so much energy!!!

[Deleted User]

Missy is so hyper I don’t know what to do with her. Anytime I’m home and not sleeping she is out of her cage, so shes seriously out at least 6-7 hours a day. I can’t fit in anymore run time than that. She’s learned that banging on her cage will wake me up, so she’s started doing it at 630 in the morning.  If I try to keep sleeping and ignore it she gets super mad and starts banging her door and throwing her rattle around and once she even tipped over her water dish. How do you wear out your bunnies? I don’t mind if she’s hyper during the day and wants to run, but I’m seriously not sleeping anymore because she is so loud. I can’t let her run when I’m not watching her either because she is a total brat and will get into everything if she knows she can get away with it. I swear she does it on purpose. She will go up to something and nip it and look at me like, can I get away with it?? Do you have anything special you do to get them ready to go to bed? Or games and exercises that will help burn off some energy?

[Stickerbunny]

There is no way to keep a rabbit from being hyper early morning. It is their natural cycle. They are most active at dawn/dusk.

Have you tried giving her breakfast when she bangs on it? Might keep her busy. Or can you attach an x-pen to her cage so she can run safely at night?

[Elrohwen]

Like Sticker said, you really can’t keep them from being hyper early in the morning. How big is her cage? She might settle down with a bit more room while she’s confined. My girl is hyperactive and goes nuts when confined to a 4’x4′ area, but in her normal 4’x8′ cage she’s fine.

You can tire her out more while she’s out, but it probably won’t effect her early morning banging. I’d try feeding her early and then see if she’ll be quiet and let you go back to sleep. For the evenings, you can try training games (teach her to spin, stand up, jump over things). How big is the area she can run around in? My girl gets tired much more quickly when I let her into an area she can’t normally go – exploring a new place is much more exhausting than hanging around the same couple rooms.

[Deleted User]

I got up and gave her her morning greens but she ate them and went back to banging. Sometimes in the morning she just wants out so she can sit by me on the floor, then I feel bad for keeping her in the pen. Her cage is about 4×3 ft, then when shes out she has the whole bedroom and since she got over her fear of tiled floors she runs in my bathroom as well, so a good size area during the day. I’ve been thinking about putting a second story on her cage, because I feel like it is a little small. I’ll try the training games in the evening and letting her explore other parts of the apartment. I keep my bedroom door open so she can explore out into the dining room if she wants, but she never will go past the doorway.

[Elrohwen]

Definitely try giving her a bigger cage area. Depending on your set up, you can just add an xpen (or xpen made out of NIC grids) that can be folded out of the way during the day. I know Hannah would not be ok in a 4×3 cage – she just has way too much energy.

What do you have in her cage to keep her occupied? Cardboard boxes and phonebooks might give her something to do instead of make noise and get your attention.

[Deleted User]

I’ll get some nic cubes and extend her cage out a few feet. Inside her cage she has her baby rattle, a blanket that she builds up into nests, a couple hay cubes, chew sticks, and a string of plastic balls with rattles inside them, then when shes running around she has all of those plus toilet paper rolls, a cardboard tube, and some boxes with holes cut out of them that she chews on and throws around. Should I put more variety of toys in her cage? She discovered the bathroom mirror and likes to run back and forth in front of it, I was thinking about putting a mirror outside her cage, lol.

[Monkeybun]

If her cage is in your bedroom, can you move it out, to the living room or something? then she won’t bug you in the morning

[Stickerbunny]

I would give her some cardboard toys inside the cage area, might help her keep busy.

[Elrohwen]

Definitely give her a cardboard box or something to hide in and rip up.

And I agree with MB – can you just move the cage out of your room so she doesn’t wake you up?

[Pandorachik]

Lol. Reading these posts makes me realize how much crap us slaves, go thru for our buns!
I love to see how many people are truthfully dedicated to keeping our bunnies happy & healthy!
It brings a smile to my face!

[Deleted User]

Lol, I know! She takes up a giant amount of my time but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can’t put her in the living room though because there are three other girls living with me. They joke about how she is spoiled, but if i moved her cage in the living room they would murder me, lol. I put a cardboard tube filled with hay in her cage along with her other toys and I’m going to go get some cubes to extend her cage out some. Hopefully after that she’ll be able to chill a bit more, lol.

[LoveChaCha]

^Why would they not like it? If you have bunny in an exercise pen, it won’t take up much room, won’t smell, or be much of a bother Who wouldn’t spoil a cute little face like that?

[KytKattin]

Not sure what your cage looks like, but this is what I did with a grass mat from BB. Of course she has NEVER touched it, but I still think it is a good idea. It is especially nice if she happened to be a chewer of the cage bars because then she could chew that instead.

You could also do the same thing with a phone book (maybe cut in half) and woven through the bars if the cage is like mine.
Take a toilet paper roll, put rabbit treat, rabbit cookie, dried fruit, dried veggie, whatever, something your rabbit really loves. Scrunch the ends of the TP roll down, with treat inside. Tie the ends with the sisal (is that how it is spelled), well whatever that rabbit safe rope stuff that BB uses. It should look like a piece of wrapped candy.

Put her pellets in a treat ball or other mentally engaging activity.

If you have a waterbottle, switch to a bowl. It is so much quieter.

Hide treats in her hay.

Have lots of wooden chews handing around the cage. If you have things hanging, make sure there is no way your bunny could get tangled in rope.

[Kits_Lucky]

Hey there,

I have exactly the same situation, I also flat share so the bunny has to stay in my room. She tends to be lazy all day when her cage is open and then as soon as I go to bed…crazy bunny!
I found that feeding her twice a day instead of just once helped because she would often wake up and immediately want fed. Also, I’ve found that just keeping the cage open at night means she can get up and potter about for a little while if she likes.
I think the noisiest thing is the water bottle! But sadly if I give her a bowl, it needs topped up so many times a day it is just unrealistic.
You could try putting new toys in her cage just overnight so that she doesn’t get bored with the same stuff over the day, and taking away the noisy ones. I’ve found that cardboard boxes stuffed with hay and regular pellets can keep her entertained for a long time, but ultimately I think giving your bun a bit more space is the only thing that is going to get rid of that energy!

[kinggoblin]

Mine would do the same thing when he just had a cage, luckily he sleeps in the kitchen or I’d never sleep, but I have noticed he isn’t as noisy now that he has an x-pen attached to his cage because he has more area to move around. Sometimes when he knows I am in the living room ( despite trying to be silent ) and haven’t let him out he will put his nose against the pen and try and push it towards the living room to get my attention, lol.

[Author]

Messages