BananaChips
New Kit
Hello all.
Forgive me if I sound totally incapable, I am fairly new to owning a rabbit.
I have a 5 and half month old male rabbit and he is driving my partners and I to the point of distraction! We know he is coming up to the age of castration - which we do plan soon when I have the funds.
He is cute and sometimes very funny, but it is widely overshadowed by his terrible behaviour at the moment.
He is out for around 7 hours a day, able to roam free in the living room. I've over spent on buying toys and treats for him, when it got too much, we resorted to home made cardboard toys etc, which he is has no interest in at all. Never has been interested in anything we've given him to play etc.
He is so destructive it's unbelievable - I don't think there isn't anything he hasn't chewed. Every 2 minutes we're up having to chase him away or distract him from chewing something he shouldn't - we rent, so we have to be careful what he does actually chew.
A few weeks ago, he took to chewing/rattling his cage bars when he goes in at night time/when we are at work. He will do it non-stop for about an hour, have a break then go back to it. Which you can hear through the floor in our bedroom upstairs. We've given him a few toys in his cage, loads of hanging things to chew on, wooden sticks to chew on, but he still continues, only seeming to take a break when he eats...
We obviously have not been able to bond with him what so ever. He won't let us touch him or pick him up. He will sometimes come up to you or follow you, but only because he thinks he's getting food. He's not even remotely interested in knowing us or being near us. If we do go to stroke him while we're giving him treats, a major sulk on starts.
We are coming to the end of our tether with him sometimes and it's getting exhausting keep getting up and down to chase him from chewing or get him out of places he shouldn't be or try and distract him from chewing the bars on his cage. And in typical fashion, it's me who keeps having to tell him off etc, so he literally hates me, compared to my partner.
I just need some tips on how to deal with him, he can be lovely and cute, but he really is getting out of control and we're close to considering rehoming him to someone who he will get on better with...
Getting another rabbit is not an option at the moment - a because he isn't neutered and b because I do not have the time/money to invest in a cage change etc at the moment. It might be a possibility in the future, but not right now.
Forgive me if I sound totally incapable, I am fairly new to owning a rabbit.
I have a 5 and half month old male rabbit and he is driving my partners and I to the point of distraction! We know he is coming up to the age of castration - which we do plan soon when I have the funds.
He is cute and sometimes very funny, but it is widely overshadowed by his terrible behaviour at the moment.
He is out for around 7 hours a day, able to roam free in the living room. I've over spent on buying toys and treats for him, when it got too much, we resorted to home made cardboard toys etc, which he is has no interest in at all. Never has been interested in anything we've given him to play etc.
He is so destructive it's unbelievable - I don't think there isn't anything he hasn't chewed. Every 2 minutes we're up having to chase him away or distract him from chewing something he shouldn't - we rent, so we have to be careful what he does actually chew.
A few weeks ago, he took to chewing/rattling his cage bars when he goes in at night time/when we are at work. He will do it non-stop for about an hour, have a break then go back to it. Which you can hear through the floor in our bedroom upstairs. We've given him a few toys in his cage, loads of hanging things to chew on, wooden sticks to chew on, but he still continues, only seeming to take a break when he eats...
We obviously have not been able to bond with him what so ever. He won't let us touch him or pick him up. He will sometimes come up to you or follow you, but only because he thinks he's getting food. He's not even remotely interested in knowing us or being near us. If we do go to stroke him while we're giving him treats, a major sulk on starts.
We are coming to the end of our tether with him sometimes and it's getting exhausting keep getting up and down to chase him from chewing or get him out of places he shouldn't be or try and distract him from chewing the bars on his cage. And in typical fashion, it's me who keeps having to tell him off etc, so he literally hates me, compared to my partner.
I just need some tips on how to deal with him, he can be lovely and cute, but he really is getting out of control and we're close to considering rehoming him to someone who he will get on better with...
Getting another rabbit is not an option at the moment - a because he isn't neutered and b because I do not have the time/money to invest in a cage change etc at the moment. It might be a possibility in the future, but not right now.