Bun bun making me yank out my hair

[Lauren^.^]

Let me preface this by saying I love my rabbit. He loves to cuddle, has never once bitten me, and is so much more entertaining than I ever thought a bunny would be. I got him about 7 months ago, and he’s a year old. Thumper came to me after a coworker had gotten him from a breeder as a bunny and then decided she couldn’t tolerate his shenanigans anymore. At the time, I thought this was silly. He’s a rabbit–what did she expect? Although I still would never get rid of him, I have much more empathy for his previous owner’s frustration. 

(Side note: Thumper has been neutered for about three months.)

So here’s my issue: taking care of this guy is like dealing with a toddler–only he’s not going to leave the terrible twos. When I first got him, I was sure I had rabbit proofed. HA! My first surprise was that he climbs everything. His favorite place to be is on the kitchen table. If I don’t watch him, he’ll get on the kitchen counter. He climbs our pantry shelves and pulls down food. He climbs the laundry room shelves to find his bag of food (literally I couldn’t find him one day–he was completely inside his bag of hay–never mind that he had hay in his feeder). This can be frustrating for a number of reasons, but he also has a tendency to fall off of stuff and I’m really afraid he’s going to break something one of these days. 

He gets into everything. He can open the door of our pantry and pull out the chocolate chips in a matter of seconds. If I am eating something in a bag, he’ll run up and grab it with his teeth and tug on it with all his might to try to get it from me. You would think I never feed him, but he always has hay and gets 1/2 cup of pellets and close to 2 cups of veggies a day (he’s a 6.5 pound boy). I had made it so he couldn’t get behind our washing machine, but apparently he could still just barely reach the cord and chewed through it. Luckily he didn’t get shocked, but the Sears man charged me $200 to fix it.  Of course Thumper’s got lots of attitude, too–whenever I have to move him away from whatever naughty and/or dangerous thing he’s started doing, he’ll grunt at me and sometimes kick imaginary dirt up at me as he runs off. He doesn’t hold a grudge about it though, so I can live with it.

He is kept in his cage when I’m not home and at night. If I didn’t do this, I am certain that he wouldn’t survive longer than a day, and my stuff certainly wouldn’t. Yesterday I had to stop him chewing the plaster from the wall–not the edge, mind you, but literally just the middle of the wall. How does he even do that??? But I try to have him out of his cage any time I’m home–the problem is that he takes up nearly all of my attention when he gets to roam. I tried to type this while he was out, but not only did he keep hopping on the keyboard (and grunting at me when I’d try to remove him from the table), but when I lifted my laptop away from him, he grabbed the screen with his teeth and tried to yank it out of my hands!

Sometimes I need to be able to focus and get things done, but I also want Thumper to get plenty of exercise and also be safe. He has toys; should I try more? Should I try to bond him with another bunny so that he gets more attention? What can I do to make him less of a cyclone of adorable bunny damage? Sorry this is so long, but any help would be appreciated.

<3

[jerseygirl]

He sounds like he has bucket loads of sass! 

You may be still dealing with some post-neuter craziness, so fingers crossed time will help. Or it could purely be his age…

I recommend you look into getting a decent size pen and set this up around his cage, rather then let him have access to your whole home. It needn’t be forever, but just until you can trust him more in a larger space.

I tend to think buns that are “hardcore” like this are really intelligent and need to be engaged in a different way. Toys may not be enough of a distraction for him. Doing some clicker training activities with him may be worth a try. Directing that energy he has into something more structured. Ive not done this with my rabbits, but Ive heard it is a good for bonding with them.

[Mikey]

Pulling stuff out of your hands sounds like an attention thing to me, even when its food he is pulling. How often do you spend playing with him each day? Talking to him? Grooming him?

Some buns really like to jump. Have you considered a cat tree (or few) so he jumps all over that, instead of your shelves? You could get a few cat shelves too if you think that would interest him more.

Bunnies are the professionals at telling you if youve bunny proofed correctly or not You should completely block his access to any place you dont want him to be. Completely shut doors. Get locks if need be. Baby gates. Door stoppers. DIY grids clipped together around something to protect it. Make sure things are impossible for him to reach. Ect.

Have you done “no” training/does he know the word “no”? Clicker training could also help, like Jersey mentioned.

[sarahthegemini]

Oh my goodness, he does sound like a handful! Just adding to what’s already been said – have you played logic toys with him? That might give him the attention he (possibly) craves and will challenge his very smart brain!

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hi!!! Nice post

Absolutely in agreement with everything Jersey says especially post neuter craziness.
I have Henry who dug everything in a crazy, mainc, slightly worrying manner…. and I realise now after being spayed seven months ago that he has calmed down….
Just hold on for a few more months and you’ll be okay….. i hope…

Meantime limit his space with a strong and high puppy pen and make the space 100% safe for him and you’ll get your sanity back.

[Deleted User]

Asriel is the EXACT same way! He’s a night owl, so he’ll just loaf in his cage, but once 9PM comes he is everywhere! We have an x-pen set up, but when he’sin that pen he bunny 500s so hard against the cage. He also climbs everything xD Last night he made one bound right up to the couch and looked at me all confused. He’s not a petter, he’s a very curious and intelligent bunny who loves his independence. If you’re lucky, sometimes after his shenanigans you can steal a few pets.

[Author]

Messages