Is there a good way to stop them from chewing their new home up?

[FredW]

OK, so Fluffy and Bunbuns have been in their new home since last Friday and I'd say they love it. I was a bit concerned about the flooring at first, but turned out I needn't be. Fluffy especially is already super fast on both wood and lino, Bunbuns is getting there.
anyhow... I know there was a thread about repellents recently, so this may be the same issue, if it is, sorry for double posting, but basically the issue is this. When we first got Bunbuns she was a big chewer, but then she stopped completely and went on to dig and stuff all the time, throw stuff around, but no longer chewing everything. Then Fluffy came and he chews literally everything. he even tried to chew a corner of the wall off. the bad part with him being such a chewer is that since him and Bunbuns do everything together, she started chewing again. They have chew toys, bark, hay fodder bricks, wood sticks, gnarl stones, you name it, anything they could chew on... and they do, but they are also chewing on their new pen. Now I am not bothered about the aesthetics as much, sure I'd like it to stay nice, but more about the fact they seem to really like chewing the support legs from the tunnel and shelves. I cant cover them with any plastic or so, for one as I cant reach there easy enough without dismantling the whole lot... and also Fluffy will eat it. He will eat anything, had a floor mat here in the room as Bunbuns likes to sleep on there, he tried eating it. anything he can he will, so I am looking for something I could hopefully use to stop them from chewing on it, or better say discourage them without driving them away from the spot, don't want them to no longer use their tunnel for example.
hope that all makes sense.

 

[cpayne]

Nothing I know works as Doughnut is a chewer. She doesn't chew my rugs but any corner of the lining paper and it's off. I've put plastic corners up to cover them and also added some Perspex on a few flat parts of the wall where she's managed to get a grip!

 

[FredW]

yeah I guess it seems when you have a chewer you have a chewer and nothing can be done. I am hoping he'll calm down as he gets older, Bunbuns did, well till he turned up, but I am still in hope lol

 

[Babsie]

yeah I guess it seems when you have a chewer you have a chewer and nothing can be done. I am hoping he'll calm down as he gets older, Bunbuns did, well till he turned up, but I am still in hope lol

And you are considering adding a third into your chewing club.
No, sorry, I have nothing to suggest. I live in the land of carpets without corners.

 

[cpayne]

The good thing is she doesn't dig up my garden! I'm getting a new reclining leather sofa in about 7 weeks, fingers crossed she doesn't like it. She doesn't chew fabric so my other one was OK, but she loves paper and is partial to the plaster underneath.

 

[joey&boo]

yeah I guess it seems when you have a chewer you have a chewer and nothing can be done. I am hoping he'll calm down as he gets older, Bunbuns did, well till he turned up, but I am still in hope lol

In my experience bunnies chewing habits are much improved once they are a little older. I feel for you, I have not so fond memories of my previous bunnies chewing missions, they're unstoppable

 

[FredW]

And you are considering adding a third into your chewing club.
No, sorry, I have nothing to suggest. I live in the land of carpets without corners.

well I may not anymore, with the third. The lady who bonded the two of them, who opened the rescue again, yay... said she would advice against it. Because they are so extremely close.

yeah, well I am sure i'll find the right thing to stop Mr Chew-Chew at some point

 

[FredW]

In my experience bunnies chewing habits are much improved once they are a little older. I feel for you, I have not so fond memories of my previous bunnies chewing missions, they're unstoppable

Good, so there is still hope lol. Hopefully when he calms down a bit, she will do again too, but right now, they are Double Trouble, like two kids in their "Terrible Two's". but I love them so much, so can never be annoyed with them, it's natural to them anyway, just hope they stop before their chewed through a leg properly. I was wondering if it could be nerves related. There have been big changes for both of them over the last couple of months, so maybe that is partly why?

 

[joey&boo]

Maybe so. I did wonder when Joey had a chewing relapse (wall) whether it was anxiety related as it was on a rare night when nobody was home. Still the change was necessary so they could get the perfect marriage & then the perfect set up

 

[FredW]

Yeah I know what you mean, sometimes it may not be ideal for them for a while, but if the end result is them being much happier it's all worth it. So is he now more less completely fine chewing wise? and how old was he when he stopped. I'd say Bunbuns got a lot better when she was about a year and a bit old. Fluffy will be 1 year old at the end of September, so could still be a few months of this if he would take that long to stop

 

[mabels mum]

I can't quite picture the area you mean (and I have seen your pen -it's great!). Could you put some kind of wire mesh around the 'leg' and stuff with hay so they can nibble without damaging or something like that?

 

[joey&boo]

Yeah I know what you mean, sometimes it may not be ideal for them for a while, but if the end result is them being much happier it's all worth it. So is he now more less completely fine chewing wise? and how old was he when he stopped. I'd say Bunbuns got a lot better when she was about a year and a bit old. Fluffy will be 1 year old at the end of September, so could still be a few months of this if he would take that long to stop

Joey was 13 months when we got him & he devoured all sorts for about another year. He's a good boy now, he not had "itchy teeth" (as we call chewing mishaps) for ages bar the one incident.

