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Sue&Sooty

Wise Old Thumper
Anyone offer any advise for me to pass on.. :D
Hope someone can help me with a problem I'm having with my female rabbit. We areon our third hutch, but she just manages to chew great big holes in them and get out!

The first one she dug her way out the bottom, so we thought maybe her and her brother needed a bigger cage, so we bought a 6ft hutch and run combo (not cheap) and she dug her way out the back of the hutch (the run part was on concrete so no chance of digging out of that! so then we boarded up the hole with some spare wood but she just chewed through the other side istead! (by the way she does this over night in the space of 7 hours) So we bought another hutch, just the hutch, and they go in the hutch at night and the run in the day, and still she has chewed through the floor of this one too.

They have the run of the garden for a few hours every evening/afternoon, so they get plenty of exersize, I provide them with wood chews, veg on one of those stick things to make it difficult so as to prevent boredom, they get a good quality dry food twice a day. I don't know what else to do. She has also started to 'attack' me, she puts up her front paws and sort of bats at me then pounces and sinks her teeth into my hand :( she used to be so friendly. We dont have any probs with her brother. Would spaying help? I dont want to have to re home her, but I have children to think of to, and we cant afford to replace the hutch every few months.
 
Thats what I thought too.

Heres the only reply she's had so far and I disagree with a fair bit of it. I'm just trying to compose an answer to her but I'm not sure what to advise re her going through to hutches so fast!
I suspect that you be buying hutches from pet shops that only have hardboard in some parts rather than 1/2 inch thick wood.

This isn't boredom - she is trying to escape or dig a burrow to keep warm and safe. she will calm down as she gets older (2 years+). Rabbits do dig - it is their nature.

You may do this already but I always put a couple of layers of newspaper in the bottom of the hutch (and is fact there is metal tray where my rabbit's toilet is under the paper to stop the wood going rotten). with straw and hay on top of the paper with extra hay and straw in a box where the rabbit sleeps. the wooden sleeping box is placed so that the open side is facing the back of the hutch to keep draughts away and give the bunny a place of safety to mimic a burrow. Also the hutch is always lifted off the ground (maninly for warmth) on legs or on a table (at least a foot off the ground)

Most rabbits will tolerate being handled but don't enjoy it. Your female rabbit may feel you are attacking her by picking her up. Spaying wouldn't help as aggression unlike male neutering which reduces aggression (I presume your male has been done as you have had no babies?)

I would see if separately her from her brother helps at all - maybe put him in an old hutch for a few days to see if she is better. She may want her own space. i have never let rabbits share a hutch or a run although I have never had a brother and sister.

Also do you clean out the toilet area every day. with 2 rabbits this needs to be done.

you can also try feeding them a selection of wet food each day (maybe 3 or 4 bits) - a slice of apple, a bit of cabbage, slice of tomato, lump of carrot, kale, cucumber, watercress. Different rabbits like different things and they may leave some. remove the uneaten stuff each day and replace with new. I tend to give them this when I put them away for the night.

Also just tell your children not to touch the female if you worried about biting. Although being nipped as a child is all about having animals and respecting them.
 
yep, i agree, spaying would help. not sure I agree with some of the other advice though, especially not that she should be separated from her brother....
 
yeh i don't agree with most if whats been said in that post sue. I would get her psayed and she how she was a few weeks after that, if she was still the same then i would take another look.
 
I'd agree with you, a strong tounge & grove hutch is more expensive but harder wearing.

You need to approach the problem from two angles, encouraging her to divert her attention on more appropriate activities and protecting the hutch from her when she does chew.

Hutch Protection
You local DIY shop should be able to supply wall corner protectors that can be fitted to the edges of the inside of her hutch. You could attach an extra layer of board (wood or perspex) to the inside of the hutch (ask if your DIY store has a cutting service) or staple mesh to the inside.

Rabbit runs are often made of chicken wire rather than weld mesh which is stronger - you can add a second layer of mesh or replace the orginal - put the mesh on the inside of the run do it protects the wood.

Diversion
Browsing of the roughage in her environment, stripping bark from tree and chewing on bits of wood are perfectly normal and exceptable bunny behaviour. Just because you've gone and turned the trees into a hutch doesn't mean she understands the difference.

Wild rabbits spend about 80% of their time foraging for food, pet rabbits fed concentrated dry food have too much time on their hands, they are like children they get bored and then they start causing trouble.

You don't mention hay in your rabbits diet, this is an important part and rabbits will chew wood if they don't get enough. Make sure she always has plenty of nice smelling hay. Rabbits only require small amounts of dry food (approx 50g per day for an average rabbit) they eat dry food quickly compared to hay which leaves more time for chewing other things.

Food makes the best 'toys' because usually most of a rabbits time if taken up with finding and eating it. So, chuck out your food bowls, from now on if they want dinner they have to go out and forage for it Shocked The tastier the food the more they have to work for it.

So for hay, perhaps they just have to pull it out of a toilet rolls tube or reach up to pull it down through the bars at the top of their run. Pellets are only available by chasing their treatball around, chewing their way into a box or digging their way down and sorting through a box of hay.

Greens, they again could stretch to reach, thread a carrot on a chain and hang it, let them puzzle out how to eat it as it swings. Maybe they have to jump on a box to reach a leaf or search the entire room to find all the slices of carrot.

Most bunnies munch hay all day then spend 10 minutes eating their way through a bowl of pellets/veg. Aim to make it so they spend atleast a couple of hours over their pellets/veg. Think of it as a challenge, the faster they work out the ways your hiding things and making it difficult the more clever you have to be inventing things.

Rabbits are most active at night and it sounds like this is her favourite chewing time so make sure you provide new things to do in the evening to keep her occupied over night.

Female rabbits like to dig, provide a large storage box full of soil for her to dig in (you'll need to cover the run aboce it or drill holes in the bottom of the box to prevent it filling with water.

Tam
 
Another option would be to line a hutch with metal sheeting on the bottom half, if she's that determined! Though yes, spaying should help (with the biting too). I assume (and hope!) the brother is neutered??
 
:thumb: Thank you so much :D I have copied your post Tamisn, hope that was ok :wink: and have also added that seperating her from her brother could only cause more problems as rabbits need company. Also advised of the benefits of spaying to help with hormonal problems as well as the high risk of uterine cancer in unspayed buns.

Hope she takes the advice! :wink:
 
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