Help - bad bunny!

[Lati]

I have a baby bunny - she is about 3 months old.

The problem is she chews EVERYTHING - shoes, socks, cables - she has single handedly chewed through my new pair of headphones, my laptop cabe, my phone charger and our speakers. I understand she likes to chew these things but I have given her lots of great toys to chew on, old books, a cardboard house, toys, old toilet tubes, and small cardboard boxes, so why does she insist on chewing through everything that we need, it's getting very costly.

Also she is adamant about coming on our bed, even though everytime she does we take her off and say NO, then when we leave the house she goes on the bed, leaves a lovely present of 100 bunny balls and a large damp patch.

We live in a small open plan apartment and have no garden, so we give her the run of the place, she is usually very good apart from the problems stated above. We try to discipline her but it just isn't working.

Does anyone have any hints or tips on how to discipline her? We usually pick her up, give her a bit of a telling off and tap her nose. but she just goes straight back and does it all again. My partner is at his wits end and keeps threatening to put her in a pot for dinner!

What can we do? :?

 

[dainerra]

I would say these things work for puppies. Bunnies are just as smart, so I think it would at least be a good starting point.

1) don't let her out if you can't directly watch her. (this can change once she's older and you know she's not going to chew anything bad).

2) if you see her starting to reach for something she isn't supposed to chew, just interrupt and give her something that she IS allowed.

3) with the bed, again, I wouldn't leave her out when you can't watch her. otherwise, you could try one of those "scat mats" that they sell to keep dogs/cats off of the furniture.

as for the discipline, animals don't have a memory when it comes to something they did. so, unless you grab her while she is actually doing it, all she is going to associate it with is you picked her up and something bad happened.
She doesn't understand a "telling off" either. It works best to just be matter-of-fact "ah not yours" and just give her something that IS. A loud "AH" or similar sound can also interrupt her chewing if she is out of reach.

Tapping her on the nose can also make her hand-shy. It can also lead to biting since she will associate hands near her face with something bad happening. (If someone picked you up and tapped you on the nose, you might start biting too!)

I'm sure there are people here much more accustomed to training bunnies, but I think the basic principles are the same.

ETA: animals chew on our things because they smell like US. esp socks and stuff.

 

[MiniLopHop]

You need to bunny proof everything! It may not be the most attractive decor around, but it keeps the bunny safe and your cords/baseboards/furniture safe. Chewing on wires can lead to electrocution so that is the top priority to get them out of bunny reach. Viewing your house from the rabbit's perspective can be very helpful. Lay on the floor and look at things from the bunn's eye view.

Clicker training can be a great tool, but you have to keep in mind that she is still a bunny with bunny instincts, a baby at that. She is going to want to chew, dig, and mark territory. You just need to create a situation where the bunny is more likely to make the "right" choice.

 

[Byfuzzerabbit]

My bunny does the same thing. She knows she isn't aloud to either because she does that run away deal like she did something wrong. Honestly it's just something you got to deal with.I have all my wires elevated off the ground.

I have tried everything but some bunnies just don't care. A loud clap use to work but it doesn't now. I have to get up and move her. It's not that bad it's something you got to live with I guess.

 

[MikeScone]

All rabbits are different, so what works with one bunny may not work with another. So, take any behavioral advice as general guidance - your bunny may not be the same.

As others have mentioned, you should never hit a rabbit. As a prey animal they will just interpret that as an attack by a predator, and you will destroy some of the trust you have tried to build up.

Chewing on things is a rabbit characteristic - they must chew, or their teeth will overgrow. You can only block off what you do not want them to chew, and offer lots of tempting alternatives. It is possible to get a rabbit to stop what she's doing by thumping like a rabbit (or clapping, or hitting the wall or sofa) and saying "NO!". If you do it consistently when they're chewing on something, sometimes, maybe, they'll learn it isn't a Good Idea to chew on that thing. Mostly, they will learn that they should not chew on it while you are looking or that they should stop and look innocent when you say NO. Sometimes, that's enough...

Both of the rabbits I have had - Scone MacBunny and Natasha Rabbitova - went through phases of peeing on the bed the first few times they were allowed in the bedrooms. For them, at least, it was a temporary thing. Once they had marked the bed a few times, neither of them ever did it again. I am not sure it has anything to do with age, either - Scone was just a baby when my son brought him home, but Natasha was two years old when she came to live with me. It is annoying, but I would wait it out, put puppy training pads on the bed to protect the bedding, and see if the rabbit stops of her own accord.

 

[elrohwen]

Tapping her on the nose will not work - eventually she might even bite you for that.

Unfortunately chewing and digging is rabbit instinct. A "no" or squirt with a spray bottle can sometimes deter, but your best bet is bunny proofing everything. Mine have never chewed through a cord - why? because every cord they can read is covered and the majority are places they can't reach.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We have had bunnies that never bothered anything and others that we're the subject of the movie "The Omen". Best method is to totally bunny proof any area that your bunny can get to. We used to put boxes on the bed and couch--kept them from jumping up. As to any chewing and digging, we expect a rabbit to act like a rabbit, so everything is boxed in, covered up, blocked off, or put up.