HELP! Can't cope anymore with Twinkle ✨

Hi,

I got a friend for my rescue rabbit of three years, Ghibli who's also a rescue rabbit. Apparently she's been rehomed a number of times, though I don't know how many.

Everything seemed fine when I got them home, she was a lot more boisterous than Ghibli [who's a small Lion head cross] and almost twice the size, but it was mostly chewing and slightly destructive behaviour.

The problems started when she began destroying everything the moment that I came in the room in the morning.

I had planned on eventually giving her full run of the livingroom in the same way Ghibli's always had, but she chewed her way through a couch leg on the first evening, so that was out.

I then bought a massive pen that takes up the half the room so that they'd have enough space, gave her plenty of wood to chew, and hoped for the best. No go, still focused on destroying the lit tray and spreading its contents across as wide an area as possible.

She's also obsessed with biting and chasing Ghibli, though I'm assured by the animal sanctuary that she has been spayed.

I then built her a digging box, with some old tee shirts, and lot of hay, which worked for about two seconds until Ghibli decided that like it and it belonged to him, and she then started in on the lit tray again.



This is how it now looks. During the day they both have free run of the living room, and their penned in at night [something Ghibli's isn't that pleased about].

I've always shown Ghibli a lot of affection because he was a single rabbit, and at first he seemed to depend on me less, but now he's comming up to me more and more for affection, and I'm worried that she's getting jealous [of the affection he's getting and/that he's getting more affection].

I've tried really hard to befriend her, but nothing seems to work. She seems to distrust me implicitly. Sometimes she'll let me stroke her, but most of the time she just grabs the treat, hides, then carries on destroying stuff.

I don't really care about the chewing, its the kicking lit over the carpet that bothers me. There seems to be an element of planned aggression in it in that it always seems to happen after or during interaction with Ghibli.

I don't want to be yet another person who abandons her, but I just don't know what to do anymore?



Any help would be greatly apreaciated.

Barry

P. S. The little white rabbit is Ghibli, the black and white one is Twinkle

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

Oooft. I certainly see why you're frustrated. I think a lot of us would be run ragged with that. Is she spayed at all? Only ask as some people only neuter the males - spaying usually helps with behaviour. She does have rather a large dewlap going on!

The animal sanctuary have sworn to me that she is, but she's not behaving that way. She's constantly chasing Ghibli, and bitting him, and sniffing him. TBH at this point I simply don't know. I'm phoning them in the morning for another conversation...

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

NewStreetPhoto said:

The animal sanctuary have sworn to me that she is, but she's not behaving that way. She's constantly chasing Ghibli, and bitting him, and sniffing him. TBH at this point I simply don't know. I'm phoning them in the morning for another conversation...

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Did they have any sort of proof she is? If not it may be worth checking at a vets if poss.

Of course, plenty of spayed females have dewlaps, and behave badly as well, so you could just be unlucky, but I feel it is worth a proper check rather than relying on their info.

Of course also, rabbits are messy, destructive creatures. We've been very lucky with Autumn who is an angel in comparison to this. But we're fully aware if we brought another into the mix the luck could end there.

If you could expand their pen size any, it may help give you a break through the day where total destruction isn't a constant. I just know however much I love my bun, I'd be quite stressed out with this on a daily basis

It sounds like fairly normal bunny behaviour to me. If they are not fighting, I would give her more time to settle in. Maybe find a way round the mess that is upsetting you eg use underbed storage boxes for digging in, cardboard boxes as hideyholes / to destroy, pen off anything you don't want chewing. They look quite happy together. Moving her again isn't going to help either of them if you have a successful bond. Maybe she needs to unpack all her baggage from her past life, find her way round and settle in properly for the long term - something she hasn't really experienced before.

JessBun said:

Did they have any sort of proof she is? If not it may be worth checking at a vets if poss.

Of course, plenty of spayed females have dewlaps, and behave badly as well, so you could just be unlucky, but I feel it is worth a proper check rather than relying on their info.

Of course also, rabbits are messy, destructive creatures. We've been very lucky with Autumn who is an angel in comparison to this. But we're fully aware if we brought another into the mix the luck could end there.

If you could expand their pen size any, it may help give you a break through the day where total destruction isn't a constant. I just know however much I love my bun, I'd be quite stressed out with this on a daily basis

Click to expand...

