Please help, she won't stop chewing

[Gem 333]

Hi,

Shakeira is a spayed himi X Lionhead. We just moved house a week ago, and she was a proper free range bun in the old flat, never kept her in, but now that she's in the new house, we've tried her free range a couple of times, but she won't stop chewing off wall paper - my OH is starting to get really angry, and wants her kept in her cage more, but I think its unfair when she has been a free range bun.

Her behaviour has changed too, she seems, naughtier, i suppose, more scratching and biting when she doesn't get her own way. She free ranges when we are in but we have to keep a constant eye on her, where as before you could trust her to run around the house and not chew anything.

I know she will be unsettled with the move, but its a good move for her, there is a garden now, although she has never been out in it yet, because its COLD!!!

I am thinking maybe a neutered male will help...but will it?

I really dont know what to do for the best, she has gone from being my lovely little girl who comes onto the bed in the morning for smooches, to a norty little madam with an attitude. PLEASE HELP!!

 

[prettylupin]

Hi,

Shakeira is a spayed himi X Lionhead. We just moved house a week ago, and she was a proper free range bun in the old flat, never kept her in, but now that she's in the new house, we've tried her free range a couple of times, but she won't stop chewing off wall paper - my OH is starting to get really angry, and wants her kept in her cage more, but I think its unfair when she has been a free range bun.

Her behaviour has changed too, she seems, naughtier, i suppose, more scratching and biting when she doesn't get her own way. She free ranges when we are in but we have to keep a constant eye on her, where as before you could trust her to run around the house and not chew anything.

I know she will be unsettled with the move, but its a good move for her, there is a garden now, although she has never been out in it yet, because its COLD!!!

I am thinking maybe a neutered male will help...but will it?

I really dont know what to do for the best, she has gone from being my lovely little girl who comes onto the bed in the morning for smooches, to a norty little madam with an attitude. PLEASE HELP!!

I suspect the new territory is playing a huge part in her behaviour. Buns find change to their environment stressful as they mentally map their territory, so for it all to change can be distressing.
Does she have a good routine to her day and a place of her own that is in an area that she feels is secure and private?

Most importantly, how do you both respond to her chewing behaviour when she is doing it? :wave:

 

[BattleKat]

How old is she and is she spayed?

Could just be that she's stressed by such a big change and will settle.
I always think a companion is a good idea, personally. even if the bun is perfectly behaved

 

[prettylupin]

How old is she and is she spayed?

Could just be that she's stressed by such a big change and will settle.
I always think a companion is a good idea, personally. even if the bun is perfectly behaved

Bunny is spayed... first line of OP's post :wave: It was my first thought too.

 

[Sky-O]

Did the previous occupants of the house have any animals?

I agree with prettylupin about a routine and a safe place. If its not feasible to ahve her freerange right now, could you maybe try attaching a pen to her cage so that she does get some time in a bigger space, but a safe space?

 

[Jenova]

I think you are right saying she is unsettled. My personal approach would be to provide her with more interesting things to chew like some cardboard boxes, toilet rolls etc. Perhaps you could move her outside in the spring. Get a hutch and run or a shed and bond her with a male bun?

 

[Gem 333]

Thanks for all your comments. Well, I have tried a few things to get her to stop. Clapping, which works for about 3 seconds, moving her away, but she just goes back, and speaking to her in a different, deeper tone of voice. she look at me for a few seconds then starts again.

The lady here before was elderly, and Im sure she didnt have pets.

I would prefer her to be an indoo bun, as she always has been. Bless her , shes running round like a loon now, we call this "training"!! She is so clever, I do hope she settles soon.

Is there a way anything safe I can buy to prevent the chewing, something perhaps she wont like the taste of?

Ive tried talking to her....unsuprisingly this didnt work either! Think I will go and make some sort of toy with a box, see if that helps!

 

[BattleKat]

you could try chew stoppa spray?

 

[prettylupin]

Thanks for all your comments. Well, I have tried a few things to get her to stop. Clapping, which works for about 3 seconds, moving her away, but she just goes back, and speaking to her in a different, deeper tone of voice. she look at me for a few seconds then starts again.

