Wire fixation.

Love your rabbit
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Moro Ferret

Moro Ferret

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Messages
89
Reaction score
0
Location
Richmond, ,
So Walter has a wire fixation. Sure, most rabbits will chew wires, but he is obsessed. It's really bad. He has destroyed a few of my things, EXPENSIVE things, which I can and have gotten over, but he has also been playing chicken with electrocution, and has been really lucky to have my intervention several times.

It's more than just watching him, it takes him faster than the human mind can react for him to "chop" a cord into more than one part. He doesn't chew off the casing, he just "disconnects" the wires.

I have a play-place for them that is 100% wire free and safe, and that's great. But I like them to be with me while I watch TV or get on the computer. Walter and Bilal have been on the bed with me for hours while I have been doing school stuff on my laptop, and Walter came up to my cord. I shooed him away (and he was HARD to shoo away) and he had BITTEN HALFWAY THROUGH MY CORD. In a split millisecond. Bilal didn't care but Walter kept coming back any trying to eat my cord. I shooed him, clapped loudly and said NO!!! loudly, and he COMPLETELY IGNORED ME. All that did was upset Bilal, who was being good. And I solved it by putting the blanket over the cord but it still bothers me.

I know this is my fault, because as a bunny parent it's my duty to make sure he can't access dangerous things. I do a pretty thorough job. But I am really concerned, as none of my other three rabbits are obsessed with wires, especially not anymore so than anything else they could destroy. Walter seeks and destroys, and he is relentless. How can I get him to understand? How can I break his fixation? That's exactly what it is, a fixation. He goes so far out of his way to get wires, that it scares me, a whole lot.

I want to do more than just bunny proof and watch him 24/7. I want to know that if something happens, like he somehow gets out of the play area or some weird freak incident happens where he is in a normal room with stuff plugged in, that he won't beeline towards electrocution.
 
I wish somebody could invent a wire that will provide a mild, safe but uncomfortable shock. I'm sure I'll catch flack for the suggestion, but its for their own safety. (Of course that will be the ONLY wire they don't chew).

Pipp has easily cost me $3500, probably a lot more. Its a game with her. She will climb up on a shelf and streeeetch just to reach a wire. It is most certainly NOT in her way. :(

She got up on my desk (again) last year and went for something plugged into my USB port, I forget what. But lo and behold, this time it cooled her jets.

I came in the room smelling a very mild electrical smell, the wire was melted and Pipp was sitting on the floor smacking her lips, sneezing and smelling suspiciously like smoke.

She didn't touch a wire again for almost a year. :biggrin2:

Unfortunately, she's back at it. :X But at least with less gusto.

I try and block everything with wire cube panels, I have hooks holding others out of reach. I stuff pillows behind the furniture, tape wires flat against the walls and put the plastic protectors over everything that's left exposed.

I have a wireless mouse, keyboard and headset.


sas :goodluck
 
You are so lucky that Pipp was not seriously hurt.

Walter does the same, he LOOKS for wires to chew. :(
 
Pipp wrote:
I wish somebody could invent a wire that will provide a mild, safe but uncomfortable shock. I'm sure I'll catch flack for the suggestion, but its for their own safety. (Of course that will be the ONLY wire they don't chew).
Click to expand...
Nate says, get a steel pan, a C battery and some water ;)

JOKING JOKING! They've killed more than a few of his electronics!:D

I wound up wrapping bubble wrap around my wires, and then wrapping the bubble wrap with black electrical tape.
If nothing else, you'll hear the pop before Walter hits the wire.

I've given up on my guys... Slatey is a sucker for electrical work, so half the livingroom (their half) is wire-free.:p
 
They do make plastic covers for wires that adhere to your floor or wall, hiding the wires and making them less easy to chew ... unfortunately they're god-awful ugly and I imagine they wouldn't work for something you move about like a laptop. Still, might be worthwhile for things that are constantly plugged in like lamps and appliances. My boyfriend has them because his parrot thinks chewing through wires is swell.
 
Get some wire covers. You can find plastic piping at the hardware store, cut a slit down one side, and stick the wire in it. There are also more flexible wire covers available that might be better for something like a laptop where you need to move it around a lot.
 
I tape my wires off the ground above bunny height.
 
I know what you mean! I want my bunnies to live in my apartment with me, not just be in a little space that is totally proofed and indestructible. I went to Home Depot and spent the afternoon designing and the evening with my husband constructing some little "hardboard" encasings for all the places we did not want our buns going into. One day of solid work has resulted so far in 5 months of worry-free bunny hopping freedom. I highly recommend spending the time to do this - you won't regret it.

