Need advice badly - houdini bunny

[rexmcl]

Hi! I have a 2 year old pet Rex rabbit. I love her so much, I adopted her a little less than a year ago from a shelter where she has spent most her life. She is spayed, and she is very sweet. However, she is so destructive. And not like in the cute way that many bunny owners say their pets are. Not in a way that I can laugh about anymore.
I was almost evicted from my last place because of how often she was trying to destroy things. She has managed to outsmart most of the bunny proofing that I do. She chews through all of the protection on my cables and chargers, meaning I have had to replace them multiple times. She has climbed up bookshelves to eat some of my favorite, even sentimental, books. She has even eaten articles of my clothing. None of my family wants to watch her because of this, meaning I can't even go on vacation. I have done all forms of bunny proofing, have followed every single youtube channel, blog, reddit page and vets advice on how to mitigate this behavior. They will tell me, "you should restrict how much space she has and go from there" but she is quite large and will find any way to chew through or jump over her cage. They tell me to get her more enrichment toys, but no matter how many nice toys she gets, she will not play with them. I've been told to even get her a bonding partner, but every time she has been around other animals, she freaks the eff out.
I am writing this because when I got home from school today (I am a college student) she had gotten out of her enclosure and pooped and peed all over my room. She chewed up whole sections of the carpet (this is a brand new house I just moved into). And she ate all of my chargers. I mean, I am typing this from my laptop because I do not have a phone at the moment. I have probably spent hundreds of dollars replacing my belongings since having her. I cannot have nice things, at all. She destroys all of them. I cannot afford to keep replacing my belongings. It is becoming so expensive and draining. Even dehumanizing. My whole life, every single facet of it to my finances, to the things I get for myself, to my living situation is dictated based on whether or not she is in a destructive mood.
I love her so much, I don't want to get rid of her. She's my best buddy. But I am sad, I am stressed and I am overwhelmed. It feels like no matter how much love, money and attention I give her, she still isn't getting better. It feels like an uphill battle, and it is getting to the point where I resent her. I am afraid to go out for more than a few minutes at a time out of fear that I will come home to a destroyed apartment. I am afraid that she may be best suited in a shelter or sanctuary. I think I may just be a bad bunny mom and I am going to need to get rid of her. Does anyone have any advice? Should I get rid of her? And if I do, how do I go about rehoming her to ensure she goes to a good home?

Please don't judge me. I promise I have tried so hard to be a good human for my baby.

 

[LolaE]

Hello. Just wondering, is there any way you could consider housing her outside? Might be tricky, since she sounds like a bit of a Houdini, but it might give her room to jump/chew/destroy to her heart's content, all in a natural setting with no threat to your things.

Otherwise, when it comes to restricting her space, what about making sure it's completely enclosed, so she can't jump out at all? I use something like these: https://www.longislandrabbitrescue.org/NIC-plans.pdf

They work very well for my two rabbits, one of which is quite the escape artist and a very high and determined jumper. You can fashion a lid out of them, and even a floor if need be (you can get some panels that are solid plastic, not wire/bars, so as to create levels and flooring that are safe for rabbits). You also put them together yourself, so the space can be as big/small/in whatever shape your living situation requires.

Apart from that, maybe you could confine her to a single room, without books/nice clothes/etc., like a spare room or something? Something with a hard floor sounds ideal so she doesn't rip up the carpet, but that might not be possible.

(Also, as a parenthetical, I wonder if her freaking out around other animals is really a sign she is not suited for a bonded mate, or just her being skittish, especially as a shelter animal? Perhaps with the right, stoic male bunny mate, she'd enjoy the company? It could be her destructive behaviour is a way of getting attention from you, in which case a friend could help?)

Anyway, you may have considered all this before, but just thinking off the top of my head. Unfortunately I'm not sure how to offer any tips other than what you've listed about discouraging her destructive behaviour, sorry, but some of the other members might be able to help.

Good luck!

