chewing and "marking''

[changeme4]

hi there... whomever.. i was checking in to ask a few questions anyone might answer for me??

1. my bunny hews on my carpet.. ALOT! she has started to take out all the corners she can get to... making the wood appear under... she chews and chews until i make her stop but then she goes right back to it.. of course im letting her out of her cage to play with her toys that she can chew on.. are healthy and edible for her. but she seems to LOVE chewing the carpet more making my $$ go up.. any help on that?

2. she seems shes OK with going potty in her left spot in the cage and sleeping on the right.. but when i come into the room its smells horrible... i cant tell if its her cage or what! i have tried many things on the carpet making sure it stays clean even using a carpet stain remover smell we used for the dogs when they peed on the stairs. but nothing seems to work. and i have been sanitizing and wiping down her pee spots every time i clean the cage.. what else should i be worried about. i am using a wood kind of bedding for her that my mom thought would be good and do have some blankets i wash every 2 days. anything on that??

3. shes gotten better at loving me and letting me pet her and pick her up every now and then, getting comfy with me in bed watching Netflix.. but she tends to not stay still half the nights.. is it just the type or rabbit, or maybe im not letting her out enough? how many min-hours should i be letting her out.. with the carpet chewing i cant let her out very long... she would get very sick eating the whole carpet if i left her out and didn't care for the carpet of course. im planning on getting a small but big carrier that can sit outside and its safe for all animals to let her go outside more.. but it doesn't have an area where she could play and eat the grass.

more tips and answers anyone... im still learning new things everyday about her and some are really bad habits.. we cant afford to get any wood floors until we get a new apartment maybe that has some tile for her. would love to keep her out in the room but she seems to not understand the training i do.. i cant tell if she just has a bad brain and cant remember much.or its her breed. or im doing it wrong. but still trying to keep her training every day and play with her everyday as much as i can before and after work.. thank you for reading and taking your time. and thank you in advance for any advise you can give me.

 

[Abi :)]

hi there... whomever.. i was checking in to ask a few questions anyone might answer for me??

1. my bunny hews on my carpet.. ALOT! she has started to take out all the corners she can get to... making the wood appear under... she chews and chews until i make her stop but then she goes right back to it.. of course im letting her out of her cage to play with her toys that she can chew on.. are healthy and edible for her. but she seems to LOVE chewing the carpet more making my $$ go up.. any help on that?

2. she seems shes OK with going potty in her left spot in the cage and sleeping on the right.. but when i come into the room its smells horrible... i cant tell if its her cage or what! i have tried many things on the carpet making sure it stays clean even using a carpet stain remover smell we used for the dogs when they peed on the stairs. but nothing seems to work. and i have been sanitizing and wiping down her pee spots every time i clean the cage.. what else should i be worried about. i am using a wood kind of bedding for her that my mom thought would be good and do have some blankets i wash every 2 days. anything on that??

3. shes gotten better at loving me and letting me pet her and pick her up every now and then, getting comfy with me in bed watching Netflix.. but she tends to not stay still half the nights.. is it just the type or rabbit, or maybe im not letting her out enough? how many min-hours should i be letting her out.. with the carpet chewing i cant let her out very long... she would get very sick eating the whole carpet if i left her out and didn't care for the carpet of course. im planning on getting a small but big carrier that can sit outside and its safe for all animals to let her go outside more.. but it doesn't have an area where she could play and eat the grass.

more tips and answers anyone... im still learning new things everyday about her and some are really bad habits.. we cant afford to get any wood floors until we get a new apartment maybe that has some tile for her. would love to keep her out in the room but she seems to not understand the training i do.. i cant tell if she just has a bad brain and cant remember much.or its her breed. or im doing it wrong. but still trying to keep her training every day and play with her everyday as much as i can before and after work.. thank you for reading and taking your time. and thank you in advance for any advise you can give me.

Hey! I'll try to answer your queries and hope they help
1) Are there specific places she likes to chew? Or is it the whole area of carpet? You could try to place seagrass or timothy mats over the spots she chews or you could place ceramic tiles over the spots she chews so she can't dig at them. If you'd like you could also buy a flat-woven mat and place it over the spots she chews but this means you have to spend more money which depends on your situation.

2) Usually wooden bedding isn't advised as it catches smell more than other bedding, if your bun has a tendency for digging and chewing I doubt that your bun will be okay with blankets as she might chew holes in the fleece and digest it which isn't that great for the stomach. A small flatwoven mat is probably ideal (flat-woven means that the bun can't pick and dig at the fibres from the rug), but in her litter box use wood-stove pellets instead of wood bedding.

3) Usually rabbits that aren't free roamed should have something like 3-4 hours of play time, but lazier rabbits might want to go back to their area because they want a bun nap after exercise...

