Do your bunnies do this obsessive digging thing?

[bmt87]

Lola is obsessed with digging the microsuede couch. She KNOWS she’s not supposed to — you can even see how after a few times she looks up to see if she is going to get yelled at.  Her claws aren’t sharp enough to rip the sofa but I am worried because every once in awhile she will also bite the couch in between digs.  I’ve tried the spray bottle and pushing her off the couch – but it seems nothing works and she is quite literally obsessed. I know this is probably an instinctual behavior but has anyone had any success breaking a rabbit of it?

[Stickerbunny]

Powder does that to everything fabric like, he thinks if it’s soft it has to be like a blankie and he can dig it up to get it wherever he wants it to go … and if not, he’ll just dig til he can. I found throwing a sheet that he can move around settles him, he just digs the sheet then til he’s comfy.

[Buzz]

Rabbits sometimes dig to claim something as their own – my rabbit digs on me to claim me! Does she also scent mark the couch with her cheeks or chin? I haven’t seen them do it so frequently as in the video though, although my flatmates’ blind rabbit will dig on your chest to claim your chest as his own and he does that quite vigorously and can be quite unrelenting.

[Haymonster]

Posted By Buzz on 06/11/2012 02:05 AM

Rabbits sometimes dig to claim something as their own – my rabbit digs on me to claim me! Does she also scent mark the couch with her cheeks or chin? I haven’t seen them do it so frequently as in the video though, although my flatmates’ blind rabbit will dig on your chest to claim your chest as his own and he does that quite vigorously and can be quite unrelenting.

I didn’t know that rabbits will dig to claim things! One of my rabbits digs at me all the time – I thought he was just being a little stinker! The same rabbit will dig the sheet off our bed i.e. untuck the fitted sheet from the bed. Once it’s untucked, and he can rearrange it freely, he seems to be happy.

[jackikal]

This behavior is perfectly natural. My sisters rabbit will literally tuck you into bed. That is, before he pulls the sheet off you entirely! If it’s damaging, then you should throw a sheet over the area, but otherwise just enjoy how cute it looks.

Lola seems like a rabbit who would like bedding!

[Elrohwen]

Does she really do it obsessively for long periods of time? It might not be obsessive and just a fun activity, in which case I’d try to provide her other places to dig. You could even put a small diggy box on the couch (cardboard filled with litter or shredded paper, newspaper, etc) and redirect her to that instead of the couch itself.

Hannah obsessively digs in the cage (I have a petstore cage attached to a pen, with the litter boxes in the cage part). She developed the habit at her old home where she was in a petstore cage all day and now when she’s stressed she goes in there and does it for 15min at a time. It’s somewhat a normal rabbit behavior, but I don’t think doing anything obsessively is healthy so I try to distract her. I get her out of the cage and work on tricks, or give her a special toy/treat to occupy her.

[bmt87]

I didn’t know that they dig to claim things either….in that case, she has claimed the couch multiple times over.

Elrohwn – I was worried about boredom too. She is out of her cage so much and has so many things to occupy her that I don’t see why the digging persists. It’s almost like she wants me to yell at her or to get in trouble. I’ve tried the diggy box BUT she just wants to eat the paper in it so it’s a no-go. I don’t want to fill it with her litter because I know she’ll just use it as a potty box and I don’t want to encourage her to dig in the litter box because that will just end in a mess.

I don’t feel like this is something she’s developed and more like something she has always done – I just don’t know if there is anyway to get her to stop….. Frustrating. She loves bedding but won’t dig at it. Just burrow in it. She just digs at the couch and me. Ughhhh. I feel like I am destined to be covered in Lola scratches for the rest of my/her life.

[Sarita]

I used to have a rabbit, Giselle that was obsessive about digging – I have no idea how old she was when I got her but I did get her spayed and she never lost the need to dig. I loved her but she was not allowed to free roam due to her obsessive compulsive behavior. As she aged she eventually stopped the behavior but it took a good long while. I just think she needed a task and that is what her task was.

I think though if she was digging on my sofa, she would not be allowed on the sofa. I love my rabbits but I also love my furniture…

[Huckleberry]

Huckles does that. She digs like that at the rug that is in front of the couch. I think it is a way to get attention. Giving her attention has been the only thing that actually stops her. I can spray her with water, thump the ground, spray the area with vinegar until I can’t stand to be in my house any more…. nothing stops her except stopping what I am doing, getting down on the floor (sometimes with a couple treats) and having a good long cuddle and playing with a few toys (like a wooden stick or a plastic slinky)

[longhairmike]

get a giant covered pillow or cushy bed that wont matter if it gets destroyed.
then both of you can have dedicated diggy-time together.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Love that vid!! Too adorable, Mike.

Olivia has a little cat tent that she will go in and dig like a mad bunny. If I try to dig with her, she hits me and honks.

[Madrhy]

beefy digs at the same spot under the table all the time, my husband has started calling it “the soft spot” lol we bring out his basket with a blanket in it and put it in the spot and then he digs at that and doesn’t destroy the floor

[SuperCheesetastic]

I will normally let Penelope dig in local parks/lots:

But I never let her do this:

Otherwise, we’d be kicked out of every park.

[Alexandra]

Frank, my 3 year old holand lop just started doing this about 6 months ago. Except, he does it in his pen in the area where there is a solid wood surface. So it’s very loud, and he usually starts about an hour before my alarm is set for me to get up for work – not ideal.

I’m trying to figure out what’s triggering it, are his nails too long an bothering him?(nope, he does it even when their just trimmed) Does he just want out to play? (nope, when I open the gate to let him out, he sticks to the digging for a while before coming out to run.) Or does he just love it as a new activity?(I think so). My lionhead,Chloe, just sits there and stares at him like he’s crazy.

My only solution was to throw a few towels on top of the wood that he likes to dig, it has made the noise of him digging quieter, and he seems just as happy to dig at it.

My opinion is that it’s just in their nature, and there’s not much that can be done to prevent them from digging, but there are alternatives that can allow them to do the digging and not, in my case, wake me up an hour earlier than required, or in your case, ruin your furniture.

Lola is adorable, so I completely understand wanting to allow her to sit with you on the couch – but I recommend either putting a sheet or towel down – or giving her a designated digging area like a cat bed off of the couch.

Good Luck!

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