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BunnyMom

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Scott came home early today to find Skittlessitting in her litter tray because her cage had filled with water AFTERSHE CHEWED A HOLE IN HER WATER BOTTLE!!!:X:X:X What a mess! At leastshe's clean now, and I have a small bottle from when she was a baby,but I have to go get her a new one tomorrow. (Her cage is next toGodzilla's - my lizard - maybe she was envious of his indoor pool?)

She chews EVERYTHING! She's also chewing on her cage and I've given herchew sticks and toys and it's not enough! I don't remember the othertwo doing this when they were younger. I'm hoping she outgrows it, butin the meantime any suggestions on getting her not to chew (or onindestructable water bottles) would be greatly appreciated.:)


Thanks for your help!
 
some people can get their rabbits to drink outof a bowl? I have never done this as im afraid of themtipping it over but it could be worth a go? Has she gotplenty of chew toys? could try putting an empty toilet roll in or a bitof carrot or wood?
 
sorry am tired and didnt read she has toysalready (**** site i was heading to bed an hr ago and now theres nopoint lol - addictive - lol).

I know its in their nature to chew... what about a vet check to check the teeth are okay?
 
I use both a water bottle and a bowl.. they likethe choice for some reason...Do you hang your bottle on the inside ofthe cage.. I recommend putting it on the outside then the only partavailable to them is the metal tube. Some pet stores carry the flatwater bottle which looks so much nicer on the cage.

Rabbits live to chew LOL

We had a problem with wires, so we bought shower rod tubing to coverthe wires. It stopped the chewing until Cleo figured out howto get the tubing off. She would grab onto the slit and pullit until the cords popped out. We then put garden fencing,similar to picket fences but with small square hole patterns.When we bought this to block off the area, we measured Cleo's head tosee if she could get through. I guess the measurments werewrong cuz there she was, head stuck in the fence. Taught her a lessonshe has not gone back because now everything is blocked off.It is amazing the determination that these buns have.

Susan
 
Wow, Cleo is one crafy bun, Susan! lol

My rabbits like to chew on anything cardboard, so we keep plenty ofthat around to distract from what we don't want them to chew on. Also,Bitter Apple works well (for us anyway, I know it doesn't work for allrabbits.)

As far as the water bottle, like Susan said, hang it on the outside. Weuse both, a bowl in their play area (which is huge) and a water bottlefor the cage.
 
You could buy a glass watter bottle..totaly chewproof.;)you can get them almost anywhere. The brand I use isLixit I believe.I bought mine online but you can buy them at petsmart Ithink, and probably at other perstores.
 
The water bottle she chewed WAS on the outside!:shock:
I think because her mouth is tiny enough she was able to chew betweenthe cage bars. The glass water bottle is a great idea! I'll look forone after work today. Thanks! I've tried using bowl in the past, butthey always dump the food bowl into the water bowl and make a mess.

I'll try the bitter apple, too. I have some at home.

She has wood blocks and apple twigs and a bunny rattle she's completelychewed the ears off! I'll try the cardboard tubes and whatever else Ican find that's safe for her to chew. I also tried giving her more hay,but she can really pack it away - she eats a lot more than the othertwo! Probably because she's a growing bunny.:)
 
WOW BunnyMom I really appreciate my little Ellie even more after reading about your bun!!

She doesn't chew on anything... I've bought her all kinds oftoys and chew sticks and she never plays with them. Shechewed a hole in a box we gave her,but that's aboutit! Have you ever thought of giving her a hardback book tochew on? I read about it somewhere and we gave Ellie a couplethat she nibbled on for a while.

She's not much of a digger either, so far all of my carpeting isuntouched. Oh wait,I just remembered,theother day shedug a hole in a new bag of litter and scatteredthe entire bag all over the place...hee hee :D


 
honeybunnie8 wrote:
You could buy a glass watter bottle..totaly chewproof.;)you can get them almost anywhere. The brand I use isLixit I believe.I bought mine online but you can buy them at petsmart Ithink, and probably at other perstores.
Click to expand...
Not totally! I once had a hampster who chewed on the side of a glassaquarium!! I was little then so I don't remember much but we still havethe glass aquarium and you can see where he chewed it!...weird thing isthat he lived longer than a hampster was supposed to! Weird huh? Notsaying that it wouldn't make it chew proof but that hampster taught meyou couldn't count on glass holding him back! (He'd already beenthrough 2 plastic cages! :shock:)

I hope you find a solution to your problem BunnyMom!:)Perhaps a glass bottle will work...I've just never seenthem being sold...then agian I'm sort of out of the loop a lot of times:?
 
irishmist wrote:
We had a problem with wires, so we bought shower rod tubingto cover the wires.
Click to expand...
Good idea Susan......now I'm thinking of all the differentways to protect wires. I'll have to godown to the basement to see what I have stored away.

