Chewing the carpet

[nangobi]

My outdoor bunny spends a couple of hours eachevening with us in the house but has taken to pulling out strands ofour carpet to the effect that we havea small baldpatch! What would help? What can we give as analternative to the carpet?

Hubby seemed to be vaguely toying withletting us bring herindoors but I can see that getting further away if we can't find asolution!

 

[naturestee]

You'll need to train her not to do it.Say no and clap your hands. If she continues to chew carpet,say no while spraying her with a little water.

Also, many buns will choose one spot to chew. Try putting acardboard box, grass mat, etc. there instead. Just keep aneye out as she might choose a different spot.

Oh, and do keep a close eye on her and make sure she eats lots ofhay. Carpet fibers can't be digested, and if she swallows toomuch she may end up with a very hard to treat blockage.

 

[chrisl1976]

all of our rabbits have done it one time oranother. The clapping and saying NO trick works....we allwaysstuck them something under the then.....cardboard works ok...what wereally found they liked was a old Phone Book. they couldreally ripe, scratch, and pull it to shreds which gives them the samefeeling at the carpet without you ending up with a bald spot in yourcarpet.

 

[Snuggys Mom]

I can relate. Mine stopped for a long time, but recently have started up again.

My carpet is a wreck. I hate it anyway because it traps everything I'm allergic to.

I am seriously considering ripping it all up and staining/sealing the concrete beneath, like this:

 

[naturestee]

That looks so nice! Makes me wish Ihad concrete floors so I could do that! We're planning onripping out our horrid, bunny-mouth-attracting brown shag in the livingroom and replacing it with more of the textured fake wood vinyl that wehave in the bunny room. It has enough traction that even thebuns that are afraid of slippery floors can run and jump like normal.

 

[Snuggys Mom]

naturestee wrote:

That looks so nice! Makes me wish I had concretefloors so I could do that!

I'm still trying to get my hubby on board with this idea. Hethinks it will be too cold. I told him that's what slippersare for! I figure we can throw down some runnersand rugs, too. I love the way it looks and I can do it for afraction of the cost of any other floor covering.

naturestee wrote:

We're planning onripping out our horrid, bunny-mouth-attracting brown shag in the livingroom and replacing it with more of the textured fake wood vinyl that wehave in the bunny room. It has enough traction that even thebuns that are afraid of slippery floors can run and jump like normal.

Ooh! I need that for the bunny room, if it EVER gets finished. Where did you get it?

 

[naturestee]

Menards. It's really cheap!

 

[KimandCocoa]

Cocoa always chews thecarpet when he is out and even if I'm watching him he still ends updoing it. I blocked off one area of carpet he liked to chew,but now he found a different spot! If he didn't do this Iwould let him out of his cage more. I just don't want thecarpet ruined because I'm currently at an apartment which I'mrenting.

 

[nangobi]

Thanks for all the comments. Afraidchanging the floor isn't an option so we'll have to go with the waterspray and a loud NO, I think.

Will try a grass mat too.