STOP CHEWING!!!!!!!!!!!

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BabyRue

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Seriously Boo(Rue's new nickname) has turned into a carpet eating monster. I just can not let him near my carpet without him pulling it to pieces. He doesn't even eat it, he just pulls it up and spits it out so I find pieces of my carpet everywhere.

He has every toy you can imagine. He has stuff to climb on, jump on, chew on, throw around, push around. You name it, he has it.

Yet he keeps going to the carpet. I really don't know what more I can do. Whenever I catch him doing it I give a firm NO! then put a toy or box to chew on in front of him. He chews it for a second then goes back to the carpet.

There has to be some way to stop him. Please tell me there is. Or else I am going to be putting a new carpet in my apartment before I move out lol.

His pen that he has day to day has a big area rug over my carpet so I don't have to worry about him destroying things when he is not supervised. But when I open his pen to give him the play area to run and binky the first thing he does is go after the carpet *sigh*
 
ohhh dear this sounds so familiar. when charmmy used to do that i woould give her a squirt from the squirt bottle. we took to also carrying water guns and sparying her when she would do this she would run away and thump but she learned about after a week of that that it wasnt acceptable. we tried replacing toys putting blankets down etc. but the carpet was all that mattered. now she doesnt do it any more. in her cage we have carpet covering both the bottom and the top floors and sometimes she will tear it up there but she keeps it to the cage now.
it may or may nto stop him but its worth a shot. (we also ended up using some body lotion and put that around the areas where she would pull up the carpet and it would deter her for some time. she really doesnt like the smell of lotion she wont even give me kisses if im wearing it)
 
Squirt bottle it is. I thought about doing that but didn't know if it would be considered cruel. Just where rabbits seem to be so sensitive. But heck if it works I am all for it. I don't get it. Everything I read says if they are going after stuff it means they are bored. Well I don't know how he can be bored when he has more toys then a child.
 
Yea a small squirt here and there is not cruel. I just didn't know if it was an effective training method for a rabbit. It worked great for my dog. So why not!
 
it worked on charmmy and she was intent on the carpet removal. shes got so many toys too i dont know maybe the carpet is extra fun! we have some holes in our carpet -.-; but it worked so at least those holes havent been added to.
 
If boo isn't fixed the intensity and obsessiveness of it could be his hormones. Our boy was very focused and intense before he was fixed and really didn't respond well to correction. Now all we have to do is say "hey, no no" and he stops. Occasionally I need to clap my hands or stomp on the floor if he isn't listening but he always listens after that :)
 
He was neutered in August at 5 months of age. His litter habits are a dream come true(he NEVER poops outside of his litter box or pees, though he was peeing in his litter box pre neuter). Its just his intense urge to eat the carpet.

I have already gotten him with the squirt bottle. His reaction is rather hilarious actually. He spins around in the direction it came from, looks around really confused then goes at it, I squirt him again and he spins and then runs away to hide and groom himself lol
 
Good luck breaking that habit.

The FIRST thing that the lads do when they go outside is to dig. They LIKE to dig and pull up roots and stuff. They dig a LOT. It is what rabbits do.

Give him adig box or two or three and it might help things.
 
Just wait till Rue gets used to the spray bottle. It is no longer an effective form of punishment on the Tipster when she pulls carpet. She just looks at me like "hey, that feels good on my ears. Do it again". I covered the one spot Tipper chews on with a heavy course reader from a class I hated, and she hasn't seemed to go for any other spot.

I'm wondering if the previous owners had a cat that peed there or something....
 
BabyRue wrote:
He was neutered in August at 5 months of age. His litter habits are a dream come true(he NEVER poops outside of his litter box or pees, though he was peeing in his litter box pre neuter). Its just his intense urge to eat the carpet.

I have already gotten him with the squirt bottle. His reaction is rather hilarious actually. He spins around in the direction it came from, looks around really confused then goes at it, I squirt him again and he spins and then runs away to hide and groom himself lol
it can take up to 6-8 weeks in males for the hormones to subside completely, so that could easily be contributing to the behavior.

if he's using his mouth to tear at the carpet, you might give this stuff a try - http://www.pawtasticpet.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TROP861107

I'd heard that the bitter apple spray for dogs tends to not work on bunnies because they like the taste of bitter apples, but this stuff looked a bit different so I gave it a try - it put a quick stop to nala's chewing. she'll give something I've sprayed a sniff and a lick and then go do something else.
 
Nancy McClelland wrote:
Sounds like our Commander BunBun. The squirt bottle didn't accomplish anything and I finally pulled up the carpet and put down tile.

Oh I so wish I could do this. The carpets inour apartment are so gross. I have shampood them probably a good 15 times since we moved in a year ago and they still look gross. Which might be why he goes after it as it is a pet friendly building.

I tried making a dig box for him and he just kept peeing in it. I will try again though. I am going to try the Tropiclean if this doesn't work. Maybe I should let him destroy the carpet so I can get a new one put in lol
 
BabyRue wrote:
I tried making a dig box for him and he just kept peeing in it. I will try again though.
Yeah, if it is just dirt they might well use it as a litter box. That is what is in the lads litter boxes.

If you had access to somewhere that you could cut out a section of chemical free ground that was full of a fibrous root mat, that might work. The lads really love to dig and chew on roots. A coupla' pieces of sod would work too, but they might have chemicals if commercially grown. Or you could plant your own dig boxes.


 
Oooh, Honey tears up my carpet in the morning when he wants out of his pen. He knows it annoys me and will get my attention, the little brat...I bought a couple of cheap carpet squares to put in the places he pulls so he's not constantly destroying my carpet and can wreck those without my caring as much. As long as he's not actually ingesting the fibers at all I'm okay with his little temper tantrums :biggrin:
 
You could try grass mats :) They're like little mini grass carpets, and they're safe for rabbits to chew!
 
Does he know his name/are you using his name when you say no? Make sure he knows that the NO is for him, also maybe imitate a foot-thump straight after. If you're close enough you could also gently but firmly push his head to the floor and hold it for a second or two, this may remind him who is boss. If he has a favourite patch of carpet, you may want to stomp/squeal/NO him each time he goes near it, before he has even had a chance to start the destructive behaviour. You could provide him with a carpet offcut/rug which he is allowed to destroy, and give him lots of positive attention whenever he goes to that piece instead.

I don't know if you can have 'too many' toys for rabbits, but maybe? He might be overwhelmed and just goes to what he knows best/finds easiest/has the most fun with. I don't know. I'm not an expert or anything, just some thoughts.

We've tried a spray bottle on our bunnies ... they really didn't care, lol.
 

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