Stephanie, we do that too....Pebbles chews on allcardboard, so we have lots of it around.She hardly touched the telephone book.

BunnyMom......I keep Pebbles water bowl on the other side of her cageaway from her food, so she doesn't have a chance to put thetwo together.

Bunnee mom, what a sweet bunny Ellie is.



Rainbows! :)
 
i used what i call hot pepper spray to keep mybunny from chewing on stuff she should'nt be. i chopped up and boiledjalapenos and put the liquid in a spar bottle and sprayed it in areas idid not want babbers to chew. trust me nothing i had before i sprayedhot pepper spray was left unchewed,but she does chew much less now.good luck
 
Have you ever tried straw mats? Mybuns like to shew those up. They are safe to chew, BUT theyare messy. They usually eat most of the straw, but of coursethey also like to tear it up for the sport ;)

I got several straw mats at Petco under the suggestion of Carolyn. They are about $2.00 per mat.

Keep us posted!

Hugs!
 
Well, we went to PetSmart on Friday after workto buy a water bottle. We looked at several different kinds (they onlyhad plastic ones - no glass) and Scott had a good idea - he asked oneof the store employees to fill it with water so we could make sure itdidn't leak. Good thing - we went through about six bottles before wefound one that didn't leak! (I'm not talking a slow drip - I'm talkingthe bottle would have been empty within an hour!) And guess which onedidn't leak - the cheapest one!

The employees were so incredibly nice and helpful! Yay PetSmart!:)

So we bought the cheap no-leak bottle with a spring-loaded ball andit's even better than her old one - and it's not as noisy. I alsomounted it a little farther from the cage so she can't get her littleteeth around it.

Thanks for all your great suggestions! I still want to try the straw mats. I think they'd enjoy those.

Bunnee Mom, you're so lucky to have such a good bunny like Ellie! And it's good she has a mommy who appreciates her!
 
They also sell bottle guards. They area metal holder that hugs the bottom of the bottle so only metal isoffered to the buns. My Buns arent big bottle chewers, but myrat is. This works GREAT. if there is no plasticshown to the bun or rat, they cant ruin the water bottle
 
BunnyMom,

I feel you're pain. Tucker was like that. They do usually outgrow theirintense need to chew as they age. At least mine have as have many otherrabbits that friends and forum members have as well. When they'reyoung, they seem to need that teething action. Bluebird's right on, theworry is for rabbits that don't chew a lot. She's taking good care ofher teeth.

As Kricket suggested, those straw mats are so much fun for chewers ordestroyers. The main thing to be concerned about is her chewing thecage and possibly chipping or breaking a tooth. It sounds like you'vedone all you could to keep her distracted with plenty of chew toys,etc. Keep on doing it.

If the waterbottle doesn't work, you can get a ceramic water bowl. They can't tip it because of its weight.

Of course, just make sure anything she chews can work its way throughher system, such as hay, or straw, wood, etc. I used to go through SoMuch Hay with Tucker during his first year. I couldn't believe his 3.5lb. self could eat so much. It was messy and costly, but it was worthit because at least I knew if he was eating the hay, I didn't have toworry about what he was doing.

Now, he barely finishes a bundle of hay in 2 or 3 days, if that. As hisneed to chew dissipated, so did his desire to eat so much hay.

:)

-Carolyn
 
BunnyMom wrote:
The employees were so incredibly nice and helpful! Yay PetSmart!:)
Click to expand...


I agree. I have had great experiences at PetSmart! Much better than PetCo.
 
I like them better than PetCo, too. The onlything is that PetCo is open later, so if I'm working late, that's whereI have to go.

Carolyn, I'm so glad to hear that about Tucker! I'm amazed at how muchSkittles can eat!:shock: She eats a lot more hay than the other two. Ifigured it was because she's a growing bunny. She's gotten so BIG sinceI got her - she definitely won't fit in that cup anymore. But she stillhas this little chubby baby bunny belly!:) So cute!

 
Ginger, my 2 year old bunnyfufu chews upher litterboxes. I had bought the original type of box but she keptdigging all the litter out and it was always a mess, dust storms allthe time. Besides the litterbox didn't fit in her cages. So I opted fora large plastic 15 qt box and she loved it. Yeah, loved it so much shewhittled one side all the way down. I'm on box number 3 nowand so far she hasn't chew on this one.

I also have a carpet square inside one of her cages to softenthe late night thumping. She starts to chew on the carpet fibers. Icouldn't get her to stop. So I sprayed harespray (get it-hairspray,just kidding)on the part she was trying to chew while she satthere and watched. She got mad at me! But she quit chewing until itaired out! So after 3 sessions of beauty salon treatment she decided itwasn't worth it.
 
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