There’s a lot to love about having a rabbit as a pet. They are generally relatively easy animals to care for, and they can be very rewarding if you’re looking for a good pet for your kids. They’re soft, and with time can be trained to not make messes.
Families love having rabbits as pets because they’re great to hold and don’t need a lot of work. You can leave them at home while everyone is at school and work, and they are great to snuggle with on the couch after a long day.
However, having a rabbit isn’t entirely carefree. Not all rabbits are the same, and some will exhibit behaviors you’d rather not have to deal with. One example is chewing on the carpet.
Rabbits are grazing animals, and if you think about it, carpets look a bit like a nice grass field. Your rabbit may use your carpet to munch on and shave down its teeth. Obviously, you’d rather they didn’t.
Thankfully, there are some things you can do to get your rabbit to stop chewing your carpet. Here are some tips you can use to train your rabbit to keep its teeth away from your living room carpet.
Tip 1 – Use a Deterrent Spray
You’re not the only person struggling with pets who chew on furniture or carpets. Pet stores and online stores sell deterrent spray that you can use on your carpets to push your bunny away and get them to stop chewing when you’re not looking. It won’t make the carpet stink either.
Just to be safe, spray a bit of the deterrent spray on a small, less visible area of the carpet to make sure it won’t cause any discoloration or anything like that. Then you’ll know you can use it on the entire thing.
Tip 2 – Train Your Rabbit
Rabbits are not as easy to train as dogs, so you’re going to need more patience and persistence in training your pet bunny.
With time, though, they can learn behaviors in response to positive reinforcement like treats. When your bunny goes near the carpet, use a treat to entice them away to let them know that’s not somewhere you want them to be.
Tip 3 – Rearrange the Furniture
The bad news is, once a bunny successfully chews a carpet to the point where it starts looking like grass with all of those frayed threads, it will want to chew even more.
One thing you can do is rearrange the furniture to cover more area of the carpet. If you make it harder for your rabbit to reach, they will probably decide it’s not worth the trouble to try.
Tip 4 – Isolate Your Bunny When You’re Not Around
If you’re worried about your carpet, you can keep your rabbit behind closed doors or in their cage when you can’t supervise what they are doing. If the rabbit starts to chew on your carpet when you’re around, you can respond quickly and help teach your bunny not to do it.
Rabbit owners have more problems when they leave their rabbits alone inside the house all day without supervision.
Tip 5 – Buy Some Chew Toys
Your rabbit may be chewing on the carpet because it’s an easy target and they don’t know what else to chew on. You can make it easier for both of you by purchasing some chew toys or having a steady supply of grass nearby that they can chew instead.
That way, when they feel like chewing, they’ll have some alternatives close by and won’t be as interested in chewing up your carpet.
Tip 6 – Find Other Stuff They Can Chew
You don’t even need to buy fancy chew toys unless it’s something you want to do. Rabbits will happily chew on other things in your house that you would otherwise toss in the trash.
They love chewing on toilet paper rolls and cardboard, for example, and you’ll no doubt have some of both at some point.
Put them in the areas where they play and they’ll turn to those when they feel like munching on something.
Tip 7 – Spend More Time Playing with Your Rabbit
Sometimes rabbits chew on things when they’re bored. If you’ve ever seen wild rabbits in a field, you’ve seen that they spend a lot of their days grazing on grass, sticks, and whatever else is in the area. A lot of the time, it’s all they have to do!
It’s no wonder they are hopping around your house looking for things to chew. It’s in their nature. What you can do to prevent them from chewing is to spend more time interacting with them.
If you hold them, play with them, and pet them, they won’t be as inclined to chew on your carpet.
Tip 8 – Set Up a Play Area Away From the Carpet
We’ve already given you a few different chewing alternatives (grass, branches, chew toys, cardboard). One thing you can do is set up a play area with all of those things.
Your rabbit will spot the area and know that there is always a fresh supply of things to chew.
Just make sure the play area is away from the carpet, so it won’t be a temptation for your bunny.
Tip 9 – Think About Getting Another Rabbit
By now, you know that rabbits chew on things to pass the time. It could be that your rabbit is simply bored, and is chewing on your carpet because it’s there. To keep them from getting bored, you can always get another pet bunny.
By having a playmate around, your rabbit will likely feel less anxiety and chew on things less frequently. Of course, getting another pet bunny is more of a commitment, but you could end up discovering that it’s easier to take care of two bunnies rather than just one.
They’ll spend the days keeping each other entertained and won’t miss you as much when you’re gone for the day.