Re: help – chewing

[KellyMember]

I have a 5 year old house rabbit who has basically destroyed my apartment. When I first got her I really didn’t know much about rabbits and the girl I got her from said she is not a chewer. Well, I left her free and when I came home from work and turned on my computer it wouldn’t work. She had chewed the cords! She was digging and plucking at my carpet, so I started gateing her in my kitchen during the day. When I was home I let her out, but as soon as I left to do laundry or take a shower she would start burrowing away and there would be a new hole. Before I knew it my carpet was destroyed and I will have to replace it when I move, but then someone suggested a way to stop her. Whenever she is plucking at the carpet I shoot a water gun at her. I’m not talking like a supersoaker huge jet stream, but just a little stream. Once I did it enough she stopped chewing. I heard that a squirt gun is the best because your rabbit will not associate the water with you; what I mean is, if you swat at her or anything like that she might start to be aggresive with you. I don’t keep her in the kitchen anymore and she is not allowed in my bedroom. She has earned my trust to let her be in the living room during the day, but she occasionaly digs a little.