I've already expanded their pen size to take up most of the livingroom, but she actually spends most of her time in the small part of the enclosure I keep up permanently for their privacy.

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

Shimmer said:

It sounds like fairly normal bunny behaviour to me. If they are not fighting, I would give her more time to settle in. Maybe find a way round the mess that is upsetting you eg use underbed storage boxes for digging in, cardboard boxes as hideyholes / to destroy, pen off anything you don't want chewing. They look quite happy together. Moving her again isn't going to help either of them if you have a successful bond. Maybe she needs to unpack all her baggage from her past life, find her way round and settle in properly for the long term - something she hasn't really experienced before.

Click to expand...

I agree, and the last thing I want to do is move her again. The pour things been pushed arround for ages. It's one of the reasons I chose, that and obviously Ghibli liked her. I just need to find a way to make her into a friend?

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

How long has she been with you and has she been bonded 'properly' with Ghibli?

They've been together for two months, and they seem quite happy. Ghibli grooms her, they have independent lives yet come back together, and Twinkle grooms Ghibli. The one thing that worries me is the way she chases and bits him. It seems like making behaviour more than friend behaviour, but I've never bonded rabbits before and I've only every had experience of Ghibli who's basically an angel. The other thing is that recently Ghibli has been comming to me more and more for affection, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I was establishing a relationship with Twinkle until a couple of days ago when she just reverted to her old destructive ways.

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

Lots of things to dig in, jump on, tunnels, cardboard boxes, willow and apple branches to chew. I found that my rabbits like things like chill n chew mats and willow balls. They are intelligent active creatures. I had an indoor doe who liked to nest in the sofa!

I really hope you find a wonderful solution. They look so happy together.

Trying my best, I've given her tunnels and boxes. I've made her a digging box with t-shirt and hay, but she's obsessed with taking appart the lit tray every morning! It doesn't mater what else I do, she always wants to dig in that, and in the process cover the carpet in used lit. They are only carpet tiles, but I don't want them attracting flies in the summer..

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

I will try Apple branches though! There's something about the hutch she loves chewing!

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

Hope you manage to find a solution. If she's only been with you 2 months that isn't all that long, it definitely took longer than that for Autumn to properly 'settle' and find out what life was all about here. They just don't realise that play = messiness that we really don't like :lol: It's nothing purposeful on her part, she is just being a bunny, but I can certainly understand the frustration.

Maybe when the relationship between you and her is better you could work on some basic training to help? Nothing negative reinforcement mind. I find Autumn is learning the word (and tone) of 'No' - she will stop what she's doing and literally think about it. When she stops and listens to me, I then call her over for fuss or a treat which she loves. It helps nips things in the bud.

Of course I wouldn't try and extend this to normal play behaviour as they need to be able to perform natural behaviours, however messy it is to us. But maybe accept lots of messiness in her pen, but when things get too much outside the pen, you can implement a plan of training there, the point of where it becomes too much (crosses the line) would have to remain constantly the same though really, to avoid her becoming confused.

It doesn't work for all buns but I find it really helps with Autumn, though it takes lots of time and persistence. I've managed to nip her obsession with the living room bin in, she was literally obsessed with trying to get in it and chew the bag. She pushed for a while when she thought she could get away with it unnoticed, but doesn't even bother trying now. She also was bad for the bottom shelf on the bookshelf which is very rare now.xx

