Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BEHAVIOR as much as i adore her, she’s driving me up the wall!!

Viewing 10 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • cpb
      Participant
      6 posts Send Private Message

        this is going to be a long post so please strap in and bear with me because i could really use your help. *prayer hands emoji* 

        some background info: i adopted my bunny, cowboy bebop (bebop for short), from a shelter/foster system this past november. they estimated that she’s between 1 and 2 years old and she has been spayed. she’s an american rabbit and a sturdy one, she’s a good cat-sized bunny (which can count her out from many pet store toys for hiding, burrowing, or digging). she has a very slight head tilt, which doesn’t much hinder her for the most part–she has no problem standing on her back legs, jumping from one surface to another, or flying around a room. she’s technically my second bunny, but my first died very shortly after coming into my care due to a birth defect (binky free, feta), so i haven’t had much experience caring for a bunny outside of extreme sickness–if she ever gets sick (heaven forbid), i’ll be prepared. but when it comes to training and behavior i am a newbie and i need some guidance. 

        so i’m having 3 big issues with her right now (i can make a separate thread for each of them if necessary but i’m new to the site and thought it more polite not to crowd the behavior board )… i could really use advice on all 3 of them, so give me whatever tips you’ve got, because it seems like i’ve exhausted every online article or resource i can find.

        1. she. hates. everything. that’s an exaggeration i suppose, but she really isn’t interested in any toys unless she can eat them. she LOVES anything willow and showed mild interest when i made one of those brown paper bag toys (filled with hay, herbs, treats, and tied with natural kitchen twine) but other than that, she’s not cared at all about anything i’ve offered her. i gave her a hanging timothy hay carrot and she ate the hay cord it hung from and has ignored it since. i bought a logic toy for her to find and pull treats from, she tried it once and then never again. she’s been given cardboard boxes for “bunny renovations,” cardboard tunnels, hanging chews, willow balls, toys that make various types of noise… no interest. nothing. she has ample room to run around, and i rearrange her cage fairly often to keep it interesting for her. and she does seem to be happy!! she loves her treats, she purrs when i give her pets, she zooms around the room when i come home (and even when i’m not at home–sometimes my neighbors can hear her flying around when i’m not there) and binkies all over the place, but i still worry about her not being mentally stimulated enough, especially when i’m at work. i’m only a first timer but it is my impression that a rabbit who lays around ALL DAY is not a happy or healthy one. so: what toys do you give the bunny who hates toys? what toys are safe to leave with my bun while i’m at work? 

        2. she is currently going through her coat blowout, shedding almost enough to form a whole second bebop bunny on nearly a daily basis. so obviously i have to brush her frequently and she fights me every step of the way. if i do it outside of her cage, she runs away (which is to be expected). sometimes she kicks at me. sometimes she attacks the brush. i read online that i should try to place her on a surface high enough that she can’t jump down or escape grooming but i am “vertically challenged” so she could jump from any surface i can reach. then i read that i should take her to a separate, distraction-free room, so last night, i tried getting her into her carrier, which she refused, which i thought was because of the slippery texture of the flooring. i put my scarf in the bottom and placed a treat at the very very back of the carrier and she reached her head in *juuuuuuussssttt* far enough in to snatch the treat and run away. so then i got into her pen with her and locked it so she couldn’t run away from me as easily as she could outside of the pen. she normally is not territorial at all, which is something i learned from her foster mom before she ever came into my care… but last night, she started grunting at me!! i know this is generally just meant to mean “you’re bugging me” or “hands off” but i was so nervous that it would be followed by aggressive behavior and also that she would hate me forever (i’ve heard bunnies hold grudges…) that i just backed off and let it go. i also try to sneakily pull out the worst tufts whenever i give her pets, but she’s on to me. she hates it that much. she already gets treats before, after, and sometimes during (i’ll put a tiny bowl of oxbow simple rewards pellets in front of her and brush her while she eats) so HOW do i make this more bearable for her? how can i just get it done, and efficiently, since i have to do it so often? maybe this is my bad for backing down so easily but after almost an hour of fighting i was ready to throw in the towel. like, come on you little weirdo, i don’t want you to choke on your own hair. let me do this for you!
        3. finally, the digging. the room she’s in has hardwood flooring, so she has a light comforter underneath her pen to keep her feet from slipping or hocks from getting sore. but she keeps digging holes in it. i’ve made a digging box out of a hop-in litter box and tissue paper and she was afraid of the tissue paper. i’ve also provided her with a hay digging mat which she occasionally pulls hay out of to chew, but does not dig on. today i made her a cardboard digging box with softer, shredded paper, hiding treats and pieces of kale (which is her favorite occasional snack) throughout… which she used long enough to eat the kale and treats, then returned to digging on the comforter. i’ve rearranged her cage to cover her favorite digging spots or else moved the acceptable digging alternative into those spots, but then she just digs in a different spot! i’ve also tried redirecting her as soon as i catch her digging… sometimes physically placing her into/onto the acceptable digging spot. but it never works. she only waits until i look away and then starts digging and chewing at the comforter again. what can i do to redirect her to an appropriate spot? 

