Chewing bars and drinks bottle

[kassidylangiano]

Okay so my little boy has been a pain in the ass recently. Very early morning and sometimes late at night he starts chewing on his bars and making loads of noise.

Now he has started chewing and tugging on the metal of his water bottle.

I let him out for about two or three hours over the course of the day so I don't know what else I can do. He has loads of toys in his house and I give him unlimited hay...

I don't know how to stop him fro doing this as I'm worried about his teeth and him damaging them... He really tuggs on the bars with some force and I don't want him to break a tooth or anything...

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to stop this behaviour?

 

[Azerane]

Rabbits seem to be very persistent when it comes to things like this. Bandit is a bar chewer/rattler and when he gets going there's pretty much no stopping him. Distractions can work, but they have to be something that holds attention such as a treat ball that they have to work to get the treats out of, or stuffing a favourite food into the middle of a toilet paper tube surrounded by hay. The other option is to put something on the cage bars like a bitter spray, that will taste bad when he goes to chew on it.

 

[FreezeNkody]

When my buns started chewing bars I sprayed bitter apple on them, and they have stopped. I also fill their cages with paper towel tubes, toys, tons of hay. ( sure I prob waste more then they eat) but it keeps them happy. My Gunner has gotten into the habit of chewing his mat when he wants to A. Eat or B. Wants me to come lay with him. And of course I did what he wanted to stop the behavior, I regret that now..lol

 

[missyscove]

Think about what you do when he starts chewing on the bars. Chances are you're giving him some kind of attention and he's getting rewarded for it. If that is the case, it's important to remember that when you try to extinguish a behavior, it will get a lot worse before it gets better (as they try and try and try the behavior that's gotten them a reward and expect to get one again). It does sound like he's bored and trying to get your attention. Would it be possible for him to get more time out of his cage during the day? What time of day is he out vs. in his cage? Rabbits are crepuscular and most active at dawn and dusk so if you're letting him out, say between 1-3 pm in the middle of bunny nap time and he's cooped up in the morning and evening during prime bunny running around time, that may have an effect.
How big is his cage and what sorts of toys does he have in it? Do you rotate the toys around so he's not just getting the same ones all the time? Try and figure out a way for him to work harder for things he's getting anyway by making him find his pellets inside a pile of hay in a box, inside a treat ball, etc. or something similar so he's got more things to do during the day.

 

[kassidylangiano]

Oh crap. I have been rewarding him every time he does it as I'm scared he will hurt his little teeth so I give him pellets to distract him.... So I guess I need to stop that and every week I get him new toys when I go to the market... He is out at random times as my job is shift work so sometimes he's out at like 7am till noon then others he's out around 10pm till 2am I can't help that due to work but I try to get him out and play with him as much as possible and he has the largest indoor rabbit home i could buy at my local pet store..

Is there any kind of toys that anyone would recommend? I have a treat ball and a wooden ball thing. I put hanging treats in once every two weeks as I know they have sugar in them and that's not good in to higher quantities..

He gets veggies as much as I can without over doing it but I never know how much is too much... I try to hide them around his house to keep him
Occupied by finding them...

I need help! I don't know if he's going to hurt himself and I actually love this little bunny more than I love life...

 

[whiskylollipop]

Don't worry too much about his teeth, they might seem small and delicate but they're a lot tougher than they look. They're made to strip bark off trees, chew up tough vegetation and and gnaw through roots and vines!

At this point he is probably doing it because he's associated making rattling noises with you giving him pellets. When my bunnies were younger, they used to pull the exact same crap - when they rattled the bars I would let them out because I thought they hated being in their cage. So whenever they saw me walk past, they would rattle it so hard the whole thing shook! I too worried about their teeth so I kept letting them out when they rattled. Smart bunnies training me.

But my vet told me that there's no need to worry about them breaking off their teeth, it very rarely ever happens in non-neglected/abused bunnies.

So from then on I started ignoring their rattling. If they rattled the bars when I walked past, I would say "STOP" suddenly and loudly to startle them into stopping, and walk away. Around 10 days later they gradually stopped rattling, and have never done it since.

 

[missyscove]

You can try clapping or thumping at him when he does it to see if that gets him to stop, but yeah you've definitely been reinforcing it (so basically you've trained him to do it). Like I said it will get worse before it gets better so you have to be prepared for that. At this point you're going to have to ignore it and if he's doing it he doesn't get anything he wants: doesn't get to come out, doesn't get treats, etc.

 

[FreezeNkody]

My rabbits have learned "HEY" when I want them to stop doing things I don't want them to do. It's really all on how you want to handle the situation.

 

[blwinteler]

It's funny. My buns only rattle when I get up in the morning (whatever time that happens to be) and a little after 5pm if we haven't let them out yet. They know 5 pm is out time. They also put themselves back in at 8. Silly little boys.

 

[kassidylangiano]

He is slowly learning that if he rattles the bars I leave the room so he is kinda getting used to not doing it... It's just early morning he is still doing it... It's so hard to ignore it!