My bunny confusion.

[Charmander]

So I've had 2 dwarf rabbits before in my life. One was very calm and nice, the other was a rescue so a bit more aggressive but they were both not anything like the bunny I have now. I got a lop back in January 2016, and she is just a menice. I need answers. First off, she loves destroying her cage. Throwing things around, at first I had bedding in there but she kept kicking it out of her cage. So it said online she might not like it, so I removed it but she still dumps or digs her litter out of her litter box, and flips her hut, she used to dump all her hay out but in the pet store they said to get her smaller pieces and that works. Another thing is I buy her food with multiple different things in it like pellets and dried fruit and seed, corn. Etc. She has always left the pellets behind, every time I get a new food she'll eat them for first couple days then leaves them and if I don't refill her bowl in hopes she will eat them, she dumps that too. She is such a cutie and a sweetheart, always licking my face and running around binkying. She hates being taken out and being put back in her cage but I have to so she doesn't become even more of a menice. So my questions are: why does she not eat pellets, why does she dump her litter and pees and poops where the litter box was with no litter, why does she destroy everything make a mess, why doesn't she like being taken in and out of her cage, yet despite all this she seems happy as **** lol it doesn't make sense to me.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

First have you gotten her spayed? Second you should give her a different type of pellets WITHOUT corn and seeds, which is very harmful to bunnies, some people who make rabbit food care more about the profit then your bunnies health, there are these wire grids that they make to place in a Bunny's litter box over the litter so the pee and poo falls through and the bunny can't dig at it. My bunny has a 'digging box' just a cardboard box full with scraps of paper where he can dig and chew.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

And plastic things such as baby keys or plastic shower curtain rings are great for bunnies to toss and play with.

 

[Charmander]

No I have yet to get her spayed. I had her booked in for an appointment but then I read reviews online that were bad so I unbooked it and yet to find a vet I feel comfortable with her. I never spayed my other 2 bunnies but I read online it can be harmful to them and they almost always die of ovarian cancer if not spayed. I have got her 2 kinds of food without seeds and she won't even try it. Dumps them immediately so I went back to the one with seeds and fruits. I haven't tried any of those toys, but I have a big wooden ball that's flavored and had a peanut inside that she loves. I also have a wooden bendy thing that she chews on. She has lots of toys so I'm not sure why she always wants to destroy everything lol

 

[Charmander]

My other bunnies mostly just ate hay with some pellets without seeds and were fine. That's why I don't understand why she's so picky.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

Nuts are also bad for bunnies so I would suggest not giving her the peanut.
You could try mushing a tiny bit of banana in with her pellets to get her to eat some (but not all the time) my bunny loves his pellets so I'm not sure what else I can say about that, maybe another member can help with that. When you say destroy everything, do you mean furniture?
Yes bunnies can be very picky sometimes lol

 

[BlackMiniRex]

When rabbits get older pellets can be optional, their diet should consists of mainly hay, some veggies and a few fruit.

 

[Charmander]

She doesn't eat it, its in her play ball I'll attach a picture. She loves fruits and veggies, I don't give them to her too often because a lot of then are too acidic or like cucumbers can give then diarrhea if you give them too much. No she doesn't usually destroy furnitur . Although I'm sure if I left her alone in a room she probably would lol. I just mean I make her cage all clean and nice, and sometimes she okay for a couple days but other times she immediately starts dragging her litter box around and digging in it and dumping it and pooping wherever. When she doesn't destroy it right away she will poop in the litter box. Sometimes she goes in her hut, sometimes she'll flip it and drag it everywhere in her cage. She just chews and digs in the corners of her cage which is very loud even tho she has a ton of toys. That's what I mean by destroying everything. Oh and dumping the pellets in I dotn refill with the mixture or just have pellets in her dish lol and she looks mad at me when there's only pellets.

 

[Charmander]

This is her cage right now, destroyed. Sometimes I take out the litter box so she doesn't do anymore damage, like right now.

