My rabbit has been neutered and he chews on things worse than before.?

Question

I heard that if you neuter your rabbit he will chew less. We did that, and it seems he's chewing even more! We have tons of toys and cardboard and wood around for him to chew on but he insists on chewing apart our carpet. We watch him like a hawk and when we see him doing it we say "no" loudly and he'll run away but then go right back to it. It's almost funny, if it wasn't our carpet! Unfortunately it's wall to wall carpeting so keeping him away is pretty impossible. To get a sense of how crazy this rabbit is: he was chewing on a baby gate we put up to to keep him out of the room. We read that putting hot sauce/cayenne pepper on things he shouldn't chew on would keep him away. Not this crazy rabbit, he actually licked it off!

Any suggestions for our adorable, but nuts, rabbit?

Answer 1

When you Neuter your pet it only helps with his business smell..

Answer 2

Neutering doesn't lessen chewing at all in a male rabbit (sometimes spaying will lessen chewing in a female)!  It does help with urine spraying and aggression, but not chewing.  They are natural nibblers.  Check out the information and suggestions here: http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/chewi... and here: http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/train...  Good luck!

Add: Forgot the other suggestion I was going to make: My horrible chewer actually improved a lot when I was successful in bonding her to another bunny.  She now spends the time she used to spend eating my home grooming him and playing with him.  Have you thought about adding another rabbit to your household?  A mature spayed female would be best and if you get from a rescue that uses foster homes, they should know if the bun is a 'chewer' or not already so you can avoid bringing another carpet eater home with you.