RABBIT PROOFING YOUR HOME
Rabbit Proofing your home will prevent damage, protecting your rabbit and providing safe chewing alternatives for your pet. The natural instinct for the rabbit is to dig, chew and burrow. The home presents many interesting objects for the rabbit as they associate the cords, furniture and carpet as alternatives to the woodlands environment… electrical cords represent tree roots that need to be removed, digging the carpet represents digging the soil to stay cool or digging burrows for safety, chewing the furniture keeps the teeth sharpened and prevents teeth overgrowth and all come together to make and rearrange their woodland home to their liking.
GREAT DANGER FOR THE HOUSE RABBIT
Some house rabbits have sustained serious injury and death so please consider these situations.
- If you have reclining chairs or couches, please ensure you know where your rabbit is BEFORE reclining your chair or couch. Block off access points under the chairs if possible.
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Identify where your rabbit is BEFORE opening and closing the fridge door.
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Move SLOWLY if you have food, as the rabbit may run under your feet in excitement.
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Protect your rabbit from sharp nails and being fatally injured, under furniture by blocking off the underside of chairs and couches with plywood. Toxicity can set in from wounds and kill your rabbit.
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Secure all rodent baits and human medicines away from your rabbit area.
ELECTRICAL CORD CHEWING
Preventing rabbits from chewing on electrical cords is of utmost importance, since rabbits can be badly burned or electrocuted. You must take action to move the cords safely out of reach. Wires can be run behind or above furniture and carpets, but do NOT run your wires under carpets, as this can create a serious fire risk. Spiral cable wrap can be used to wrap around cables and cords and is available on ebay or at Bunnings. Plastic tubing (similar to that used in fish tanks, available from a hardware or aquarium store and can be slit lengthwise with a blade and the wire can be tucked safely inside. A harder, black, pre-slit type of tubing is also available. Plastic conduit concealers specifically designed for hiding cables can be mounted on the wall above your baseboards and is an ideal way of protecting electrical cables that lead around the room. Decorative wire-concealers that stick to the base of walls come in strips, corners, etc., so they can follow the shape of the wall. This is a more costly and time consuming method than the clear plastic tubing above, but is more permanent, and rabbit proof, as well.
CARPET CHEWING
If your rabbit is digging at the carpet try these distractions.
- Place some carpet tiles or a mat/rug over the area it is digging in to bring another layer of protection.
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Put a cardboard box with shredded paper of hay in it to provide a digging box. Anchor the box with a weight at the bottom, such as a tile so that it is not moved around
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Put a closed box with some cut out holes in it for the bunny to use as a hidout and put an old phone book or towels in I for the bunny to move around.
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Place heavy ceramic tiles over the carpet area to hold down edges when your rabbit is free ranging.
SKIRTING BOARD, BED & FURNITURE CHEWING
Use a pet fence or child or pet gate to section off the area at risk Spray furniture (and carpet) with bitter citrus sprays, or spray on a cloth and wipe over the furniture to make the activity less appealing however you need to use alongside other rabbit proofing strategies. Do not use chilli or perfumes as these are harmful to the rabbit. Mix timbermate with water and wipe over the area, timbermate is a wood filler and comes in numerous shades. The rabbits do not like the taste. Timbermate is available from hardware stores. To stop the rabbit chewing the soft furnishings under the bed, place a flattened cardboard box, a very low pet fence, or plywood around the bed frame, where it is out of sight. You can also do this around couches and lounge chairs. To protect walls, place sheets of coreflute around the wall areas where the rabbit is chewing. Coreflute is light and comes in black and white and other colors.and will blend in with the décor and not look unsightly. Coreflute is available from Bunnings and other hardware stores.
- Clear plastic panels can also be used against the walls or plastic garden edge fencing
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Place furniture in front of popular areas to stop access by the rabbit
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If changing your décor, choose modern glass and metal furniture
CHEWING ALTERNATIVES
Provide your rabbit with interesting chewing alternatives such as apple, lemon and willow branches (dried), Chew and toss toys used for birds (without the bells), sea grass mats, hay, cardboard boxes with holes in them, egg cartons with wooden chew toys placed in them with a few treat pellets under the toys, phone books, toilet rolls stuffed with hay.
REMOVING URINE STAINS
Information from Electrodry Carpet Cleaning
- Blot the area with paper towels immediately
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Mix water and white vinegar and liberally spray over the area. The vinegar will neutralize the ammonia
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Mix water and vinegar and liberally spray on to the affect area. Work the solution into the carpet
with your fingers (wearing gloves). The vinegar will neutralise the ammonia in the urine. -
Take one or 2 old towels, fold them over several times and place them over the stain.
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Put a weight on the towels and leave the weight to stand for several hours. The weight will help
encourage the urine and the vinegar mix to wick from the carpet to the towels. An old urine stain is much tougher to tackle. The discoloration is caused by a combination of the pigment in the urine and an oxidisation when the urine is exposed to air that can change the color of the carpet fiber. Most DIY solutions suggest the use of hydrogen peroxide or other bleach solutions which can create an entirely different set of problems (bleached carpet).
