Rabbit making the bed, how cute is that?

Question

Ruby is a 4 year old English spot she lives in our bedroom. She is a rescue bunny who was found abandoned in a neighborhood. She likes to work the wrinkles out of the bed. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Answer 1

Yes, you should be concerned. While it is cute in the beginning, it can become obsessive. It is pretty much an impossible to get all the wrinkles out of the bed while you are on it. No matter how hard she works at, Ruby will be unable to get all the wrinkles out. After a while (more than a year in this case) the continued attempts lead to obsessive behavior that damages the bedding.

While not as initially destructive as carpet digging, it should be treated the same, use redirection to a digging box. In this case the behavior has been ongoing for more then a year so modifying the existing behavior becomes challenging. We have increased her available space, by bunny proofing an additional room next to our bedroom and moving the baby/bunny gate so she has full time access to these two rooms. We have also added brown paper bags to her toy collection in the second room, these provide a reasonable substitute for the wrinkle issue, as well as adding healthy fiber to her diet. It has be been a couple months now and the bed making behavior has decreased, but we still need to redirect her daily.

Update 18 months later Occasionally there will be periods when she restarts the behavior. She is and always has been, on the bed several times per day, we currently believe that strips or designs on the top blanket/comforter lead to starting the behavior. Solid colored coverings, are less likely to cause her to start or continue the behavior. We have found that covering the bed with a solid color fitted sheet (<fitted = less wrinkles) both protects the bed and discourages the behavior. When weeks have passed, without us noticing the behavior we stop using the fitted sheet, and she does not return to the behavior until we forget and put a stripped comforter on the bed.