Does anyone else's bunnies do this?

[hummer]

I have always heard that giving a rabbit a oldphone book to let them shred it is something that can keep themoccupied. Well, I guess Miffy has a littleeatingstreak in her cause she just eats the dog gone thing! If Iput newspaper in her cage (under her litter boxes to catch any "missedshots"), she always finds it and starts to eat it! She hasplenty of hay in her cage, pellets too. I give her romaine,dandelion leaves, i. parsely and cilantro plus a fingerful or so ofshredded carrots daily so I know she is not starving. Rightnow she is eating the empty toilet paper roll, heck if she is able toeat the thick plastic her cage is sitting on, shedoes!:shock: When I catch her doing that (the plastic makesenough noise I can tell what she is doing), I squirt her and tell herno, but if she gets the chance, she goes for it!



Is it ok for her to eat all that paper or am I right in not allowingher access to any of it? (I know it is not good for her toeat the plastic but her cage has to sit on it or any of her "missedshots" that make it out of the cage go on the wood floors)How do all of you (whose bunny eats everything she can get their teethon!) deal with this?



Thanks for any and all replies!

 

[Shuu]

It's not necessarily bad to eat paper,but an excess can turn into a problem. You can solve this by giving herchewable toys which are better for her such as apple tree sticks andstraw mats you can find at pet stores. I'd personally take away thephone book if all she's doing is eating it. Maybe just let her playwith it for half an hour at a time if you're intent on it.

 

[hummer]

I already recycled it so she has no more phonebooks. I bought her something like a little wooden dumbellwith a dried apple around it, she ate the apple and now I think I moveit around more than she does! I have a think plastic bowl inher cage to catch the water drips from her water bottle and I think sheplays with that bowl more than anything else in there. Shepicks it up with her teeth and rolls it sideways. I havebought her, in the past, these little cardboard boxes (2 inches long)with little treats inside to give her something to do, she opens it andeats the treat then forgets about the little box. I amstarting to feel like she is playing with me, "I know I can confuse herso easily, I will do this now" type stuff!

 

[Nicky Snow]

Rue eats the paper too, i try to discourage herby taking it out of her mouth and saying 'OI' or 'no'. She gets theidea...when she wants to,

Nicole

 

[stanleysmommy]

Oh wow Stanley does that all the time. I was worried about him he does it so much, and he looks like a goat when he eats it.

 

[hummer]

I have 2 daughters who have been known to leavea piece of paper here and there. I always check the floor forthis when I let Miffy out but sometimes she does findsomething. Picture this, a 8 month pregnant woman on herhands and knees trying to get a piece of paper out of a veryfast and agile bunny's mouth! The last time this happened,she saw me coming, picked up her little treasure and started thechase. She finally dropped it but by that time, I decided shecan go back to her cage for a little bit and she ran rightin!



At least I know that she is not the only bun who eats everything!

 

[Mr. Stee]

Cardboard in this house slowly gets recycledinto little round balls after a bout with bunny digestion. Wehavn't tried too hard at stopping them from eating newspaper,phonebooks, and cardboard boxes (we try to keep shiny or heavilyprinted paper away) and we havn't had a problem from it yet.You should see some of their play boxes. the walls are alleaten out at rabbit shoulder height so much that they collapse undertheir own weight. They are like gigantic termites when itcomes to boxes.

James

 

[bluebird]

I would not let her eat cardboard.my mothers lop ate her cardboard box and she got an impaction from it and died.bluebird