 

[Charmander]

If I don't want it to look like that I literally have to clean it every day or twice a day because she just throws everything everywhere.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

They make dishes that attach to wire cages so the bunny can not take it and flip it.
If she chews the wires of her cage you could try attaching cardboard their, also maybe kabob?
For veggies, if she's an adult you should give her at least a cup a day, never give iceberg I give my bunny romaine lettuce, celery, parsley and a few other things. Rabbits are more awake at dawn and dusk so you could try to burn some of her energy at that time. Rabbits need at least 4 hours out of there cage.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

If your cage is small enough you could convert it into one giant litter box with a hidey hut and a toy or two and run around the house during the day and lock her up in it at night or when your not home.

 

[Charmander]

She does sometimes chew in the wires. I want to make a cage for her that has multiple levels and is on a rolly cart with locking wheels so maybe she can run up and down instead of destroying everything lol. I read that online you're supposed to take them out between 1-4 hours a day. I usually only do an hour because she hates being taken out and put back in and once she's out for a while she starts getting in and behind things she shouldn't and has tried chewing wires so then I put her back in if she starts that. Sometimes she's out longer when I'm cleaning her cage really good or playing with ny cat. I've had kabobs and stuff I bought at the pet store and she loves anything she can get her paws on to chew lol

 

[Aki]

OK, so... For the litterbox thing, you need to spay. How much time out of her cage does she get everyday? If she's that frustrated, it's possible she's just bored. Next, get rid of the mineral stone, it's no good for rabbits. Then, you need to change her diet completely. No seeds, no corn, no dried fruits (except one or two pieces exceptionally for the last one) that is IMPERATIVE : rabbits aren't hamsters, they are strictly herbivores, with the rest you are unbalancing the gut flora and risking to cause a blockage which could kill your rabbit. She should get plain pellets like Sherwood's. You give them, if she doesn't eat them because she was used to junk-food well, bully for her. You keep on giving them until she gets that she won't get anything else and begin eating them. You can't change an alimentation without a transition anyway (you seem to have changed pellets a lot, which is not really ideal for the guts), so you put her normal pellets with a 4th of the new pellets, then a 3rd, then half.... until there are only new pellets and that's it.
If she doesn't eat pellets, it's not the end of the world - pellets are just supplements anyway, a lot of house rabbits don't get any.
Rabbits should get tons of hay (I don't see it in her cage?) and I mean TONS.
Then, the vegetables. Cucumber is something you should only give very sparingly on hot summer days for hydratation (and be careful, the seeds are poisonous!). After hay, the first thing a rabbit should eat is leafy greens, then hard vegetables, then pellets. Fruits should only be given as a treat - not because they are acidic, but because they are fattening. I don't know the weight of your bunny, but she should be eating about 8% of her weight in vegetables a day with 2/3 leafy greens and about 2% in pellets. Each vegetables has to be introduced slowly over the course of several day, one at a time (or you will get diarrhea and not because the vegetables is wrong for her).
Use this list as a reference for what you can feed her:
http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables/

 

[thumpingBerry]

I had a rabbit that I had gotten from an internet posting (this was a few years ago). The rabbit was maybe a year old and weighed in at 6 pounds and she should have weighed around 4 pounds for her size/breed. She was used to a particular brand of rabbit food (with all the extras in there) and apparently wasn't used to eating much hay either.

Trying to switch her to plain pellets was very difficult as she just dig through her food and eat what she wanted to ... and was eating VERY little hay. Due to other issues, I ended up rehoming her, and it took the new owner about 6 months to finally get her on plain, good quality rabbit pellets and eat more hay.

I have a rabbit that digs in her litter box and throws stuff everywhere. I also have a rabbit that digs in her food dish. She didn't start that until recently (and she's about a year old). And my most active rabbit loves to dig around his cage and chews some on the wires.

Can you move the cage to where she can hop in and out of her cage on her own? That should help solve the handling issue. Many (if not most) rabbits do not like to be picked up, but many learn to tolerate it. Other than that, give her as much out of cage time as you can.

 

[Azerane]

Throwing things around and digging is her way of playing. Does she get time outside of her cage as well? She needs a good 4 hours of running around time outside of the cage every day, especially with such a small cage. What sort of litter box do you have for her? Is it a corner one or a bit cat one? Big cat ones are better because the more room in the box the better it is, and often a little tougher to tip over with a heavier box. You could also drill holes into the side of the litter box and then cable tie it to the cage. You would have to cut and reattach the cable ties daily when changing the box, but it would stop her flipping it over. Does she have other toys? Cardboard tubes stuffed with hay to throw and toss around? Try hanging something from the roof of the cage for her to chew on and play with, even a tied up bundle of hay is good. She needs more things to do.

