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new bunny questions

CuBar

Warren Scout
Hello everyone.
I had my first indoor bunny about 5 weeks ago and she is such a cutie and litter trained straight away. When I let her out I need full attention on her all the time because she is into EVERYTHING!
I've bunnyproofed all the areas with wires but she has just started to dig the carpet in corners and at the edge of the sofa etc, ive provided her with several dig boxes which i try to make different and interesting, but that lasts for 5 minutes! I understand that they dig instinctively and I know its not ideal to have a house rabbit when you are quite house proud but I just wandered if anyone has any tips or training ideas. I would love to let her out more but shes such a monkey and knows when your back is turned! will she grow out of it with training? Or am I being a paranoid mummy? Only ever had an outdoor bunny before so not really up on this yet!!!
Sorry for rambling on! Any advice appreciated!
Amanda :roll:
 
Aww, she sounds like a very cute little terror :D

Giving her a digging box is a good idea, cardboard boxes are good too as they can make their own doors and hide in them. You can make the digging box hold her interest for longer by adding food, for example if the box it filled with hay mix in a few pellets or veggies - whatever her current diet is).

Corners seem to be particular favourites, placing something heavy in them will help protect the carpet. Old telephone directory or one of those decorative stones.

Providing wooden toys, willow or fruit tree branches like apple with help preempt any chewing.

Some houses are easier to bunny proof than others, if you have difficulty you could try a fold out puppy pen. That way she can have exercise without you needing to supervise quite so closely and she might not be so hyper during the times you let her out with you in the room.

Best wishes,
Tam
 
We have one like that, we however still can't discipline her due to her utter gorgeousness :roll: :lol: Lets hope she will grow out of it :wink:
 
get some cheap door mats (morrisons £1.99) and put them down where she tends to dig . you can put them away when she goes back in her cage.

Angie
 
I know its different circumstances but my rabbits dig up in there hutches when they are getting to wanting to breed, this can sometimes be very early say 3-4 mths. She may grow out of it but you should get her spayed when shes old enough.This may cut out the problem as its normaly the does that dig. If shes digging for fun then distraction is the only answere :lol: . val
 
First of all, make sure you take your rabbit to the vet to spay the bunny when she's 5.5 - 6 mth. old. IT's a cheap $300 surgery.

Your rabbit is just like mine, they are restless at such young age but will settle down after their 1st birthday. My new rabbit likes to jump on my back all the time, just like a monkey.

As to your question, build her a tunnel for her to scratch on:

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But don't let her chew on the carpet as there are chemical in those carpet, unless your carpet is wool or cotton or silk. So what I did is if she picks on the carpet w/ her teeth, I'll put a thick cotton towel on top.

You have to lock her up in her room for 1 mth. so she can get used to a room as her permanent spot. If she chew on the carpet on that room, put some chew toys on those spots that she chew on.

I also notice my rabbit decided to stay w/ me in my bedroom at night time. And she crawl under the bed and pick on the carpet. So this is what I did:

I put an old bed sheet at the bottom of the bed, just on top of the carpet, w/ the legs of the bed sitting on the old bed sheet.

This way, the entire bed sheet covers the carpet under the bed, and she chew on the bed sheet instead. To make sure the bed sheet doesn't get dig by my rabbit so she might get pass the bed sheet, I wrap the edges of the bed sheet and pull it upwards and slide the edges in between the top and bottom of my bed trunk.

For most bed, there is two layer of trunk. The top soft layer for you to lay down, and the wooden trunk layer at the bottom. So by sliding the bed sheet in between the trunk, the rabbit can't get to the edge and dig pass the bed sheet and reach the carpet.

Here's a diagram:

soft Bed trunk

------edges of bed sheet
|
|
|spring wooden bed trunk
|
-------------------bed sheet covering the carpet-----
carpet

Need trick eh? You only need to cover two edges around the bed, and leave the other two open so she can slide in under the bed.

As to cables in the house, I bought $26 of pumping hose, cut one edge off the circular hose along the length of the hose, put the cables inside, duck tape it back. That way, it fully shield all cables in the house.

That should do it for your house, remember you need to give him a spot, and a tunnel, i.e., something for her to work her energy on, or else she'll focus her energy on things you don't want her to damage.
 
Thank you for all your responses, some very good ideas that I would never have thought of. I think she's about 5 months now so she is getting to the stage where she will soon be ready to be spayed so i'll get that done. Im sure ill be back on again soon with yet more questions :roll:
Amanda
 
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