In need of a little bunnyproofing advice...

[MillyAlice]

Hi everyone
I could do with a little help with my bunny, Jasper. He lives in a cage but is of course let out in the evenings and mornings (wherever time allows!) to hop about the living room in peace. He was doing SO well, that we decided to leave him for a few hours alone, to see how it went. It went great, so we decided that maybe he was ready to be left overnight.
This, was a big mistake. Well, not for Jaspie, who had a whale of a time, helping himself to a large portion of carpet and a decent sized chunk of my armchair!
I can get over this, and I'm sure once we replace the carpet, the landlord won't be too ticked off. More worrying is how devious he's getting. We have a foldable playpen that is currently around the corner of the room housing the TV. In the 10 minutes I was out of the room cooking the tea, Jaspie figured out how to move it out of the way, picked a tasty looking power pack, dragged it out from behind the playpen and had himself a snack. I found him chewing away on the LIVE, PLUGGED IN AND SWITCHED ON cable. He had already chewed through the top wire. Normally he's uncatchable, but I moved so fast he didn't stand a chance! I was in tears...
So what I'd like to know is, is there any particularly great secret to stopping them eating things they shouldn't? Esp. Carpet... or of sufficiently securing a playpan that the little rascal can't move it?
Phew, I feel better for venting!

 

[Cari]

I know how you feel, I have had both of these things happen to me with a rather mischevious bunny rabbit... :roll:

The only thing I have changed which has stopped Stevie from eating the carpet is to provide him with a lot more stimulation. I sit with him on the floor, allow him to free range in the living room. I move his toys around on a day to day basis so that he has things to explore and if I see him nibbling a certain area (he always nibbled the same area before) I put something down to distract him, such as a spare piece of carpet or a door mat and he has a lot more toys than he used to. He has lots of chew toys, a forage box, willow stick tunnel, pop up tent, tunnel and noisy toys! He has been brilliant since I have let him free range full time, but I started him free ranging just a few weeks ago when I was at home all the time, so 24/7 for the first few days I was with him and ensured there were no accidents and no carpet chewing.

Stephen did also, once, chew through my phone charger. He only ever did it once and never again but all I did was duct tape wires to the wall, or shield them with half a hose pipe that I cut in half and used as a wire covering. Regarding securing the play pen, I had to use bricks to weight my barriers down when Stephen wasn't allowed full access to the entire downstairs of the house because he would headbutt things out of the way!

 

[Elena]

This is the sort of thing I do for wires...

The one on the left is in plastic tubing and behind mesh grids, the one on the left is inside box trunking. Any chargers get plugged into a four way plug in my wardrobe so completely out of the way of bunny teeth. If they can get access to it then it gets covered in something.

As for the carpet, sometimes they get something into their heads and focus on it. Id try covering it with offcuts and providing a digging box to get it out of his system. Is he neutered?

 

[fruitandnutcake]

Cable tidies ( the zipper type ones) are handy for slowing them down...they can chew through the outer case, but usually gives you a chance to notice before they get to the wires. I also have wires hidden behind sheets of plywood, wires hung up on picture hooks so they aren't near the floor....but the pesky things always find a way :lol::lol:

Yep, I lost all four corners of my leather settee, a lap top charger, a couple of ds and psp chargers, my sons phone charger ( "it's ok Mum, I won't let them anywhere near my wires" were son's last words :lol son's speaker and ethernet cables etc. etc. So I banned the bunnies from my son's rooms. Then Poppy started chewing holes in my new duvet cover.....

bunny proof??? I think make it as safe as possible as far as wires, but resign yourself to the fact that everything else will get chewed sooner or later!

 

[MillyAlice]

Thanks for all the advice!
As far as toys go... Well, let's just say I work on the same retail park as Pets at Home, so whenever I feel like treating myself, it usually just turns into treating Jaspie... the current census is rope balls, loofah hanging chew, a flexi tunnel, a hay tunnel, a stick bridge, his beloved stuffed panda, a puzzle chew, a mini kong, a carrot chew... Alongside tons of boxes, the weekly local paper which he steals and never lets me read, a dustpan and brush that I've completely lost ownership of, and my OH's shoes... I have some carpet offcuts, but I wasn't sure if it would be confusing to him if I taught him that it was ok to eat /some/ of the carpet... the wire concealment is brilliant, goes to show how resourceful bunny owners can be! Silly old me thought a 3ft tall metal grid would be enough to keep him at bay :roll: Shows I'm still learning!
He is neutered, but only as of about a week ago as we've not had him all that long and he was settling in. Still waiting for the effects to kick in!
As I say, I'm not ridiculously houseproud, I'm certainly not the sort to buy a puppy then return it because it ruined my white sofa :lol:
Incidentally, I popped into the study to type this, and went to check on him to find... yup, you guessed it, more pulled up carpet! I guess I never learn :roll:

 

[Elena]

The thing with bunnies is they thrive on attention, even negative such as a telling off. If you are able to ignore it and 'let it go' in time he may tire with that trick. Certainly don't give him treats to divert his attention, all that tells him is 'if I dig at this carpet I get a treat!' and he'll repeat the behaviour to get more treats.

I've never actually had a problem with carpet, possibly because mine have all been neutered and some time passed before they were on carpet. Hormones seem to play a role in digging as unneutered rabbits, in my experience from seeing what other people have said, seem to dig holes in turf and carpet much more often than neutered ones. I have had trouble with them weeing on the bed and this was due to the positive/negative attention thing. I sprung into action, changed the bed, possibly even gentley scolded them with my voice and then fed them as they tended to do it early mornings. Once I adapted their feeding and started covering the bed with a tarpaulin during the day so I didn't have to worry about it it lessened and eventually stopped.

I have very little trouble with destruction now. I find they spend most of their time eating good quality farm (baled) hay and that keeps them out of mischief. Plus I protect as much as I can and limit what is on the floor and what they can reach.

 

[esupi]

Our cable are all in trunking running along the top of the skirting - this stuff:
http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/electric...hesive-Micro-Trunking-White-Pack-Of-4-9726456

Ours don't really chew the carpet anymore. We seemed to have some success using a chew-stop spray - took a while though!