Obsessive digging?

My spayed, almost 7 year old girl has lately been obsessively digging in her litterbox and making a huge mess. We can only assume it's from boredom and lack of stimulation, so she's being let out even more often, in the apartment, and also on the small covered patio. But when on the patio, she goes into her cat carrier/outdoor litterbox and continues to obsessively dig and shred the papers and hay inside. If we close the carrier and just leave out a normal litterbox on the patio, she thankfully does not dig it, but instead will dig in a different spot for a while before getting tired and laying down to rest.

Again, I'm assuming this behavior is from boredom and lack of stimulation in her crate (she cannot be a full house rabbit, she has always been very very bad with peeing outside the litterbox to express her emotions) but she does get out time frequently, but all she wants to do, whether inside or outside, is dig. She tends to go through phases of "naughty" behaviors, and she is back to her digging phase. I don't trust most shredding toys or cardboard, because she will sit and make a meal out of it rather than just shred, even if there are treat inside. She'll eat the treats first, and then go for the cardboard next. She'll tear off strips and munch them as if it were parsley, not ripping and then spitting them out, but actually eating them! I would certainly not like for her to get a blockage!

I want her to be happy, and I recognize this behavior as most likely her being bored, but I'm not sure how to remedy this since she can't seem to be trusted with normal shredder toys? Is she maybe just doing this for fun rather than frustration? On a side note, I'd also like her to stop because the noise is maddening and it also makes a huuuuge mess everywhere.

Any help would be appreciated!

Certainly sounds like she's bored to me, probably bored and lonely and the spring air can make bunnies act odd even when speyed, but how long has she been doing this for?

I can totally sympathise with you on this one! My bun Molly has done exactly this for the past year, most of the time. At first I thought she was just naughty, then I thought she was bored/lonely, so I got her a friend. She carried on digging. Then I started to think it was pain related, as she was treated for an ear infection, then the digging stopped. I am still not sure what the problem was/is. She has been tested for almost everything now, all negative. She did have a bad start in life so it could be psychological, I just don't know. She hasn't done it for almost 2 weeks now, since staying overnight at the vets for tests.

i agree - possibly bored, and spring fever has definitely hit lately.

on another note - bisc will do this when something is bothering him health wise. usually teeth or tummy for him, but could be anything. does she have any other symptoms which suggest she might not be feeling well?

I've tried bonding her with a neutered male from a shelter years ago. They seemed to get along for a few weeks, and then started having savage fur flying fights. We took them back to the shelter that the boy was from and had many many more dates and slower introductions and did so much to no effect, so now they both live as separate buns, but are next to each other. They groom each other through the bars sometimes and like being near each other, but if allowed out at the same time they will always eventually fight (sometimes they will have arguments through the bars as well, but rarely). So no remedy really for the loneliness if that could be it.

But for the boredom, I'm hoping that could be fixed, or at least eased! It's been a few weeks, and I think maybe she dislikes her new larger litterbox? Could that change in her "regime" be what's maybe frustrating her? I know rabbits can be really fussy things, so maybe her new littebox triggered her frustrating digging? She does go through phase though and has gone through digging phases many times before, eventually she will stop and move onto a new naughty behavior, but I'd really like to know if anything could be done now?

I'm pretty sure she is in normal health. No changes from normal that I can see or find.

My boy doesn't seem to be bothered by the spring changes yet though, and i've never made the connection in the past. Is this common for spayed/neutered buns to get frustrated in spring too?

Spring seems to effect even some neutered bunnies

Boredom would certainly be a strong contender. There are to angles to tackle it from - give her opportunities to dig and give her plenty of other activities to limit the spare time she has.

I'd usually start by looking at feeding, that's what a rabbit would naturally spend most of their time on. Cutting down concentrates (dry food) and upping hay/fresh foods increases the time taken to eat. Plus making eating more interactive, chuck out the food bowl and make her work for the food. Hide dry food in/under things, hang up veggies. If she spits out the cardboard thats fine - put stuff in boxes (food packing is great for the this) and like her shred her way in. Get hold of a treat ball - look under cats in the pet shop if non for bunnies. If you can make meal times last a couple of hours she'll spend a lot less time on digging