Eating Newspaper

I know this question comes up a lot, but I've never been able to find an answer that really helped with my Rabbit Ernest.

We have huge difficulty getting him to stop eating newspaper that we use as the first layer of his toilet before putting the dust-free woodchip pellets down. But recently he's started throwing out the woodchip pellets so he can eat the newspaper while on the toilet.

We provide him with plenty of hay, including in his toilet which he commonly nibbles on - this was our first solution when he started tearing up the newspaper, but he's started up again despite having access to hay.

He's a free roaming house rabbit with a lot of space, including things to throw and jump on, and he gets near constant attention. So I'm unsure if boredom is the source of this either.

Usually I wouldn't bother him about it, but he commonly has digestive problems, where he gets gas trapped in his stomach and needs medication to relieve it. Someone once suggested to me that eating newspaper could be what was doing this to him, which is why we've made a huge effort to get him to stop.

Does anyone have any advise?

Stop using newspaper? Try puppy pads. Ernest is a delightful name. Any pics?

Oh yes, here he is. Looking a little whispy, this was taken during malting season.



What if he starts to eat those to?
I imagine material would be even worse for him than newspaper.

He really is one of those rabbits that will put anything in his mouth and try to swallow it.

Have you considered getting him a friend?

He's beautiful. Yes, eating puppy pads would be an issue, like eating fleeces. Mine didn't eat puppy pads. You could always try it.

I certainly have, but my parents won't allow it.
I have plans to when I move out in about 6 months, do you think that might help to stop it?

I worry a little that he's been so long without a friend that he would struggle to adjust to having one though. I don't know if he knows how to share, and can get a little aggressive with things getting more attention than he is.

sparkeythehamster said:

Oh yes, here he is. Looking a little whispy, this was taken during malting season.

What if he starts to eat those to?
I imagine material would be even worse for him than newspaper.

He really is one of those rabbits that will put anything in his mouth and try to swallow it.

Click to expand...

Ernest looks like a real character

I would maybe go without the layer of newspaper if he insists on eating it. I use newspaper as a top layer with megazorb underneath to soak up the excess pee which works quite well for my own rabbits but I’ve had foster rabbits who just destroy the newspaper so for them I only used megazorb (and hay!).

I'll give that a go thank you.

Also, he is quite a character. But the best bunnies always are ^_^

sparkeythehamster said:

I'll give that a go thank you.

Also, he is quite a character. But the best bunnies always are ^_^

Click to expand...

He definitely looks like a little character.

Welcome to the forum x