provided will help to keep them away from carpet chewing.

Does anyone know if this behaviour could be due to some kind of spring fever/excitement, or lack of attention (they have each other but obviously I am out at work a lot) or if it's just due to them finding & getting excited about a new hobby?
 
It sounds like normal rabbit behaviour to me. Rabbits dig and chew. The only thing you can do is give them a large fenced off area of the room and cover the carpet really well with lino. I used to give my indoor rabbits cardboard on the floor and a lot of tunnels and hiding places as well as things to sit on top of.

Manor pet housing do some lovely things, quite pricey but really lovely.
 
I've been having exactly this problem with my bunny. Ruby loves digging at and chewing the carpet and furniture. I have managed to reduce this behaviour with the following solutions...

Firstly and most importantly hiding her food. She has a box of hay into which I mix her pellets. She spends so much time digging about trying to find them she now has little interest in the carpet.

Secondly I have put tunnels and hideouts everywhere. I have two plastic tunnels, a long cardboard tunnel, a hooded cat bed and several blankets and towels all of which are more interesting to chew than the carpet and furniture. I also have willow twigs, balls, paper balls, small boxes and seed chews etc... to keep her busy.

She is free range in her bedroom (it's actually my office but lets face it, its her room!) and even at night she isn't chewing the carpet now.

I once put cardboard tunnels down the back and sides of my sofa (my cardboard tunnel is from a blind shop - free and the perfect size!) which might work well for your bunnies. Boxes of hay or toys where they chew to keep them busy would also work. You could cover your sofa in a couple of throws then they have a few layers to get through before they hit sofa.

Good luck, bunnies are chewing monsters!
 
My husband made a wooden tunnel which goes behind the sofa (fairly inexpensive - we ordered pre cut wood from the local timberyard as he's more destroy it yourself than do it yourself)
We then stuff this with cardboard boxes and they both love digging and chewing in there. However, Fred does still have a liking for fabric. We bought a cheap double duvet and a cheap cover and put that over the sofa with a couple of throws on top of that. Fred has got through a couple of the throws but we change them round so that the hole is somewhere else and eventually I patch them.
 
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