How do I get my rabbit to stop chewing his cage door?

[matz7fox]

Hello! I have a question about Buckeye’s (my rabbit) behavior. He lives in a spacious cage at night and when I am not home, but the rest of the time he has free roam of my room so that I can supervise him and make sure he doesn’t eat anything bad or chew all of my stuff. He recently started chewing on his cage door like he wants to come out. I am confused because he gets an appropriate amount of time out of his cage and he has never done this before. He likes to eat hay directly from the container that I keep it in, which is outside of the cage, but he also has plenty of hay inside the cage too. Is there anything I can do to get him to stop chewing the cage door?

 

[Preitler]

Whenever I need to keep my rabbits from being bored I give them tree branches and twigs to gnaw on, willow, ash, hasel, roses, fruit trees..., I put them directly in their way, on paths they are used to go.

 

[Blue eyes]

You may need to attach a piece of disposable cardboard to the door so that, if he's going to chew, he's chewing on something safe. Chewing on the bars could misalign his teeth causing even more problems.

 

[Preitler]

Now that Blue eyes mwntion it, I did screw sacrificial softwood boards to the inside of my hutch doors, -3 cm from the wire and in an convienient height to gnaw on. Lasts longer than cardboard, also it doesn't matter if they eat it. Can sure be done with a cage door, like making wire holders left and right of it, or a screw on one side as pivot point totilt it out of the way when not needed, or so.

I changed the design of my hutch doors and started feeding tree branches so I don't need that anymore, bút it did work back then.

 

[craftymelli7]

When my rabbit chews on the bars of his cage I cover that area with a blanket. He stops chewing on it if he can't see me. Then I uncover it again when he stops.

 

[MeggyM]

When my rabbit chews on the bars of his cage I cover that area with a blanket. He stops chewing on it if he can't see me. Then I uncover it again when he stops.

Try putting something else on the door for him to chew: cardboard, wood, twist a pine cone in-between the bars, weave popsicle sticks between the bars. Use twine or a zip tie to attach things.

 

[John Wick]

Some good suggestions/images of what people have mentioned here: Training FAQ

You also want to keep in mind that rabbits are not complex creatures, so your rabbit is not having thoughts like, "Well, I was out for a long time today, so it's OK that I'm in here and I'll accept that." ... They are very present-focused, and for what seems like no reason to them, they are suddenly restricted from part of their territory/accessing it how they want to, so chewing the obstacle is a natural reaction.