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!!! Her sister just looks at her and doesn't move. All advice is appreciated!

[Daisylover]

Well, digging is a good sign that she's feeling healthy! 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.......

[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. 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!!!

[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 )

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!!

[Daisylover]

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

[tazz1227]

She gets the attention and she KNOWS she is so cute but she is just BAD!!! 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!! Just gotta love her!!

[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!!!!!!

[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!!

[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!

*sigh* Bunnies!

[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!! But she is so cute, you can't stay mad!!

[zippy-kat]

Aren't they rotten?!

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.

[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!