Baseboards, wires and breeds

[Allie_Bear]

Hi,
I had joined this site to ask where to find harlequins, but we are not only considering that breed.
My question as you can tell from the subject is whether there are some breeds which are more easily and "reliably" taught not to chew on wires, baseboards, etc ?
You don't have to read the diatribe below to answer. Just our amusing bunny experiences....
To us, that's one of the keys to better enjoy a bunny...one child that doesn't destroy the house. We're renting at the moment and if we get another bun or two, we're concerned whether we have to have them always in fenced play areas or could end up trusting them.
Are there any breeds better than others that way, or is it just pot luck with the individual? Not to mention also toilet training. Our first harlequin was smaller than our plump second one. But this first one "Booboo" was some kind of super bunny....probably a bunny-alien hybrid. I'm not kidding, that bunny was strong as an ox, fearless, super smart, loving, but demanding to the point of being scary vindictive when upset. She was about 5 lbs, but if the sliding door to our sunroom were just slightly ajar and she wanted to go inside, she could stick her pointy little face in the crack, dig her claws into the indoor/outdoor carpet for grip and she would fling that heavy door open. It was as though you could hear her telepathically as she flug it open "and if you don't leave this door open, I'll rip it off the tracks and beat you senseless with it!" You'd just have to know her. One time my Dad and I were painting the living room and were going to install a new set of drapes along the glass doors to the deck. I was out if the room, but my Dad came to get me to show me what Booboo was up to. She always "helped" with projects in her own way. Anyway, she was lifting up a ten foot long heavy, solid metal curtain rod...maybe 10 lbs or more and dropping it on the carpet with a resounding thud!, over and over. Dad just couldn't believe something so small could be so incredibly strong. It was not so surprising to me, but I still stood there in awe. "Dad, just don't get in her way."
Well, I digress... Anyway, Booboo was smart and trainable. She stopped chewing baseboards after some training. Our second harlequin, the plump, beauty queen could never be trusted. She knew it was wrong to chew stuff, but did anyway. And while we loved both bunnies equally, some of the fun was detracted having to constantly watch or fence in Allie.
Thoughts about well behaved, easily trainable, but still fun breeds?

 

[Catlyn]

I have no personal experience with that, but when i talked to an old friend of mine who has housed many rabbits in the past, she said that when her bunnies got free roam, it didn't matter what species the bunnies were, some were more behaved than others, despite all the effort she went through to stop them from chewing stuff. She told me that one of her naughty rabbits had eaten her tomato plant!

So i guess it's just pot luck with the individual rabbit, in which case i am thankful for my french lop, who has luckily left electrical cords alone.
I haven't been able to stop him from chewing boxes, but that's okay since that's basically the only reason why we haven't thrown away non lacquered shoeboxes. He enjoys tossing them around.

 

[Niomi]

My experience is that any bunny, just like puppies will destroy anything they can. Some rabbits improve with age. The only way I know of to get a rabbit that will not destroy things is to get a rescue that has been fostered, and the foster can tell you about the personality of the rabbit before you adopt. Then get a rabbit that has been proven to be a good house pet. I have only one rabbit out of my four that I can let run in my house, that will not chew up lamp chords etc. The reason I can trust him is because he is afraid of slippery surfaces and will not go off of the area rug onto the laminate floor. Even then, I have to provide small blankets that I throw on the rug so that he will dig in the blankets and not try to destroy the area rug. I have a room that I allow my other rabbit to free range. I have fencing around the walls to keep my rabbits from destroying them. I know that some people say that rabbit proofing a house is like child proofing, but my children never tried to chew up my lamp chords or dig holes in my sofa. Some people compare rabbits as house pets to cats, but it is my experience that it is an unfair comparison. Rabbits require you to make a lot more changes.