 

[FredW]

I can't quite picture the area you mean (and I have seen your pen -it's great!). Could you put some kind of wire mesh around the 'leg' and stuff with hay so they can nibble without damaging or something like that?

it's hard to describe really, you know the tunnel at the back of the pen? it's 5' long only so both sides are open. they go in there and nibble on stuff. so yeah that may be doable with the wire, may have to remove the shelves to fix it, but I think it could be done, will have a look when they stopped their nap. right now both went back in their pen for toilet, food and a good long nap, good as gold those two... yeah right

 

[FredW]

Joey was 13 months when we got him & he devoured all sorts for about another year. He's a good boy now, he not had "itchy teeth" (as we call chewing mishaps) for ages bar the one incident.

Well there is hope then I guess Fingers crossed. And yeah "itchy teeth" that sounds about right Glad Joey is all good now, just so much nicer without hearing that dreaded sound where you know, something is being chewed to pieces

 

[tonibun]

I have noticed that new wood tends to be chewed, I suppose it looks much nicer :lol: then when they have it the way they want it they stop chewing

 

[nessar]

Craving wood/wood pulp can sometimes be the sign of a sluggish gut and the need for more fibre in their diet - so check they are eating a pile of hay the size of themselves every day. If not, increasing the amount of hay they eat by making it more interesting and trying new fresh brands can help.

I'd say your best bet is to distract them - chewing is worse when they get bored. Make sure they have an area to live in of 10x6ft permanent access and rotate activities. If they are just chewing and not eating, cardboard chewing toys may help. Also try fresh wood - try apple sticks, Fluffers on here often sells them, these tend to go down much better than dried wood. And you know the log bridges you get? Use them to wrap around problem areas, to encourage the buns to chew these instead.

You can also distract with food activities - like hard-to-get foraging and giving access to grass.

I'd also invest in some of these of the metal kind: http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/wall-corner-protector

 

[FredW]

Craving wood/wood pulp can sometimes be the sign of a sluggish gut and the need for more fibre in their diet - so check they are eating a pile of hay the size of themselves every day. If not, increasing the amount of hay they eat by making it more interesting and trying new fresh brands can help.

I'd say your best bet is to distract them - chewing is worse when they get bored. Make sure they have an area to live in of 10x6ft permanent access and rotate activities. If they are just chewing and not eating, cardboard chewing toys may help. Also try fresh wood - try apple sticks, Fluffers on here often sells them, these tend to go down much better than dried wood. And you know the log bridges you get? Use them to wrap around problem areas, to encourage the buns to chew these instead.

You can also distract with food activities - like hard-to-get foraging and giving access to grass.

I'd also invest in some of these of the metal kind: http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/wall-corner-protector

Thanks for the link, will check that out, and see if I find Fluffers apple sticks on here.
as for the other stuff... well they eat tons of hay, both of them, and also have fibre first, as well as other fibre stuff. They don't actually eat it, just chew it off and leave a big mess. only at night really, during the day, they are fine. Well usually are. sometimes they run around and play and jump, then go and do some chewing before running right out the pen again and play around. I think the problem really is that they enjoy doing it. In fact their new house got so many things for them to explore and do there is no need for them to get bored, maybe it is just a nerves things, since she was totally fine for ages, and he calmed down a lot before they went off to be boarded for a few days while I put the new place up. So who knows really. Neither has chewed all day, so will see what the morning will bring.
as for the cardboard toys, I didn't give them any anymore, since he just eats cardboard like it's dinner. She plays with it and chews, but he actually sits down and just eats it and big amounts if he could, so took them out as I didn't feel it was good. He was extremely skinny when he came to the rescue, so maybe he didn't get much else than cardboard when he was with his previous owner.
but yeah will check out those things you mentioned. thanks for that

 

[joey&boo]

I bet the morning has bought more chewing:lol:
Just an afterthought,our bunnies like to lie under the coffee table & they used to chew that loads. I wound string round the legs, a cheap & easy solution; it doesnt look the best but that because the norm with bunnies

 

[FredW]

Actually I just looked and funny enough... I am not spotting any new chewing. Could be at a part I cant see easily, but tomorrow is my cleaning out day anyway, so will spot all the different places. but doesn't look anything like it did yesterday morning. They seem to get more joy out of rearranging their home at the moment, found all moved around this morning. I know Bunbuns used to do that in her old run, put it how she wanted it to, so I shall leave it in the new locations, they obviously decided they wanted things in different places
Funny enough, both of mine love laying under our coffee table too, strange isn't it how you see a lot of them do it, wonder what it is about that. and so far he hasn't chewed it yet, I put him an ikea bed next to it, so he chews that instead if he wants a chew.