She does need to be taken off the muesli type pellets. She isn't eating the new food because she is being picky. But you need to be tough and get her to eat just the pellets. It won't matter if she is off of pellets for a week or two, she will do plenty fine on just hay and it should be plenty long enough to get her to start eating the pellets. Currently she's not eating the pellets because she prefers the other bits and knows she doesn't have to. That when they're sitting there long enough you'll just give her more food. Make sure that even when she's let the pellets sit for a whole day without eating them, that you trow them out and offer fresh pellets. Fresh pellets are much more readily eaten than ones that have been sitting in a bowl for a whole day.

Additionally, for something that she can shred and dig at, try crumpled up paper, a cardboard box or a white pages phone book. Yes it will create a bit of mess, but it's just her way of playing.

 

[Charmander]

Yes she has hay. The cage came with an attachment to the outer cage so she can pull the hay through, the hay isn't the problem. Well it was, she was throwing it around too but I noticed it was just the bigger harder pieces so the pet store recommended getting the a different brand that has smaller pieces and she loves it. The pellets it just seems like a battle, she doesn't like them lol. I don't give her a ton of the one I have with seeds and stuff. Just half a bowl a day. The pic I have is only part of her cage, and I have a corner litter box. In my current cage the hole in the side is too small for her to get our of now, I have to take her from the top. Usually when o take her out I just remove the whole metal top of the cage so it's less stressful for her, which she doesn't entirely like but she doesn't freak our like trying to take her through the top of it. This cage I have is only temporary, I have plans to build her a 3-level multiuse cage that has a an additional level for food storage and locking wheels on it. I do give her vegetables and sometimes fruit but she seems to only want a few bites and then that's it. Cucumber I read gives them diarrhea so I don't give her that too often. The most thing I give her is dandilion leaves because I read they love it, and she does. My lawn isn't treated with any pesticides or anything and I have a ton of dandiloons so its an inexpensive treat for her. I let her out about an hour a day, anymore than that and she starts trying to chew on cords and go into place a She's not supposed to. I think she's just a silly playful bunny. And like I said I was going to spay her (even rho I didn't spay my other bunny and she was calm and lives to be 13) because I read online that they almost always die of ovarian cancer and spaying can help reduce that risk. I had an appointment for her but then I read some bad online reviews about the place I had her booked at so I canceled and haven't found a vet I feel safe with yet. I took out her big green hut (even tho the petstoe said they needed one) because she kept flipping it upside down and she seems to be a bit happier now. But she still pulls her litter box away from the corner and poops where it was lol I'm not sure why. Again the salt lick thingy (which my other rabbit never had) the pet store said I had to get it for some reason. She has a big colorful ball to play with and I have a wooden bendy thing for her to chew on and hard hay cubes and other random chewing thing I buy from the store. She always loved getting new chews. I'm hoping when I build her new cage that because I'm kind of sectioning areas, a play area, a poop area, and a bed/cuddly area, that maybe that will help.

 

[MaryAnne]

You just never can tell with cwazy wabbits. My guy loves...are you ready for this?? Posters. IBM and Penn State posters mainly. I can't understand it. He doesn't do much with cardboard like other bunnies, but he loves his poster. It's rolled up and he throws it around and chews on it, for a LONG time. Hub will say 'Where's the bun?' I answer: 'He's working on his poster'.
Patience is a requirement with buns. (I don't have much, but what I do have, he has helped me to develop).
Here's another one. The bag of hay is on the shelf behind his little ikea bed. He LOVES to pull the hay out of the bag
and eat it. But the stuff in the hay rack? Not so much. Looney Tunes.

Try adding some oats to the pellets. Quaker, not quick oats.

MA

 

[MaryAnne]

My guy wasn't interested in the salt lick. Also, not sure how big your bun is but a 5 pound bun should only have 1/4 cup of pellets a day.

 

[Charmander]

Yeah in the 6 months I've had her she's barely licked the salt lick. Every once in while she'll lick it. I don't actually measure out how much food I give her, I just fill her bowl halfway everyday and always keep her hay trough super full.