Landscape gardening

[rabb1tmad]

Help, please help. Starsky is driving me insane at the moment. He is constantly digging at the bottom of the cage. He is obsessive about it.

I put wood shavings and straw at the bottom of their cage normally and it's never been a problem before. The bottom of the cage is quite slippery so I couldn't get away with putting nothing down. Anyway, for the last two weeks Starsky has started to re-arrange the cage. He will dig and dig and shift all the shavings and straw out of the way. Then, if there are any stray bits of straw or hay lying around he will pick them up with his teeth and throw it out of the way. Then he will just dig continously at the bottom of the cage. I have tried everything - he has a phone book to destroy a scratch pad and he has plenty of exercise. So why he is suddenly doing this now? I will try and get a video of him when the camera batteries are charged. He doesn't look like he is enjoying what he is doing he looks like he is in a fit of rage! I have tried digging boxes in the past but he doesn't dig in a digging box!

 

[JadeIcing]

Intresting. Connor does the same every so often. I usually just squirt him once with the water bottle and it stops him.

I wonder if anyone else has an knowledge on this.

 

[rabb1tmad]

This morning he was at it again so everytime he did it I picked him up and put him at the other end of the cage. It actually worked for about 10 mins but I did have to move him over 5 times. I came home tonight and he had totally destroyed the bedding, the cage was a right mess! I'll try the bottle spray tomorrow - thanks Alicia.

But, if it is just a natural digging habit then I don't want to punish him because it's only natural for him. However, if it has become an obsessive thing then I'd like to sort it out. The only other thing that crossed my mind was could it be his teeth bothering him? Last time we were at the vets he said that Starsky had very slight molar spurs, could they be getting worse and bothering him in this way?

 

[ec]

I wonder if he would like grass mats? My bun isn't fond of digging boxes, but grass mats (and newspapers) are her favorites. I also have some old sheets for her (clean) to dig in, plus a couple of fleece baby blankets.

As for possible molar spurs: yeah, I'd take him to get a full dental (with xrays) done, just to make sure that that's not the problem.

 

[JadeIcing]

Natural or not I need to sleep at 2 am.




Elvis is really bad with it if he does not have a full cage of stuff.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I got Bo a wicker mat and he worked on it for hours one night (chewing it) They love to shread stuff! .... he doesn't dig, tho,unless he needs down to find a litterbox.

 

[rabb1tmad]

JadeIcing wrote:

Natural or not I need to sleep at 2 am.

Oh you poor thing. I would be the same if my buns slept near enough to me to hear the digging. Thankfully I can't hear it from our bedroom!

 

[rabb1tmad]

OK, I tried the water spray this morning. It didn't work. Starsky just looked up and wondered where it came from and then carried on!!