The lady here before was elderly, and Im sure she didnt have pets.

I would prefer her to be an indoo bun, as she always has been. Bless her , shes running round like a loon now, we call this "training"!! She is so clever, I do hope she settles soon.

Is there a way anything safe I can buy to prevent the chewing, something perhaps she wont like the taste of?

Ive tried talking to her....unsuprisingly this didnt work either! Think I will go and make some sort of toy with a box, see if that helps!

Rabbits are VERY quick to learn that a behaviour elicits a certain response from their owners and this behaviour then quickly becomes an associated learned response.... this is reinforced by rewarding the behaviour. More often than not just merely responding to bunny and giving them attention for the behaviour is reward enough.

My advice from my experiences with different learnt association behaviours is to IGNORE the behaviour and bunny completely and CONSISTENTLY until the behaviour disappears. It can take a lot of patience and several weeks :roll: They are quick to learn and slow to forget.

If you can not bear to have her chew things whilst you ignore her chewing them (and I mean don't even give eye contact or react in anyway - even think to yourself... oh well, and find it funny inside... it will mean you give off less of an irritated anxious air that bun can pick up on as well - they don't half sense our emotions), if you can't bear to let her chew then I would also block off the places she does these behaviours, restrict access to them, or remove the items that she chews - it helps to break the habit along with the ignoring it.

Nino used to incessantly chew the back of the sofa EVERY time I was on the telephone in order to get my attention back on to him. The more I responded the more he did it... he would then escalate the behaviour when I first started trying the ignoring technique to the tassles on the rug in front of me. Like children they will escalate to get a response if the usual behaviour is not forthcoming any longer. Poppy was a genius for this with her demonstrative peeing to get her point across - we had to learn to ignore this too to break this unwanted behaviour. (Rescue buns come with bagage!) The more we ignored her the more she escalated it to the point that she came and sat directly in front of us between us and the tv one evening and lifted her tail and peed on the rug so we couldn't possibly miss it! :shock: We both carried on watching the tv trying desperately not to look at her and laugh. She never did that ever again.... it got NO response. :lol:
Just give it a go.... it does work, just takes a new way of thinking about it all. You have to remember as bright as they are, their cognitive function is about that of a 2yr old. Even now, her weeing behaviour a distant memory, if Poppy is trying to get our attention she will go and do something she knows is naughty (eating plants through the fence she knows she shouldn't, jumping on the pots on the patio etc..... and purposely look round to see if we are looking! :roll: It is purely for our benefit... when noone watches her she hops off and gives up!

 

[Gem 333]

Thank you.

Yes, I have thought about the ignoring thing, as she does tend to look at us as if you say "are you watching, look at what im doing now!!".

She has been out free ranging since midnight last night and has been better actually, although it seems to be in the living room that she does her worst (the one room we've spent all the money on!). She was on the bed this morning giving me smooches until I got up and fed her!

Her behaviour is improving slightly, so hopefully she is slowly starting to settle. Think I will do as you suggest and block off the areas she is being naughtiest and try ignoring her - although this is difficult when she is sinking her teefys into the brand new couch!!

Thanks for all your help, sometimes its good to have other rabbit lovers to speak to, rather than getting the usual "keep it in a cage" response!

 

[Terri_louise177]

We had this problem with April. She started to chew our carpet, and we're in a rented place so it was very stressful!! We know she doesn't realise what she's doing is bad but we've had to confine both bunnies to the kitchen where it's bunny-safe. We have quite a big kitchen which is lucky, but weirdly, they seem much... calmer and happier not having the whole of downstairs all of the time! Because they're in the kitchen most of the day, it's now special and fun when we get home and they get more space, and April has stopped chewing the carpet when she's in the living room.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is, is there anyway you can corner her off in an area she can do no harm during the day, so she doesn't get confined to her cage. And then she will get used to this area as her own, feel less stressful, and maybe will be less destructive when she gets to free range