Electrical cords

[ilovetoeatchocolate]

Okay things have been going very well with Oreo getting used to us, his home, litter training. I have let him out of his cage a few times. Well this morning we did not do so well. He started to chew the covered electrical wires. The tubing that I put around it that is supposed to protect him was broken in a few chews. And he did not react to the no's that his Mama said to him. So I am going to mount a power bar so that the cords are out of reach, I am going to cover the electrical cords with another layer of different tubing, I will spray it with some perfume to see if that works and I will go out and buy some wood to make a cabinet sort of cover so he can't go behind the fish tank.

Does anyone else have any other ideas? Has anyone elses bunnies chewed the wire covers? What kind of toy can I provide to him so he is still getting the same satisfaction but not the unsafeness? He seemed to love to butt his head against the electrical cords and then he would chew on them. Mama would say no and then he would continue chewing. It was like a game to him! He didn't react at all to me saying no! But then again he is 7 so he has probably been through some of this. Was he playing with me? He ran from one electrical cord to another and each time I said no it was like he said "Yeah right Mama, I am the king of this castle!" and ran to the next one!

Shannon

 

[ilovetoeatchocolate]

I am thinking that he may even like the tubing because it is textured. It is the black tubing that has the slit down the middle.

 

[SOOOSKA]

Hey Shannon,

Do you have an IKEA in Winnipeg? I got Electrical cord covers from there, I have also used the plactic covers that go on the shower curtain rods they are aliitke harder to use as they are not flexable.

I'll get a picture of the one from Ikea they work really well for me and my 6 babies.

Susan

 

[ilovetoeatchocolate]

no Ikea here but I think one is coming.

 

[ilovetoeatchocolate]

So I am not giving up. I took out my rabbit book. A different one that I had been reading where they gave suggestions on house training. They suggested saying "No" but accompanied by a clap of a hand. And if that does not work then use a water spray bottle. So I have covered off the areas as much as I could with some barriers like the lids of some rubbermaid storage containers and some large buckets. And I have the spray bottle ready and the rewards for when he stops chewing the remaining cords. Hopefully it works.

He is mad at me for putting him back in the expen this morning. But he was going running from one cord to the next with me chasing him saying "no" that I didn't know what to do! I was a little bit overwhelmed because I was really counting on the wire covers to work. But I am sure he just has to get into the grove of things of being a house rabbit and trained. Afterall he is seven years old.

Shannon

 

[tonyshuman]

That training should help. I also got some Bitter Lime spray to spray on baseboards and electrical wires. Other ones are good, but it has to have Bitrex in it, also called denatonium benzoate. The best way to beat it... is to hide all the electrical cords behind furniture!

bunnies can be such stinkers...

 

[ilovetoeatchocolate]

Yup I am going to hide them, raise them, double cover them. Do whatever I need to do to make sure he is safe. I should try to pull out my camera and see if I can snap some pictures too.

Oh also I have decided to think like a bunny. I am all alone, bored, miss my sister who is in waiting at the Humane Society. I may have an expen that is six times as big as the cage that I was in at the Humane's society but I am bored and don't know what to do. And possibly my last owner did not let me out as much. So I made him a tunnel system out of boxes. I have a long tube that I attached to a medium cardboard box. I carved holes in the medium cardboard box for windows and doors and attached the tube to the door. He seems to love that!

Also, I did more research on rabbits as I started to read my other rabbit book and found that he may not be bored. Rabbits naturually are not as active during the day. I read up on rabbit nature from the book Living With a House Rabbit. This is my first rabbit ever.

Shannon

 

[slavetoabunny]

Wire shelving like this are great for blocking off wires, baseboards, etc. (just the shelf part, ignore the brackets):

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They are readily available at any Lowe's or Home Depot and are fairly inexpensive.

 

[ilovetoeatchocolate]

That is a fabulous idea! I never thought of that. Thanks a lot!

 

[Richard0600]

I'm sure the wire shelfing would work...but what i think is the problem..is that the rabbits are bored!...

What i do is i wrap duct tape or drafting tape around the wire..to make a makeshift wire protector... it solves the problem cause they have trouble biting the duct tape.. but it leads to them finding something else to bite.. (like the legs of my wooden chairs!) to solve that problem..i give them my egg cartons.. it takes about a month or 2 for them to both to go through half of an egg carton... i cut the egg carton in half and leave them all over my apartment..especially in places where they tend to bite things..

So in my rabbits case..it's
-Under tables
-In their cage
-Places where they like to pull on the carpet...
-under the coffee table

it really helps...especially when u wake up one morning to find that they destroyed your book ><

 

[ilovetoeatchocolate]

Hmmm I don't know if he is bored. Maybe bored in he is missing his playmate. He has lots of toys. Wooden arch hidey things, boxes with newspaper in them, boxes with holes cut out so he can go in/through them, a plastic hidey thing,empty toilet paper tubes, rattles, blankets, empty paper rolls from my work, an elaborate hidey thing witha tunnel for him to run through that I made. I think that it is just in rabbits nature to chew and the protected cord was in his path so he decided to chew it. Then when he noticed that it was something he was not supposed to do it became a game as he ran from one cord to the next. I will have to make a toy that is sort of similar to vines and he can get that need met.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

I wrapped bubble packaging around all my wires for a time. It seemed to work pretty well, in combo with the electrical tape...

 

[juliew19673]

My bun has gone "Criminal" twice; and the second time I put up a permanent "child/doggy/bun gate at the threshold of the offending territory. Those black pastics covers he "laughed" at as he merrily chomped through them.

I also put up "NIC" pens around the areas he chewed through previously and as he is kept in a NIC pen during the day, for some reason he thinks this stuff is "Kryptonite" and doesn't now pay attention to it. So keep in mind whatever "cage" unit you keep him in when he "has" to be secured - might be his "kryptonite"..

Good luck and post what you find works..