Electrical cables

Bunny proofing electrical cables. How to stop a house rabbit chewing electrical cables and power leads. Make sure your electrical cords are safe

Little compares to the sense of panic that makes you leaping across a room when you realising your rabbit is chewing on an electrical cable, sending your rabbit flying for cover and leaving it confused and scared. Avoid this stress by bunny proofing the power cords in you home so you can relax knowing your rabbit can roam freely with out the risk of electrocution.

What problem can occur

Exposed electrical cables can be dangerous or even fatal if bitten through.
Rabbits have a formidable set of teeth that are perfect for slicing through cables and in seconds the soft plastic insulation which normally ensures the cables safety can be cut through exposing the live cables to a wet mouth causing the device to short out with often tragic consequences.

Reasons for behaviour

Making short work of obstacles Razor sharp teeth perfect for slicing through tough roots make short work of cables.
Although mostly out of our way at the side of the room rabbits like to run around these edges and will find the power cords directly in the path. This can be very dangerous for and unsuspecting rabbit that may use its razor sharp teeth to chew through obstacles.

Bunny proofing solutions

Essential bunny proofing techniques are needed to guarantee cables are safe.
Making a room safe from the dangers of electrical equipment before your rabbit can roam freely is one of the most essential part of bunny proofing and should never be over looked. All cables need to be inaccessible or be protected.

Hiding power cables

Hide cables and plugs behind furniture to naturally prevent access and make them safe.
You can improve safety by hiding some of the cables if you reposition some of the furniture to the best effect. Electrical devices that sit on furniture can be moved in front of the plugs to block the cables in. Book shelves, chest and cabinets all make excellent natural shields that can have the cables trailed up to them out of reach.

Block off unsafe areas

Block off whole areas of a room with fencing taken from a pet pen to make them safe.
A useful way to prevent access to power leads that may trail across part of a room is to use some panels of wire fencing to surround the exposed cables. You can get this by breaking up a pet pen and this can be brought out when your rabbit is roaming and easily stored away when it is no needed. Avoid using cardboard as this will not be tough enough and may even prove an added temptation.

Power cord protection

Add extra protection by shield the cables in wall boxing or split length tubing.
A variety of products are available from DIY stores to protect cables including wall boxing that can permanently hide the lead around the room or split length tubing which is tough plastic tube cut along its length so you can slip the cable inside with out having to remove the plug.

Cable tidies solutions

Protect low voltage power and audio visual cords with more flexible cable tides.
Cable tidies, the type supplied by office or computer stores can be useful for shielding low power cables that require greater flexibility such as phone lines, mouse cords, controllers for games consoles or audio visual cables such as aerials or mobile phone chargers. However these do not provide enough protect for power cable where stronger piping should be used

Always double check

Always scan for power cords and unplug them before you rabbit is allowed out.
Get in the habit of doing a quick check an unplug any cower cords before you let your rabbit roam freely in a room.