How to stop my bunny from eating her cage??? HELP!

[bossynbella]

I raise rabbits, they live out in the garage(not used as a garage, just a rabbit shed). Recently I decided to get rid of my guinea pigs, I had only just bought them a big cage offline, I gave away the guinea pigs and then had this big cage just sitting there. So I decided to bring a bunny in. Oh she is so much fun to have in the house. She loves to play, will come to the door for pets and amuses us chasing her toys around the cage and ringing the bell (shaped like a guinea pig, came with one of my old guinea pig cages). Problem being. The bottom of the cage is canvas. (Stupid idea if you ask me). The guinea pigs would chew the sides and we ended up putting the panels from their old cages on the inside of the canvas so that they couldn't get to it as easily. I have caught the bunny trying to get to it a couple times, but tonight............... She chewed a hole in the bottom of the canvas!!! Its as tiny hole and I don't think its big enough for bedding/pee etc to fall out. But I need to keep her from continuing to do this. Or I am going to have a really nice, short exercise pen instead of a cage. I have been trying to come up with ideas to use as the bottom of the cage. If I was having any luck litter training her I would just remove the canvas and put in tile or something similar with fleece over it. However, unlike my outdoor bunnies she doesn't seem that into picking a corner. Her main poop area is almost exactly in the middle of the pen, and though I may try adding a litter box to see if she will mainly go in it. I think it more likely she will flip the box.

This is a link to the cage, it shows multiple pictures of it and of how the canvas attaches. I guess I thought it would be harder for them to chew though.
http://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Homes...0DPY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325389750&sr=8-1

Any ideas would be great! She gets 18% rabbit pellets (3/4cup a day, but usually has extra leftover) free choice grass hay, a salt lick, two or three chew sticks, a "tunnel of Hay" (what it was called at the petstore) as well as random paper my husband forgets about and sets on top of her cage (the guinea pigs couldn't reach it, she can and will) she also gets a carrot or piece of celery (whichever we have on hand) about twice a week, I can usually distract her from the canvas for a few days by distracting her with a new toy. Her favorite toy right now is a big plastic Christmas ball, that they gave me at work. Its the size of a large apple and she loves to pick it up by the holder and throw it around her cage.

Thanks in advance. House training tips would be great too!

 

[1muttsfan]

You might try a litterbox with a pellet litter, eg feline pine.

The bottom of the cage will need to be replaced with a metal tray, or wire mesh. You might also give her some thin branches from an apple tree to gnaw on. Just make sure the trees were not sprayed with anything.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

To litter train rabbits, I usually set up their litter box and hay so that it's convenient for them to sit in the litter box while they eat their hay. That way they're in it a lot. You could try that.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Easiest thing to do for this situation is probably to buy a shallow plastic bin that will either fit just inside the siding, or allow the caging to fit comfortably within it, and just use that as a bottom tray. I've had to do that in the past with cheaply made (and yet, not cheap, grrr) pet store caging where the metal bottoms have the coating fail and rust out.

 

[StarLover21]

I would buy her a new cage...If you don't want to, try giving her some chewsticks (they sell them at pet stores) to keep her ocuupied and chew something else.

 

[bayoubowhunter]

Keep some wood in the pen for the to chew on. plane wood.

 

[bossynbella]

As I said in my first post, she has wood. She has branches from our tree, she has chew sticks, and she has chew toys. A plastic bin wouldn't be anywhere near big enough to fit this cage. It is like 4' long and 2' wide.

I was looking at some pictures of other peoples set ups on a rabbit forum and thought of a couple different ideas.

Right now My plan is to litter train her ( I read to put layers of newspaper on the bottom of the cage (which will also help with the chewing) and then put in the litter box with non clumping paper based bedding or feline pine, every time she poops out of the box to scoop it up and put it in the box, if she pees out of the box to rip off that piece of paper and put it in her box. If she proves impossible to litter train she will go back to being an outdoor bunny and another bunny will get a chance to be inside ( I have 16 in my barn outside), The reason she was chosen to come in was because she is suppose to be pregnant and is due January 11th. This will be her first litter and I figured they had a better chance of living if she had them inside where it is warmer. She is a lot of fun, but I imagine they all are. I can just picture my Mini rex doe Jane in here! Rabbits have such personalitys!

Eventually once she is litter trained I want to buy a peice of plywood that is an inch bigger then the cage on all sides, then I want to put the sticky tiles on it and attach a few peices of wood to the sides to keep the cage from sliding, then set the cage on top. I am also thinking of buying a second one just for the wire part, so I can make it twice as tall, so she can stand up all the way, and maybe I can make a small shelf at one end.

Thanks again for the help. No one knows of a spray that is safe for rabbits but keeps them from wanting to chew on something??

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Note: If going the sticky tiles on wood route, you have to use a sealant. Using sealant on the wood with tiles over that is one route, and the sealant actually helps keep the tiles stuck on...the adhesive really isn't great. I did wood with sealant, sticky linoleum tile, then sealant over the tiles. No matter how close together you put them, urine will otherwise seep into the cracks and eventually ruin your wood. There are some sealants that are safe for animals once dried.

All the sprays and home brews I've tried usually just increase chewing. XD

 

[Mudsow]

I have a similar set up for my indoor chickens. I use corregated plastic on the bottom. I got a 8x4 sheet at a sign shop cheap. I used these cages as an example. The have good instructions on how to build your own cage. Corregated plastic cleans GREAT. http://guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm

 

[redhen]

I always used ceramic tiles over the bottom of my rabbit pens...
You can buy a cheap box of tiles and just set them down where you dont want the bunny to chew/dig....
and they can be easily picked up and washed off so cleaning the cage is super easy...