Chewing is maintenance, not misbehaviour
A rabbit's teeth grow continuously, and chewing fibrous material is how she wears them down; chewing is also how she tests and reshapes her environment. A free-roam rabbit will therefore chew your room — the only question is whether she chews the skirting board or the willow branch you put beside it. Management has two halves that must happen together: make the forbidden things physically unreachable or unrewarding, and make the permitted things abundant, varied, and positioned where she already wants to chew. Owners who only block access get a rabbit who finds the one unprotected cable; owners who only add toys get a rabbit who samples both.
Protect cables, skirting, and furniture first
Cover every cable in the room with split-loom tubing or a hard cable spiral, route cords behind furniture she cannot get behind, and lift chargers off the floor entirely when not in use — a bitten live cable can kill a rabbit, so this step is safety, not tidiness. Shield skirting boards with clear guards, untreated wood battens she is allowed to destroy instead, or furniture placed along her favourite stretches. Block the gaps behind sofas and units with pen panels so she cannot establish a private chewing den out of sight. Move houseplants, shoes, books, and remote controls out of reach, and check the room from rabbit height, kneeling, because her menu is the bottom thirty centimetres of everything.
Place legal chewing where she already chews
Rabbits return to established gnawing spots, so station alternatives there: a cardboard castle or plain unprinted cardboard box against the skirting she targets, a bundle of willow or apple wood sticks in the corner she digs at, seagrass mats over the carpet edge she pulls, and a hay-stuffed paper bag near her resting place. Rotate items weekly so novelty renews interest, and praise or offer a herb when you catch her choosing the legal option. A dig box — a large box of hay, shredded paper, and hidden treats — absorbs the dig-and-chew energy that otherwise goes into carpet corners, especially in the active evening hours.
Supervise, learn her map, then extend trust
Free-roam freedom should be earned in stages. Supervise her first sessions in the room and note her personal targets — one rabbit fixates on door frames, another on rug fringes, another on wallpaper seams — because your proofing must match her list, not a generic one. Block or protect each discovered target before the next session. Extend to unsupervised time in that room only after several sessions with no new damage, and proof each new room separately before adding it to her territory. If damage appears, shrink back a step without anger; she has simply shown you the gap in the system.
Chewing changes that signal a health problem
A rabbit who stops chewing hay and toys, drools, drops food, or chews only on one side may have dental pain — spurs on the back teeth are common and invisible without a veterinary examination — and needs a prompt vet visit, because a rabbit who cannot chew cannot keep her gut moving. A sudden frenzy of chewing alongside appetite loss, or chewing paired with far fewer droppings, deserves the same urgency. Note which foods she now refuses and whether her droppings have shrunk, and seek veterinary advice rather than simply offering softer toys.
Rabbit-proofing is undone one small act at a time — a barrier moved for vacuuming, a charger left on the floor — usually by someone who did not know the system. Writing down the room's protected zones, cable rules, and chew stations in KinsLe through Family Sharing keeps every person in the house maintaining the same defences.