Scratching at door

[KaliQ]

Our bun seems to have gotten worse about scratching at our bedroom door. We have tried moving her away and even doing "time out" in her cage for a few minutes but it seems to be increasing. It also has changed to the one door that leads to our bedroom. She doesn't have free run of the house, we close the doors to the extra rooms so she can't get into anything and try to keep her where we can supervise her. Any advice on changing this? I know rabbits like to dig and it's natural for them. She has plenty of boxes and phone book to scratch at in the living room. She has been in that room a few times but only with supervision. Any advice is welcome!

 

[Nela]

What I have found with bunnnies is that they love to 'defy'. So anything that is a 'no' is very tempting. Lol. Maybe putting something in front of the door so she can't reach it to scratch would help. Like just a plank of wood or something. She'll keep trying, especially if she knows there is trouble she can cause in that room.

 

[KaliQ]

Lol, thanks, Nela! She is definitely aware that it's a 'no' and will even give me a look before she runs down the hallway, like 'here I go, Mom!' as well as her 'but I'm too cute to discipline right?'

I'm also trying to distract her with a towel and a cardboard box and redirecting her to scratch those instead of the door. I'll see what we have to block the door. Thank you very much!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Commander Bun-Bun used to jump against the office door and knock it open. I had to change the lockset to keep her out. Fortunately all she ever did was lay on the air vent in the floor to get the maximum air conditioner output. You might try putting a piece of linoleum down on the floor so that it is too slick for good footing--it worked with our Bun.

 

[KaliQ]

Thanks for the idea, Nancy! Our bun has definitely figured out what the door handle is and what it does, but can't jump high enough to get there, so she just scratches at the door frame. I don't want her to get hurt jumping up to the handle but I don't want her to scratch up the door in our rented apartment either.