- Box encasings for bulky amount of wires like behind the entertainment unit and under the couch. Hardboard costs $6 for a really big piece, which you can have them cut down to pieces that fit your spaces.
- Metal shelves used as blockades for wires around the computers and printer area, allowing for electronic heat dispersion, and keeps bunnies safely away from yummy, yummy wires. I think it cost something like $13 a piece, and it was a really long piece.
- Cheapo plastic wire protectors from IKEA, Home Depot, Staples, Petco - a lot of places sell these. Petco.com sells a type of protector that gives off a heavy citrus smell designed to deter bunnies! I have not used them, but have heard others say it's very effective... for about5 months, then they have to buy new ones... :?I go with my "ugly" cheapo ones, but it works!! They come in different diameters, some are big enough to fit a bundle of wires and you only have one unsightly black cable running down on the floor instead several.

My favorite thing in the living room, which we spent the most time on was protecting the entertainment unit. I can't even count how many wires and cables are back there. There is no way I'm putting each one in a wire protector!! We measured the size out exactly and connected the sides with cable ties, also sold at home depot.

P1040352.jpg


Behind the tv:

P1040348.jpg

Under the couch:
P1040353.jpg


The computers (the rack attached under the computers sold at Ikea near the computer desks, also very cheap and effective to keep most of the electric outlets and stuff suspended off the ground.)
P1040356.jpg

 
Yeah, I really love the way we encased stuff in. I'm sure someone could take the same idea and apply it differently to make it work in your home. I had an idea in my head but I didn't know how to actually build it, or with what. Neither hubby nor I know how to really do things with our hands. Nails, screws, hammers, drills - all foreign objects to the two of us, seriously!

I literally took some measurements... went to Home Depot...walked up and down the aisles multiple times, spent like2 hours there trying to visualize materials fitting in my concept... bought some stuff, including the shelves and some hardboard, took it home...

Found some of it didn't work out, wasn't the right size, could be put together better... re-measured everything with a solid concept - then I went BACK to Home Depot the same night, returned some stuff, bought some new stuff, cut them to the correct sizes - THEN finally came home at some ungodly hour to start putting it all together with nothing more than some L brackets and cable ties!...because we don't know how to use nails and screws. LOL

Home Depot: Can't ever go just once! :pBUT it was TOTALLY worth it. Not even my crazy little man, Toby, has not broken through any of the bunny proofing. If I can do it, anyone can! :highfive:

:pinkbouce:
 
Home improvement stores sell split plastic tubing and spiral wrap tubing. It can get a litle expensive though if you have to cover a lot of wires. They're found in the electrical department, usually by the zip ties. You can also buy plastic tubing (1/2 inch should work for most wires) and cut a seam with scissors.
 
Nic pens - sold at Target as Nic cubes (for college kids to build closet storage) $20 bucks will pen off one wall or build an elaborate pen for your bun..

Loved the suggestion of bubble wrap with electrical tape so when they bite it they get the "POP" which might scare them off..

Found with my bun, if he can't get at the wire he desperately wants for sometime, he seems to forget about it.. But Lord forgive you if you leave a cell phone charger out - thats just your own fault.. lol.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I will need to further bunny proof I guess.

About the citrus, maybe that's the key. Does anyone know if there is a spray I can put on my laptop cord or covered cords to deter Walter some?

*something besides bitter apple spray, that stuff is GROSS. I used to use it for a really aggressive ferret and if you get any on your hands, which isn't hard to do, it doesn't come off well and every food item you touch tastes like it.
 
Here is a citrus no-chew spray: http://www.rabbitstop.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=rs&Product_Code=303167&Category_Code=2TrainingAids
I bought it when I first got my rabbit, but haven't needed to use it so I can't tell you if it works or not.

However, make sure you fully cover all wires - don't just spray them with a deterrent! Chew deterrents are for things like furniture that you don't want teeth marks in, not for dangerous things like wires. You really need to cover the wires with a physical protection like a cover or just block them off. After covering the wires,the no-chew spray may come in handyto deter him from chewing the cover itself, but I wouldn't just spray it on the wires and hope it works.
 
I have tried lots of sprays, even tabasco and bacon grease (strange but my bunny who is also a chewer gets really upset when we cook bacon). The best way is to keep the cords out of reach by any means necessary. Bitter apple does not work. Plain old bitter spray doesn't work.
 
In my old apartment, I had things blocked off. Nothing as nice as Helen did, but it worked. When I moved, I made an effort to place things so the bunnies can't get to any cords in the main living area. I got a new entertainment center that is too low for them to get under, has glass doors so they can't get to the electronics inside, and sits close enough to the wall so they can't get behind it. My living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallway is totally bunny-proof.
When it is time for them to come out to run, I close the doors to the bedroom and bathroom, and close the baby-gates to the computer and laundry rooms. I use a netbook with wireless mouse in the living room when it's bunny playtime.

One of my bunnies is a serious wire chewer. In the apartment, I had the cable line run along the baseboard, with plastic tubing "protecting" it. Amelia chewed through the tubing and into the cable. She also pulled it off of the wall, and like to try to play tug-of-war with it. Stinker. (She also chewed my old laptop cord, and made a beeline to any other cord she could see.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top