tearing up paper

Question
Me and my husband got a dwarf rabbit about 3 weeks ago. He seems very happy and adjusted to our home. He  has toys to play with, but he doesn't seem to like any of the toys. He has a rattle, tolit paper rolls ect., but doen't seem to like any of them. Any suggestions? Also when he is in his cage (we line the bottem with newspaper) he just tears up the paper! He has other chew things, but only wants to tear the news paper. I just wanted to know if this was normal behavior, or if he is trying to tell me somthing.  Thank you!

Answer
Hi Kelly

That is perfectly normal behavior.  You have a digger some rabbits like to dig.  Try getting a big huge box and put old towels (without strings), shredded paper, toys and whatever you can find.  Let him dig to his hearts content.  If he is digging on something he shouldn't like the furniture try spraying some apple bitter spray on the area's you don't want him digging.  You can buy it at the ferret store on the Internet but when you call them make sure you tell them you want the kind for small furry animals and not for ferrets.

If you want to try something else that is safe for bedding you can use aspen chips.  He might still dig but he won't be able to shred them and make a horrible mess.

You also want to consider getting him neutered.  Depending on his age he probably has a lot of pent up hormones and getting him neutered will help out with that tremendously.  It should calm him right down.  Honestly dwarfs are very high strung anyway so if you don't ever plan on breeding him it is a really good idea.

Thank you and I hope this helps.

Pam