Trixie is driving me CRAZY!

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TrixieRabbit

TrixieRabbit

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Apr 10, 2006
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Denise from Long Island, New York, USA
GUYS.......I am SERIOUSLY going to threaten to make her into a stew if she doesn't calm down soon! (I keed, I keed!) My little girl has become FIXATED on chewing EVERYTHING in sight! It's all she does! She doesn't even binky anymore, it's: open cage, run out of cage, run to corner of bed thats blocked off, dig, scratch, chew, bite, tear, rip bed skirt, chew wall, chew computer desk, ignore boxes to chew on all over room, ignore wood blocks placed around room....chew carpet instead, chew critter-cord covered air filter cord, chew air filter, chew filing cabinet....I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE!

I can't let her out for more than 1/2 hr without her trying to chew her way through EVERYTHING.
Not only that, but she has COMPLETELY stopped letting me pick her up AT ALL. I can get my hand under her front paws and body when she lays down for her 5 second pet, but as SOON as I lift even a fraction of an inch...POOF! She's gone in a flash!
I am at wits end and I just needed to vent.

Will spaying calm her down? Please say it will.....this is driving me crazy!


 
Most bunnies go through the teenage stages. Spaying will calm her down a bit but I believe you just have to wait these months out.

Many people have had success with the spray bottle when they do something naughty.

Have you tried the wicker ball? Or a wicker basket? That's my buns favorite and will distract them from chewing the underside of my bed.
 
jordiwes wrote:
Most bunnies go through the teenage stages. Spaying will calm her down a bit but I believe you just have to wait these months out.

Many people have had success with the spray bottle when they do something naughty.

Have you tried the wicker ball? Or a wicker basket? That's my buns favorite and will distract them from chewing the underside of my bed.
Click to expand...


she has 2 wicker baskets...that she just ignores. It's as if she knows when I don't want her to chew something, so she tries even harder to go and chew it. I spent all day yesterday just moving her from under the computer desk where she was trying to get past the cardboard to the wires BEHIND it....I would move her, she would shake her head, wait a minute, then turn RIGHT back and head for the same corner and dig and chew some more...I would move her, she would run back, move her, run back...I got fed up after 1/2 hr of this so I put her back in her cage.
 
my little bunny-boy a un-altered male mini rex is only 4 months and he does not listen much except when I play with him of cuddle,(he's a momma's boy)it usually will pass as they become older.

check it out I got one of his very cute pics.

imaangel.jpg




He's a angel:):bunnydance:
 
A good solution so you can give her plenty of exercise is to get a play pen, these are usually sold for puppies. They're wire panels that you link together to make a pen. You can take them up and down quickly and they don't take up too much room when folded flat. Set one up in the middle of the room and she can't get at anything she shouldn't but she can have a big space to run around in. If she digs the floor whilst in there just put something underneath like lino, carpet tiles etc.

All the behaviour you describe is perfectly natural, bunnies love to chew and dig. It's just your floor/furnature and walls are more interesting then the bunny stuff you're providing. The solution... more interesting bunny stuff. It's a bit of trial and error because bunnies all have different favourite things. But here are some ideas:

Boxes.... join them together, make tunnels, cut windows and let her rip them to shreds. Stuff them full of hay to burrow and dig in. Mix bits of her favourite foods in with the hay to keep her interested.

Willow toys... they're a hit with most bunnies

A treatball.... if you feed dry food then check out the food bowl and get a treat dispensing ball. My two will happily spend an hour dashing around playing football with one :D

Food... best bunny attention getter is food. Instead of feeding her in her cage put it around the room, stick it in boxes, under flower pots, on top of a box. Anything that makes her work for it. She'll be so busy working to get the stuff she can eat she won't have time for the things you don't want her too.

Make sure she always has plenty of hay to eat, if she doesn't she'll chew on the wood in your house to top up on fibre ;)

Good luck!


 
tamsin wrote:
A good solution so you can give her plenty of exercise is to get a play pen, these are usually sold for puppies. They're wire panels that you link together to make a pen. You can take them up and down quickly and they don't take up too much room when folded flat. Set one up in the middle of the room and she can't get at anything she shouldn't but she can have a big space to run around in. If she digs the floor whilst in there just put something underneath like lino, carpet tiles etc.

All the behaviour you describe is perfectly natural, bunnies love to chew and dig. It's just your floor/furnature and walls are more interesting then the bunny stuff you're providing. The solution... more interesting bunny stuff. It's a bit of trial and error because bunnies all have different favourite things. But here are some ideas:

Boxes.... join them together, make tunnels, cut windows and let her rip them to shreds. Stuff them full of hay to burrow and dig in. Mix bits of her favourite foods in with the hay to keep her interested.