Let me know if I can help further

 

[changeme4]

Hi. Thanks for replying. Yes. It’s always a corner or a tight area. If it’s next to the dresser and wall. Or the corner next to the door. Which is bad cause I cover them but she always gets behind the covering. I have been looking for mats any type but a lot of my stores don’t have any. Been trying to look on amazon but still looking for the right kind. She has a thing with our towels and chewing thoes more then blankets and she’s been ok with the blankets. But I will be sure to look into the mats. My wood that I’m using is a pine (soft pine bedding) which the smell has gotton stronger so thinking it is that. So I’ll look into other beddings. But she seems to have her moms energy. (Breed with a house rabbit and an outside white tailed rabbit(her mom)) so she has a lot of energy and doesn’t sleep or lay very often. Sleep schedule is mostly 1am-4 am then she’s back to being hyper. Picture is her fav spot in the room to chew (bigger piece) that she chewed when she got out of her cage and I was gone. But she has started other piles to chew. I do keep thoes lights hanging and any of my chargers in a caged area where she can’t get to thanks for your reply and help!

 

[Blue eyes]

Okay. First off, welcome to the forum! You came to the right place for suggestions and tips!

Let's start with the chewing. If she continues to chew carpet, aside from destroying it, it also risks her getting a blockage in her gut. That blockage can be lethal. She has to be blocked from chewing the carpet. It is not something you can train her to do. Rabbits do not train like dogs. They have no desire to "please" their "master" the way dogs do. The moment your back is turned, rabbits will do whatever they well please. It isn't her breed, or her brain, or your training. It is just the way rabbits are.

So, options? Any hardware store sells ceramic or porcelain tiles. You can find a 12" square for 99 cents (or less). Put the tile on the corners where she has been chewing. That will prevent access and she won't be able to move them. You can go larger than 12" if you like.

Towels can also cause a blockage as the strings can get tangled in her gut. If she is chewing holes in the towel and ingesting it, that's a problem. If she isn't ingesting it, no big deal. If she is ingesting it then don't let her have towels.

On this subject of chewing, does she have lots of hay for munching? That is the most important thing for wearing down her teeth. Many rabbits will ignore chew toys. Also, what is her age and spay status? Hormonal rabbits can be excessive in their destructive chewing.

Now on to the subject of the odor. Is she confined in her cage at night? Has she been confined to her cage for the potty training? How long have you had her? Can you post a photo of her cage?

If she has a cage, the only loose bedding should be in the litter box itself. During her potty training, she should be confined to her cage (accept for supervised exercise) and there should be no loose bedding or blankets in the cage. They like to potty where it is soft. If you have been using the pine shavings, those emit harmful fumes and do little to nothing for odor control. Rather than retyping things here, I'll link you to the page on my site regarding litter training. It shows a proper litter box set up (the most important part of litter training) and tells which litters are safe and effective and which ones are harmful and/or ineffective.
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.htmlDon't despair! With the right set up, there will be no reason for your room to be smelly from the rabbit or the litter.

And finally about her exercise habits... Rabbits are naturally crepuscular. That means they are generally most active at dawn and at dusk. They don't stay still all night regardless of the exercise they get during the day. If she is confined to a cage (which she should be during potty training) then she can still be let out (in your room) for several hours per day of supervised exercise. This exercise does not need to be outside. In fact, there are numerous potential dangers of taking a rabbit outdoors (including mites, fleas, ticks, fertilizer, pesticides, predators, etc). It isn't necessary to take her outside. If she eats the grass out there, that would be considered a diet change and could cause tummy issues.

On a separate note and just for your future reference, her parentage is inaccurate (Bred with a house rabbit and an outside white tailed rabbit(her mom)) . Cottontails (the wild rabbits that live in the US) cannot be bred with a domestic rabbit (come from the European rabbits) because they are different species. They cannot interbreed. There are, however, some domestic rabbits that have the coloring that seems similar to our cottontails. You can see one such one in my avatar photo. The momma for your rabbit was a domestic rabbit just like the father.

Pine shavings, as mentioned, are not recommended for litter but you can get wood pellets (even pine). The wood pellet litter can be purchased at feed or hardware store and is sold as either horse stall pellets or wood stove pellets. More info on that is at the link already given.

 

[changeme4]

Okay. First off, welcome to the forum! You came to the right place for suggestions and tips!

Let's start with the chewing. If she continues to chew carpet, aside from destroying it, it also risks her getting a blockage in her gut. That blockage can be lethal. She has to be blocked from chewing the carpet. It is not something you can train her to do. Rabbits do not train like dogs. They have no desire to "please" their "master" the way dogs do. The moment your back is turned, rabbits will do whatever they well please. It isn't her breed, or her brain, or your training. It is just the way rabbits are.