        i hope you can tell that i love her endlessly and would do anything for her… but she’s also drivin me up the wall. any advice you could give would be incredibly appreciated by the both of us. 

        love,

        bebop & c.b. 


      • Tgbarber
        Participant
        85 posts Send Private Message

          For grooming i read somewhere that if you wet your hands and pet them you will get scads of hair. Would she tolerate that better than a brush?

          For digging, can you put another surface down on floor like carpet squares or those floor pieces that look like puzzles. I use that in my bunnies area. Then since she likes to dig in cloth give her some old towel or if room enough the comforter

          As far as toys, my bun isn’t fond of toys either. I worry be doesn’t get enough mental simulation. I built him a digging box which he went to town on. And then he peed in it. So…im not sure what to tell you about toys. The only thing he seems to like are tp rolls filed with hay


        • cpb
          Participant
          6 posts Send Private Message

            Posted By Tgbarber on 1/22/2017 2:54 PM

            For grooming i read somewhere that if you wet your hands and pet them you will get scads of hair. Would she tolerate that better than a brush?

            For digging, can you put another surface down on floor like carpet squares or those floor pieces that look like puzzles. I use that in my bunnies area. Then since she likes to dig in cloth give her some old towel or if room enough the comforter

            As far as toys, my bun isn’t fond of toys either. I worry be doesn’t get enough mental simulation. I built him a digging box which he went to town on. And then he peed in it. So…im not sure what to tell you about toys. The only thing he seems to like are tp rolls filed with hay

            after reading your reply i tried doing the wet hands thing just after refilling her water bottle and she didn’t seem to mind it too much so that’s how i’m gonna handle that in the future. also, you reminded me how she enjoyed when i gave her one of those giant cardboard tubes filled with hay (she immediately tossed it and sent the hay flying everywhere and then ran around the room because she loves mischief). so i’ll definitely also try the TP rolls thanks a bunch! 

            i could be wrong but from what i understand reading other stuff from bunny owners, peeing and digging (like peeing and eating) are bound to go together for buns so i think your bun peeing in his digging box is fine and probably par for the course… bunnies are pretty gross. 

            general update: i wrote the original post right before i went to run some errands and when i came back she was digging and shredding in the box i made!!! she’s returned to it a few times since, too, and she seemed to be having a big old time chewing and shredding and digging and rooting around for the treats and hay. this box is bigger than the first i made for her, so maybe she just wanted something roomier and needed a minute to get used to this new thing in her space before she could enjoy it. hoping she sticks to it but right now i am very relieved that this seems to have curbed the digging and offered her some enrichment  


          • Tgbarber
            Participant
            85 posts Send Private Message

              Yay! Great news


            • Ellie from The Netherlands
              Participant
              2512 posts Send Private Message

                That’s great that she loves her new digging box We have the same shredded paper box for our bun, because he needed enrichment as well. We give Breintje his pellets mixed into in his digging box, it makes him more active and playful.

                 

                In general: no rabbit is alike, but they are generally quite opinionated and stubborn. One may like this, one may like that, but they’ll all have it their way and not otherwise! The best thing for a bunny owner (slave) is to make adjustments according to the rabbits wishes. 

