Please tell me she is just going through a phase!

[ChinaBun]

My ChinaBun is almost two years old, a NewZealand White. She has not been fixed because I live in China and AFAIKthere are no rabbit vets in my city, possibly in the whole country.Normally I let her have free reign in my apartment when I am home, andwhen I'm in class or asleep she stays in a small enclosed balcony thatis now her room. She has always liked to eat and tear paper and books,so I have to be careful what I leave out, but it's not somethings shedoes often, maybe a couple times a day. But three days ago she kind ofwent on a paper rampage, along with scratching the paint and plasteroff the outside wall of her room. This wall is damp, and she seems tolike scratching damp walls, as she rarely scratches the other walls. Ihad a sheet secured over the wall so that she couldn't get to it, whichworked for about five months, but a couple nights ago she learned howto tear the sheet down. Until I find a better way to protect the wallfrom her (and vice versa) she is confined to her cage. I have given hertwo old books to play with, and she has really been tearing them up!Also, the last few days she's done more digging in corners than usual.She doesn't realize that she'll never dig through the tile, nor thatthere's no need to dig to China, because she's already here!

There hasn't been any change in my life or her life to cause thesebehaviors. I'm wondering if she's preparing for the babies that shewon't have. It's just so out of character for her to go after the walland books that way. Her cage is large enough that I don't mindconfining her there, but I would rather let her play free.

Can anyone tell me from their experience that their female rabbit went through a phase like this and all involved survived?

Nancy, English teacher in Xi'an, China (home of the Terracotta Warriors)

 

[JimD]

Sounds like our Binkie bunnie.
She's just about the same age, and we had to put off spaying her for a while.

She digs at EVERYTHING.

The setup I have her in now is a large cage with a large NIC gridadd-on. The flooring in the add-on is pegboard (Masonite) and she digsat it often.

Every time she's out for some free-time she is digging at whatever shecan get at....so consequently she doesn't get much free-time right now.

I've gotten suggestions of giving her a large container or box filledwith shredded paper to take her frustrations outon.

~jim