So, options? Any hardware store sells ceramic or porcelain tiles. You can find a 12" square for 99 cents (or less). Put the tile on the corners where she has been chewing. That will prevent access and she won't be able to move them. You can go larger than 12" if you like.

Towels can also cause a blockage as the strings can get tangled in her gut. If she is chewing holes in the towel and ingesting it, that's a problem. If she isn't ingesting it, no big deal. If she is ingesting it then don't let her have towels.

On this subject of chewing, does she have lots of hay for munching? That is the most important thing for wearing down her teeth. Many rabbits will ignore chew toys. Also, what is her age and spay status? Hormonal rabbits can be excessive in their destructive chewing.

Now on to the subject of the odor. Is she confined in her cage at night? Has she been confined to her cage for the potty training? How long have you had her? Can you post a photo of her cage?

If she has a cage, the only loose bedding should be in the litter box itself. During her potty training, she should be confined to her cage (accept for supervised exercise) and there should be no loose bedding or blankets in the cage. They like to potty where it is soft. If you have been using the pine shavings, those emit harmful fumes and do little to nothing for odor control. Rather than retyping things here, I'll link you to the page on my site regarding litter training. It shows a proper litter box set up (the most important part of litter training) and tells which litters are safe and effective and which ones are harmful and/or ineffective.
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.htmlDon't despair! With the right set up, there will be no reason for your room to be smelly from the rabbit or the litter.

And finally about her exercise habits... Rabbits are naturally crepuscular. That means they are generally most active at dawn and at dusk. They don't stay still all night regardless of the exercise they get during the day. If she is confined to a cage (which she should be during potty training) then she can still be let out (in your room) for several hours per day of supervised exercise. This exercise does not need to be outside. In fact, there are numerous potential dangers of taking a rabbit outdoors (including mites, fleas, ticks, fertilizer, pesticides, predators, etc). It isn't necessary to take her outside. If she eats the grass out there, that would be considered a diet change and could cause tummy issues.

On a separate note and just for your future reference, her parentage is inaccurate (Bred with a house rabbit and an outside white tailed rabbit(her mom)) . Cottontails (the wild rabbits that live in the US) cannot be bred with a domestic rabbit (come from the European rabbits) because they are different species. They cannot interbreed. There are, however, some domestic rabbits that have the coloring that seems similar to our cottontails. You can see one such one in my avatar photo. The momma for your rabbit was a domestic rabbit just like the father.

Pine shavings, as mentioned, are not recommended for litter but you can get wood pellets (even pine). The wood pellet litter can be purchased at feed or hardware store and is sold as either horse stall pellets or wood stove pellets. More info on that is at the link already given.

So. On this note. I do have a cage. Which I keep her in when I go to work. 35-40 hours a week. And I’m a night owl so I stay up till 2-3 am sometimes. So I’ll let her play and much more. I’ll definitely go to the store and get some tiles. If I can find a carpet for rabbits somewhere I’ll buy some too a lot of people recommend that. Her cage is not quite big. But she has been now in her cage a while. I have had her for 6 months now? She’s bout 7 months. I got her at age 1 around. She has been quite potty trained. Once in a while a drop will come out but I’ll end up throwing it away. I’m fixing to get an appartment soon with a tile (hopefully) kitchen. So she will stay their. I’ll have a nice set up for her. Her own little house (cage) her littler box which I would need to help her realize her cage won’t be litter box anymore. And she will have a safe play area anytime she wants to roam. She hasn’t been eating and swallowing the towels nor blankets or carpet. Just. Leaves everything to the side. Just. Chews and drops it. I do give her some hay but someone said more hay less pellets which I will now switch to. As seen below is a video of her in her cage. No pics really. Thank you for the help.

 

[changeme4]

Also her cage has been moved. More room for her to run with the gate that came with it. Her “littler” box is on the left side. She sleeps on the platform on the right. I have it laying down above some shavings and hay. And every week I take everything out and deep clean it. Her hay goes in her chewing log. And the pellets in the blue bowl. Her water I have upgraded to a larger tank. Fills about 3 red solo cups. And she has now fresh hay every morning cause she does eat a lot of it. And 1 scoop of pellets in the morning and night. She has gotten bigger for her age as the vet said. So I slowed her pellets down.

 

[Blue eyes]

As seen below is a video of her in her cage. No pics really. Thank you for the help.

Don't see video?

 

[changeme4]

Don't see video?

I will post pics when I get home from work today

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Pine shavings are fine if they are kiln dried--it removes the phenols, but Cedar is a no-goand is toxic even if dried. I used tiles and wood to block off areas that didn't need chewing as well as the same gate--even put down another rug to cover and protect our "new" carpet. Chewing and digging is not a hobby for bunnies, it's the vocation.