                Rabbits generally like their litter boxes and digging boxes to be roomy. I have a dwarf bun, and he could fit thrice in his litter box. He still manages to sprinkle a bit occasionally because he’s not in the middle.  

                If he’/she is getting into places you don’t want them to be the only option may be to block that area off completely. We’ve got alu foil underneath all the couches and cupboards, and around all wires. This is the only thing that will block Breintje from walking somewhere of chewing things. This may be a last resort for the truly desperate.


              • Tgbarber
                Participant
                85 posts Send Private Message

                  Posted By Ellie from The Netherlands on 1/23/2017 7:40 AM
                  <p&gt

                  ;In general: no rabbit is alike, but they are generally quite opinionated and stubborn. One may like this, one may like that, but they’ll all have it their way and not otherwise!
                  [Quote]

                  LOL


                • Tgbarber
                  Participant
                  85 posts Send Private Message

                    I did something wrong in grabbing your quote but i loved that statement. Lol


                  • Shaina & Lucy
                    Participant
                    26 posts Send Private Message

                      I have the same issue with my rabbit digging and her lack of interest in toys! she has ripped through carpet and when i finally found solace in making her a dig box she did nothing but use it as her new litter box completely discarding her littler box. -_- I have bought her hundreds of dollars in toys from wooden toys to hay toys and the expensive toys and honestly her favorite thing is to dig, to cuddle, and to rip cardboard boxes apart so i get all different kinds of boxes to make little houses for and dig mats for and stack them and all that and while i don’t think she is fully satisfied i dont really have money to keep throwing away toys and materials right after i buy them. I bought a cat tunnel as well which is the ONLY toy i have ever bought that she likes. She rolls it around and hops over it and runs through it. I have even tried buying her those little kid toys to throw around and she wants nothing to do with them. Just wants to dig, rip things up and eat my walls lol. I usually make it a point to play with her. She likes to chase my feet but i mean of course with work and school that doesn’t happen as long as id like it do a day.

                      Anyway! as for digging… yeah there’s not much you can do but to give her things acceptable to dig on! my options are cardboard boxes and carpet squares! toys, i wish i knew! lol i’m still looking into that 3 years later with my stubborn mini lop and my bun hates the brush as well so i usually do what was said before with the water and that seems to do the trick! good luck!! if you find any awesome toys she loves i’d love to hear your review from one stubborn bunny mom to another lol


                    • DorothyTheMiniSatinBun
                      Participant
                      144 posts Send Private Message

                        My bun also has nearly zero interest in the toys I have bought her for tossing and for chewing. But she’s more of an athletic bunny who loves running, tunnels, hiding spots and jumping, so I try to buy her toys now that are geared towards those interests of hers. I have a castle hutch with a ramp and a cottage right next to it with a bunch of entryways and exits. She has a blast with this. I also got her a cat tunnel, and I change the shape often to keep her interested. She gets a lot of time outside of the pen, so we also rearrange furniture temporarily, just so she can explore them in their new spot. Eventually she started tossing toys after that. She still chews and digs at things she is not supposed to ALL THE TIME, and I have pretty much accepted this as typical bunny behavior. I just shoo her away when she seems she might damage something or hurt herself. Good luck!


                      • Ellie from The Netherlands
                        Participant
                        2512 posts Send Private Message

                          Typical bunny behaviour indeed:
                          new toys? – meh…
                          bunny bed – *whizzz*
                          curtains, carpets or other stuff that’ll get you into trouble? – OMGYAY!!BESTTHINGEVER!!!111!!! *munch* *destroy*

                          I complained to my neighbour once: it’s like having a toddler armed with a pair of bolt cutters. A toddler which can jump up 3 times his body height and can do a neat 40 km/h with some zigzags included. Big ears, but they just won’t listen…


                        • LBJ10
                          Moderator
                          16869 posts Send Private Message

                            Love the name!

                            Ellie – LOL

                            Is the comforter stuffed? Could you maybe switch it out for something else, like a fleece blanket?

                        Viewing 10 reply threads
                        • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                        Forum BEHAVIOR as much as i adore her, she’s driving me up the wall!!