If it where just Twinkle on her own I think it would be less problematic, but I think there's an element of frustration in what she does. I've had Ghibli for three years, and we are very close, but I was always worried that he was lonely at night after I went to bed. He'd wait for me on this cushion in the middle of the living room where I sit to give him fuss and watch TV. They were bonded at an animal sanctuary, and I think Ghibli was more than little scared. Apparently he hid in a corner for the whole time, and Twinkle spent the whole night comforting him, and grooming him. When I took them home Ghibli was overjoyed, but Twinkle was very confused [which is obviously natural]. At first I kept them locked up together, tried not to interfere, but Ghibli kept coming up to me whenever I fed them, nudging me on the leg and looking up at me, and in the end I just let them out, and that's when the really really destructive behaviour started. She was always destructive, she eat the side of our couch through the bars of the pen on the first night, and spread that lit t tray accross the floor the next morning, so I ordered a bigger pen hoping that the problem was space. She would also chew at the legs of their hutch. Recently Ghibli's reverted more and more to the way he used to be, spending less time with her and coming to me for fuss more often. The more it happens the more destructive she seems to get. When I explain this no one seems to belive me, and everyone tells me that it's just her being a rabbit and rearranging her environment, and while do think there is a lot of truth in that, I also think she's getting more and more angry. She used to let me stroke her, now she hardly comes near me, and while they still seem to be happy together, I'm not sure that she's entirely comfortable with the way Ghibli behaves towards me. A few mornings ago when I came into the living room and tool down the pen Ghibli ran up to me, and Twinkle literally ran and put herself directly between him and me. He stopped, put his head down, and she groomed him,then he groomed her. They've both been single rabbits all thier lives, so there could be some stuff going on that she doesn't understand, but she definitely acts up a lot more when he comes to me and I stroke him for a long time. The problem is that I don't want to stop giving Ghibli what he so clearly wants, but neither do I really want to upset Twinkle. She's a lovely rabbit when she's not destroying things. To be honest my biggest worry is that if it's jealousy that's driving any part of her behaviour what happens when she decides to confront Ghibli head on? It worries me, she's twice his size, and while Ghibli doesn't seem concerned and they still seem happy when there together, the nipping is starting to turn into biting, and if it's matting behaviour and she's not getting what she wants, I'm worried it could escalate. Also its very difficult to live with a rabbit that spends hours throwing stuff arround and ripping up pieces of carpet. I juat want her to be happy, and certainly don't want to be the person who sends her back yet again. I swore that when we took her in she'd have a permanent home...

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

Hi, I'm by no means a bunny behaviour expert so I can't really help with that but in regards to her throwing her litter tray about have your tried using a large underbed storage box instead? This is what I use for mine and with a layer of wood pellets on the bottom and loads of hay on top it can get quite heavy (i.e difficult to throw around). Being deep as well it might restrict the mess a bit? Every little helps!

Just to say also that my dominant male bun will often try to interject if I'm petting his wifebun, I think there is an element of jealousy there. If I pet them both together he's much happier. I'm not sure what to suggest other than to keep working on your relationship with Twinkle to help her settle. I don't know if you've looked into clicker training? If she's food motivated it might help. It helped me build up some trust with my shy bunny and also gives them something to focus on for a short time. It sounds as though she's been through a lot and it lovely that you are trying to help her, good luck!

Thank you, that's actually a great suggestion. Where can I get one? I've never heard of this setup before.

I haven't lost all hope quite yet, it's just getting a bit difficult. I don't actually think right now they know who's in charge [if anyone]. Sometimes Ghibli seems to submit to Twinkle, but other times he seems to be the one calling the shots. Maybe they just need to work all that stuff out. It must be difficult given that both of them have always been lone bunnies. Twinkle is definitely happier when they're stroked at the same time, but Ghibli's kind of big on routine! Part of his routine unfortunately is one to one fuss with me, and I think that really annoys her. Unfortunately he gets really annoyed if he doesn't get his personal fuss. Bit of a rock and a hard place, but I'm confident we'll find a way to work it all out!

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

I've just read through your post and I was also about to suggest an underbed storage box. I put fitch on the bottom and hay on top. Sylar loves a good dig but he has never tipped it over.
You can buy them from places like Asda, Wilkinsons, B&M and home bargains.
This is the one we use, they can both fit in it and they are a bit heavier and deeper.

Thanks, I'll give it a go

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

We give ours big cardboard boxes with doors and windows cut out - keeps them entertained for hours. You could scrunch up a few pages of newspaper (as long as they don't eat it) to let them thrash too (inside box). Sprinkling treats could also work well.

Placing potted herbs at almost-out-of-reach places is another good game. Stretching and climbing and working out how to get to food is always worth investigating.

I have a little destructo-bun so I understand your frustration. I'm working with it and she's beginning to understand that good behaviour = treats and lots of snuggles. We're not quite there yet, but positive reinforcement is working.

Don't give up on her yet - it's about understanding what she wants/needs.

Good luck x

Twinkle eats newspaper like it's candy, which is a a problem co's she also doesn't always pee in her lit tray so I have to put it on newspaper! She also eats cardboard, wood, fabric, and many other things that can be destroyed...

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk