Bunny Digging!!!

[tazz1227]

Hi everyone....I am back and so are my "digging bunnies". Since Girl Girl got better, she has begun to dig in my carpet!!!! WHY?? HELP!! She has toys but she chooses to go in my closet and DIG when I forget to close the closet door. When she can't get in the closet she will go to the spare room and DIG!!!! Help before she is HOMELESS!!! :D Her sister just looks at her :D and doesn't move.:) All advice is appreciated!

[Daisylover]

Well, digging is a good sign that she's feeling healthy! :D Digging is also a female thing. What I've done is to buy a scrap piece of HEAVY plywood (sev layers thick), staple old carpet scrap to it and place it over the place she is digging..... It should be too heavy for her to move while she is digging. The nice thing about this is that when company comes over you can whip that board under the sofa to hide it if nec. and then bring it back out when your company is gone..... The other thing you might do is to put a covered cat litter tray there and fill it full of shredded paper........let her dig in that..... She may mistake it for a real litter box so you'll have to keep and eye (and nose! ) on it but it's better than losing the carpet.......:rolleyes:

[tazz1227]

Hi daisey, I knew you would have an answer. Let me tell you what else her "bad butt" did since she got better. I brought a big Rubbermaid container because Boy Boy is getting too big for her litterbox. :D Anyway, she played in it and won't let Boy Boy in so I put shreded stuff in there and she loves it but still likes a wall in my closet best. She thinks carrots are hidden in the carpet. And she doesn't dig until 4AM!! I don't know why! She just started that the past week. Boy Boy is fine, just relaxes and gets rubbed...Girl Girl is high strung and soon to be HOMELESS!!!:D

[zippy-kat]

It's not just a girl thing!! Bad boy Piper is an expert carpet digger much to my displeasure! (and even better at ripping it up :mad: )

I'm afraid to use your suggestion Daisylover, as Mizzer Piper likes to EAT it! Thank God, we'll be laying tile down soon! lol

[tazz1227]

Hi Zippy...I forgot that part! She will dig and then start pulling at it AND she has the NERVE to do it with me standing there!! Just a stubborn bad bunny....but I love her so much!!:D

[Daisylover]

Well, it's their way of saying "Here I am, look at me! Pay me some attention! Aren't I cute!" :D

[tazz1227]

She gets the attention and she KNOWS she is so cute but she is just BAD!!! :D Why can't she be calm like her sister...at 4am Boy Boy is SLEEP under my bed and Girl Girl is finding things to get into. Last night...yes it was MY FAULT...I left a paper bag on the floor and she had a BALL at 4AM!! :mad: Just gotta love her!!:D

[Daisylover]

Daisy and Marie make a BIG production of crunching on their veggies during the night..........it wakes me up! I think they do it on purpose, as if to say...Hey, you up there! We're HUNGRY, STARVING AND DOWN TO THE VERY LAST PIECE OF LETTUCE!!!!!
GET UP!!! HURRY!!! FEED US!!!!!!
:rolleyes:

[tazz1227]

Wll my kids eat in a different room but they manage to bring their food into my room to make noise. Girl Girl like to jus "DIG" in her container at night now. Last night, I am sick and took medic...at 11:51 I hear her and then at 2:50 I hear her again. She is so insensitive! She sleeps all day while I am working and then wants to keep me up at night. If I didn't love her so much, I liked it better when she was sick...she was much calmer!! :D

[zippy-kat]

Originally posted by tazz1227
11:51 I hear her and then at 2:50 I hear her again. She is so insensitive! She sleeps all day while I am working and then wants to keep me up at night.

Just like a kid!! ;)

I feel your pain... Piper stays in his "Bunny condo" at night (his kitty sister sleeps with me) and often will proceed to drop EVERYTHING down his stairs at 3-4AM. Once everything's down, what does he do? Moves it back upstairs so he can toss it down again, of course! :rolleyes:

*sigh* Bunnies! :D

[tazz1227]

Hi Zippy...what is it with the magical time between 3 & 4 am? And the bad part is she NEVER does it on the weekend when I do not have to get up ...only when I have to go to work!! :mad: But she is so cute, you can't stay mad!! :D

[zippy-kat]

Aren't they rotten?! :D

Bunnies (and kitties!) are the bestest!

[Karen]

It's funny, because Miss Hoppy just is NOT a digger. Some of the things I read people do about digging (before I got my non-digging bunny) is nail corrugated cardoard - just several sheet of old boxes smushed down and glued or nailed to a piece of heavy plywood - it's cheap, easy to replace, and bunnies seem to like the noise and texture of the bumpy layers - AND, unlike nylon carpet, it's not bad if they ingest some. And Miss Hoppy does agree that cardboard is fun to peel apart!

[tazz1227]

You know Karen...i have the "pickiest" bunnies. When they turned 1 year old a year ago...all digging and chewing stopped completely! I was THRILLED! I got new carpet and they never thought about it. Then Girl Girl was sick, got teeth pulled and now is better and has started digging again! She is driving me crazy because she has 2 spots...in my closet (no damage done yet) and in my guest room where the old carpetis...damage done but it's ok. I have given her cardboard and everything I could think of but she wants the carpet. She does like to dig in the Aspen shreddings in her Rubbermaid bin. :D

[Karen]

People who don't *know* bunnies would never guess what strong personalities they have, would they! :) They keep US jumping! :) Carpet stores often have scraps and remnants they'd probably give you, by the way, so your carpet-digging bunny doesn't drive you broke - and maybe some nice earplugs for 4am bouts would be a good investment! :D

[tazz1227]

You are so funny Karen. But you know the funny part is that I sleep through ANYTHING but I guess like a mother and child, when they move and run, I hear them. Is that maternal instict or what??:D I will look into the carpet remnant thing, I thought about that but I was still afraid she would eat it and get sick.:(

[BufftheBun]

I know what you all mean about the carpet digging now. I just moved into a new apartment with carpeting (the old one had hardwoods) and Buffy (my bunny) has been going crazy at trying to dig up the carpet. Fortunately she only likes the corners and I have them all blocked with bricks which seems to be doing the job. So now she has started on the molding and chewing the paint off the corner off the walls. She is too funny, she won't touch varnished molding but she will go to town on painted molding. Go figure :D
I'll have to try some of the ideas on this post to encourage her digging in other ways. Thanks for the great ideas!
I understand the 4 am thing, that is usually when Buff decides she needs to start having a chewing fest on the walls or the slats underneath my bed. But like you all said, you just gotta love em :)

[tazz1227]

Hi Buff...how old is your bun? Mine did the carpet and baseboards until they turned 1 and then they stopped...until now. I think she is having a "mid life crisis! :)

[BufftheBun]

Tazz- My bunny is a spayed female a little over 2 years old. She never chewed baseboards until I moved into my new place. So I don't what the deal is. I have invested in some Armstrong wallboard that I put over the baseboards (it is like a rubbery molding) to protect those. She still likes the wallboard so she chews that now. I don't think she is ingesting too much since I see the scraps on the floor. I am hoping it is just a phase that will soon pass!

[Daisylover]

Hi guys! I've been swamped at work and just getting caught up.... I will tell you my Daisy, who has the run of the 2nd floor, got behind the bedroom door (which is seldom closed so who looks behind there?) a few years ago and made several holes in the painted drywall and the molding (also painted) and got very, very ill from ingesting all that garbage. I think it took him two months for his gut to recover.

Then he started a big hole in the bathroom wall behind the toilet AND pulled off all the rubber molding in there and chewed that up......so now he's banned from the bathroom. Then he changed his focus and chewed a big hole in the drywall by his cage. I've had to put up a screen in THAT location so he can't get at it.....

He has soft pine blocks to chew on and a carpet, 2 boxes to dig in, a girlfriend and a heck of a lot to eat...... he's just one very strong-willed bunny who does not give up once he finds an "enjoyable" task for himself. I have no idea how to explain this to maintenance...I tried spackling it myself....what a joke!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you really need to watch your bunnies and stop the destructive behavior immediately by making the problem area inaccessible and giving the bun a diversion to concentrate on. As long as Daisy has his cardboard castle to rip up he leaves the walls and moldings alone.

[tazz1227]

Hi Daisey...missed you!! This time YOU disappeared. :) You know Girl Girl is so funny...I agree with the bathroom thing. They...yes THEY...they both LOVE the wallpaper in the bathroom so they were banned. Well one day last week I didn't close the bathroom door all the way and Girl Girl got in there and went behind the door and it closed and she couldn't get out. I got home and I saw Boy Boy and not her...then I happened to open the door and she was just sitting there...MAD! :mad: I laughed. It is funny they only do that in the spare bathrooms...in my bathroom they just lay out behind the toilet. I have NO PRIVACY!! :D But the carpet thing, she isn't digging holes yet, just scratching the carpet enough to make noise. She does love her box though. It is full of Aspen shavings and she loves it! Boy Boy doesn't do anything but follow me and look cut and "plump"...no she is NOT FAT!! Here is a picture I took with my new camera phone. I love it!

[BufftheBun]

My bunny, Buffy has about every distraction that you could think of but she still has choosen the walls for the moment. She has a castle, tons of toys, sticks, dowels, blocks, any type of wood that you could imagine, condo, and a big bin of hay. I try my best with her but every room has molding so I can't really take her away from it unless I put her in the cage and I don't want to do that! She'll just take a quick nibble and then hop along on her way. She has actually calmed down so I am hoping that she is growing bored with it. Not that it really makes a difference now that the molding is covered up. She gets squirted with water anytime she goes near the molding when I am home. So I really think it is a phase she'll grow out of. She has stopped the carpet digging completely now! So that is good.

[tazz1227]

Speaking of castles, mine has the castle aslo and they love it! They know if they get in there and climb to the top they get a treat. Well they decide to do it when I am trying to get ready for work and they know I hear them and whichever one gets up there first sits there and looks so cute!! :D You know that cuteness will get them whatever they want!!!

[sqwelch]

I just rescued a bunny (Fester) 3 weeks ago and all your destructive stories are scaring me. Fingers crossed Fester hasn't tried digging carpets or making holes on walls thanks goodness. I think chewing cables is his only bad habit (so far anyway). By the way I've heard of some sort of covering for over cables, where would you buy this sort of thing a pet shop or electrical store ????

Maybe the difference with Fester is that all your bunnies are out and about during the day whereas Fester is in his hutch and only comes out for about 4 hours a day. Unfortunately I couldn't have him out FT as just now he is terrorising my cat (although hes booked in for the snip, so hopefully he should stop!)

It is amazing what we put up with in the name of love, I remember when my cats were kittens, they were real horrors but always knew how to wrap me round their wee paws !!!

[tazz1227]

Oh, they aren't "horror stories"...they are cute stories. :D My babies have never taken an interst in cables...they like things they can sink their teeth into! (smile) I heard of those things to cover your cables. I think you can go to home depot.

[Aspen and Misty]

I just HAD to get in on this conversation (no matter how old it is) My bunny Julian has the WORST chewing habbit! We are replacing my carept in my room with lanolium soon because he is sooo bad! LOL. Hopefully when he and Tyah can be together they wont' be as destrcutive cause they'll keep each other company. Luckily, my two loud babies send the night in a seprate room then why. Why do I say Luckliy? Because even though we are in seprate rooms both with closed doors, I can hear them AND they wake me up :rolleyes: can't even imagine being in the same room as them :eek:

My rats LOVE to push things down there levels, or ramps, it's the best game don't ya know!

Ash

[tazz1227]

Hi Aspen and Misty...never to late to add a comment. I also could not imagine sleeping in the same room with buns in a cage. My babies sleep under my bed but make no noise because they know they will get kicked out!! :) Actually one does like to play at 4am but she is getting better since it is getting cool. She just wants to snuggle with her sister!:D I am thinking about taking the carpet out of their room not because they are chewing they are over that but they make such a mess and I am tired of vacuuming! They have a play box and they kick the aspen shredding out and it makes such a mess!:D

[Daisylover]

I recently switch from CareFresh bedding to Yesterday's News (cuz it was on sale!). I really like it.... The buns like it too.......so much that they deliberately get in their litter boxes and dig and kick it EVERYWHERE.... The minute I'm done sweeping it up, Maple is back in the box again and digging to China! He can fling those little pills about 3-4 feet away! They had done that a little with CareFresh but nothing like this mess they are making now. Yes, it's funny but it is also getting old.... Do you suppose saying the phrase "Bunny in the Crock Pot" might be a deterent?;)

[tazz1227]

Hi Daisey, I also tried the Yesterdy's News and they LOVED it! They kicked it around and played in it so we are back to the Carefresh way of life. But you know what I did? I put some Aspen bedding in a Rubbermaid container for they to "dig in" and "play in" and they had the NERVE to make it another litterbox !! :mad: Boy I tellyou. And that stuff makes such a mess!! :mad: I am thinking about removing the carpet but I don't want them to be cold in the winter but they are making such a mess!!! And they feel that they need to eat in MY ROOM!! I had to get my carpet shampooed! I tried to threaten them with the "Bunny in the pot" and they LAUGHED AT ME! :( They know they are so cute that I could never get mad....really mad at them! Just love them to pieces but they are pushing their luck! :D

[SoMe1oNmYmInD]

hey my name is chelsea and im 12 yrs old and i was just wondering if u wanted to be pm pen pal because i really want on well if u do write back
~chelsea~;)

[tazz1227]

Hi Chelsea...how are you? Welcome!! :D

[Daisylover]

HI Chelsea! Welcome to Pet of the Day. As you can tell we are bunny lovers and a little over the edge about our four-footed friends. Be sure to go to Pet General and introduce yourself there too. There are a lot of young teens on the site.