Willow toys... they're a hit with most bunnies

A treatball.... if you feed dry food then check out the food bowl and get a treat dispensing ball. My two will happily spend an hour dashing around playing football with one :D

Food... best bunny attention getter is food. Instead of feeding her in her cage put it around the room, stick it in boxes, under flower pots, on top of a box. Anything that makes her work for it. She'll be so busy working to get the stuff she can eat she won't have time for the things you don't want her too.

Make sure she always has plenty of hay to eat, if she doesn't she'll chew on the wood in your house to top up on fibre ;)

Good luck!
Click to expand...


These are all wonderful suggestions! Thank you VERY MUCH for taking the time to write all this. I will look intoa dog pen this weekend. :cool:
 
tamsin, your suggestions were wonderful, and I too will be looking into some of them this week!

I had Harper neutered about 6 months ago. Prior to getting him neutered, he was acting like Trixie. Wouldn't let me hold him, kicked me, and chewed everything. After I got him neutered, I swear to God he got worse, LOL. Except for the chewing. He doesn't chew much that he isn't supposed to, however his kicking and biting me got worse, and he doesn't like to held at all anymore. I'm hoping it's still hormones (though at 1.5 years old, I would thinkhe would be past that), however I'm not holding my breath on that one. :?


 
You're welcome, I love thinking up new things to entertain my two and watching them puzzle it out :D

Harper sounds like quite a character! Some bunnies just don't like being held :( Does he mind if you sit next to him? My little girl (Gypsy) doesn't like being picked up at all, she'll hightail it as soon as she thinks your going to try. If I sit/lie on the floor and do something 'interesting' (read a book/play count the bunny food pellets) though she gets really curious and will quite happily climb all over me. The more I ignore her and pretend she's not there the more she wants to work out what I'm doing ;) Have to watch when I'm cleaning them out though, if I ignore her too long I get a nip and once she jumped on my back when I was leaning over!


 
Yeah, he loves it when I get down on the floor with him, he'll come up and be all curious. He's just become a "I don't want to be held" bunny. Oh well!

Thanks for the helpful suggestions!
 
These are all great suggestions. I am going to have to try the hiding the food bit. Gretchen is a teenager too. She jumps all over everything and tries to dig the doors open. It is worse than a toddler.

She is getting spayed on Monday. I know it won't fix problems instantly, but I keep reminding myself that a puppy would be worse.It helps me keepit in perspective. It is easy to expect a rabbit to be ano-fuss pet, when that really isn't the case.

I still love her. :mrsthumper:
 
Please get your girl spayed. Those hormones are in overdrive. Also, you might want to construct an X-Pen as an adjunct to either her cage or an NIC condo so she's not enclosed all the time but has her own space. You can use seagrass carpeting (cheap and chewable). You can put those interlocking large rubber tiles down for the floor (like a 24x 24 jigsaw puzzle) and that will give her footing but no carpet to chew. Most rabbits dislike being picked up - very common response for prey animals. Soothing talk and her own "space" should help. The spay will help but don't expect miracle results overnight. Hormones take several weeks to disperse.

Roena
 
Tamsin, Gypsy sounds like my Mocha. Except sometimes she orders me to kneel or lay down so she can jump on me, and if I don't she finds a way to scramble up!:shock:

One more suggestion to add to Tamsin's- put hay and newspaper in the boxes. Mine will shred and dig for hours in a stuffed box!
 
Hi guys!

Thanks for all the helpful replies. Trixie is already scheduled to be spayed the first week in September....but she is only 5 months old, so I have to wait until then for her spay. I also have the cardboard box stuffed with newspapers in her 3-story NIC cube cage. She also has apple chew twigs in a wicker basket from Leith Petwerks. She has a hanging chew toy with wooden carrots and pumice stones on it and a bell on the bottom that she ignores. She also has a toss-n-chew carrot and a wooden ball that looks like it's made out of tinker-toys with a nut hidden in the middle. She has 4 rolling balls with bells inside, and a big green one. She has 2 paper towel rolls and large untreated seagrass mat I bought from Bed, Bath and Beyond.
I tried putting another box with newspaper and hay in it outside of her cage and she just ignores it. I also have the coke-can maze and she now ignores that. I have 2 wicker baskets as well. I am going to try those interlocking tiles. Where canI find them? Are they in the children's dept???
Maybe she has TOO MANY toys and got bored with them all? Do you think I should take some away and then reintroduce them one by one? She has everything you could imagine!

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone!
 
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