 

[allenstacy74]

I have the same problem with my mini lop, he’s nearly 2 years old and the entire time I’ve had him he has ALWAYS destroyed everything, it got to a point where I almost rehomed him but, didn’t. Everyone always said the same thing to me “restrict room” “get him more toys” “the poor thing is bored” etc etc.. but I had had enough because he had endless amounts of stuff to do but as it turns out it was resolved by something so so so simple. I changed his diet. I used to feed him around 10am (nuggets) and then at 5pm (veg) and I believe he was hungry, as the majority of the time he would destroy stuff was at night, I changed his feeding times to 8am and then 8 pm. But when it comes to protecting cords etc he would also chew through the protective casing so I put my electricals on my dresser and tuck all the cables down the back pushed up against the wall so he can’t get to them.. it’s very annoying. And I can understand your frustration, but all I can suggest is working around her behaviour rather than trying to make her work around yours. If all else fails get a spray bottle! that’s what I did for when he chewed my furniture, I’d sharply say his name (not yelling at him) and if he didn’t listen I’d spray him once with the bottle and he’d stop (remember you can’t drench your rabbit id recommend a mist bottle) but he’s now learnt that if he doesn’t listen to me saying his name, he knows he’ll get sprayed.. I no longer need the bottle as he will stop at me saying his name. Hope this helps at least a little hahaha!

 

[Blue eyes]

Hi! I have a 2 year old pet Rex rabbit. I love her so much, I adopted her a little less than a year ago from a shelter where she has spent most her life. She is spayed, and she is very sweet. However, she is so destructive. And not like in the cute way that many bunny owners say their pets are. Not in a way that I can laugh about anymore.
I was almost evicted from my last place because of how often she was trying to destroy things. She has managed to outsmart most of the bunny proofing that I do. She chews through all of the protection on my cables and chargers, meaning I have had to replace them multiple times. She has climbed up bookshelves to eat some of my favorite, even sentimental, books. She has even eaten articles of my clothing. None of my family wants to watch her because of this, meaning I can't even go on vacation. I have done all forms of bunny proofing, have followed every single youtube channel, blog, reddit page and vets advice on how to mitigate this behavior. They will tell me, "you should restrict how much space she has and go from there" but she is quite large and will find any way to chew through or jump over her cage. They tell me to get her more enrichment toys, but no matter how many nice toys she gets, she will not play with them. I've been told to even get her a bonding partner, but every time she has been around other animals, she freaks the eff out.
I am writing this because when I got home from school today (I am a college student) she had gotten out of her enclosure and pooped and peed all over my room. She chewed up whole sections of the carpet (this is a brand new house I just moved into). And she ate all of my chargers. I mean, I am typing this from my laptop because I do not have a phone at the moment. I have probably spent hundreds of dollars replacing my belongings since having her. I cannot have nice things, at all. She destroys all of them. I cannot afford to keep replacing my belongings. It is becoming so expensive and draining. Even dehumanizing. My whole life, every single facet of it to my finances, to the things I get for myself, to my living situation is dictated based on whether or not she is in a destructive mood.
I love her so much, I don't want to get rid of her. She's my best buddy. But I am sad, I am stressed and I am overwhelmed. It feels like no matter how much love, money and attention I give her, she still isn't getting better. It feels like an uphill battle, and it is getting to the point where I resent her. I am afraid to go out for more than a few minutes at a time out of fear that I will come home to a destroyed apartment. I am afraid that she may be best suited in a shelter or sanctuary. I think I may just be a bad bunny mom and I am going to need to get rid of her. Does anyone have any advice? Should I get rid of her? And if I do, how do I go about rehoming her to ensure she goes to a good home?

Please don't judge me. I promise I have tried so hard to be a good human for my baby.

Could you post a photo of her housing setup? There IS a way to keep a rabbit confined to a particular area. If she's escaping, then there is something amiss with the setup. Yes, some rabbits are particularly mischievous and curious -- those tend to be the ones with loads of personality too! -- but there absolutely is a way to keep a determined bunny out of areas they should not go. A photo would help us see more clearly what is going on. (The more photos, the better.)