Bingo's bringing me to tears with his naughty behaviour

[whibblywoman]

Hi everyone, i'm a newbie so please be gentle.

To give you a bit of background we have 2 buns Tottie a 2 year old New Zealand White who is a bunny with the most gorgeous tempriment and Bingo a 14 month old Lionhead who we love dearly but is a little hell raiser.

Both are outside during the day in the Summer but come in at night and in the Winter they are both indoors. They live in 2 large dog cages that i've linked together so they have one area to sleep and poo and the other is a play and feeding area. They're both in the living room so have loads of human contact and i let them out as soon as i get home so they have at least 6hrs a night running round the lounge.

Tottie is a bit of a lazy so and so! He likes nothing more than having a bink then coming over and giving us a nudge for some loving, either that or he'll just propel himself onto the sofa for a hug and is a very loving bunny.

Bingo is a little sod and i don't know if it's my fault he's this way. He's always been a bit cheeky and likes nothing more than digging all over the garden and houdini style magic crawling through the bars of the cage to have roam of the living room!!

The trouble is now getting worse. When they were in the lounge as youngsters they had a couple of pee accidents on the carpet, (which we've cleaned as best we could but there are faint signs), and Bingo has taken it upon himself to rid the carpet of his mess by pulling the carpet up. We've tried to discourage him as best we can, first by just shouting "NO" and we've progressed to spraying him with a water but to no avail. He just turns round, well, binks round and has another go. During one of his night adventures, (chicken wire around the cage has stopped this), he pulled up a 3 inch square of carpet fibre so we now have a bald patch.

He also over grooms Tottie's eyes. Tottie is so placid all he does is tries to move his head to get away from this over enthusiastic display but Bingo actually nips his eyes. The vet says if this behaviour doesn't stop that we'll have to seperate them but to be honest that would be devestating to both bunnies if we did that.

We've bunny proofed everything that we can however the carpet scenario and his constant overgrooming is bringing me to tears.

They both have so many toys to keep them busy that my husband tells me off when i come back with another toy/box.

I clean them everyday, they have fresh water, food, hay everyday and i groom them every other day, what's going wrong and how can i stop this destructive behaviour??

Tottie loves the loving and Bingo gets jealous and sidles over so he does have a lot of fuss and attention but on his terms only, if i'm lying on the floor Bingo will actually come over and groom me so i hope he's happy i just wish he wasn't so naughty.

Please i really need some help

 

[Sooz]

Sorry to ask the bleedin' obvious but have they both been neutered?

 

[Gem]

:wave: Hello fellow hampshire lass!

I can't really add much except to echo what Sooz has said.

Good luck!!

 

[whibblywoman]

Hi Sooz and Gem, yep both were done the beginning of last year.
When we first got Tottie we were told that he was a girl until he went to have his first jab and oops, there you go, we found out he was a boy. Same thing happened with Bingo, when we got him we were told that he was a girl, until he went in to be spayed and they told us, yep, he's also a boy!
Even though they've both been done Bingo does like grabbing hold of Tottie and humping him from time to time?? Tottie hasn't quite got an understanding and sometimes tried to reciprocate but gets it round the wrong way!
I thought that once bunnies were done that they didn't need to demonstrate this behaviour? I'm not worried about this i just feel guilty that they might still be having urges and there's no way that they can release that frustration really.
Jen x

 

[BinkyBun]

Hia :wave:

Don't worry about the humping. That is territorial and more to do with saying who is boss rather than frustration. They don't actually have those feelings anymore.

You really should get this book. I have it and its fab. In fact most of us on here have it too and its full of answers to those Why does my rabbit questions.....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Does-Ra...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201223193&sr=1-1

 

[Gem]

With the carpet, try actually moving him away from the area to his own toys or something and distract him for a while.

With the over grooming, try giving Bingo a soft toy, that might help take to distract him from Tottie

 

[Deelove]

I'd agree with the picking up. After reading it on here I've started giving one of mine a time out and locking them away for a few minutes when they do something bad. If it's just one specific area of carpet that is being picked then I would put something heavy over it until he gets the idea.

 

[Mairi]

Have you ever tried to toilet train them?
I trained my rabbit to only pee/poo on newspaper, or a tray of soil and teared up newspaper and hay.
That works on most rabbits and should stop him peeing.

 

[whibblywoman]

Hi everyone, thanks for taking the time to read my massive post! :wave:

Bingo and Totts are fully housetrained now but for some reason Bingo keeps going back to the old area where he had accidents as a young bun. I like the idea of a time out, i think i'll give that a go, he isn't the sharpest tool in the box bless him but i think that he may eventually get the idea.

I'll keep going with the distraction technique as well. His first warning will be a "NO" and "look at this Bingo" with plenty of toys put in front of him and if he keeps going at the pulling then he'll go back in the cages for a bit.

In regards to the eye grooming i'll definately get him a soft toy to play with. They've got everything bar soft toys as i knew they'd rip the stuffing out of it and i worry about them eating the fabric but i'll pop out tonight and get him one.

I read on a post on a previous discussion that a salt lick might provide him with a replacement for Totts eyeballs, they've had one for a week now so i'll keep my fingers crossed it will all work out because in the end, aside from the buns, it would destroy me having to seperate them. Bingo may be the character but ultimately Totts is the big brother and when something new is brought into the equation Totts is the one checking it out with Bingo doing his baby steps behind him, it's so cute.


Thanks everyone, take care

Jen x