my bunny hates going back in her cage

[allybunny]

Hi all! I’m a first time bunny mum. I love her to pieces! She’s only been with us for two weeks, she is a 10 week old mini lop.we live in an apartment and I wanted to keep her inside so she’s safe. We have a cage that is about 1 metre long and 50 cm wide or so. It isn’t small but its not big. I know its not big enough for her but unfortunately we can’t get an xpen because we have an apartment and when inspection time comes we have to hide her.

She basically lives in the spare bedroom. When I wake in the morning I let her out of her cage and keep her cage door open so she can come and go as she pleases. She has loads of toys and things to do. She’s probably out of her cage from 10am till 12pm when I go to bed

When I put her back in her cage at night to go to sleep she goes crazy! She will start trying to jump out of the top on the cage so I’ll shut the lid and she will try and stick her head through the bars. she chews on the bars. Puts her paws through the bars. It breaks my heart seeing how much she hates it but as she’s not litter trained yet she can’t be out of her cage when I’m not there just yet.

Does it get better? Why does my bunny do this? She has food water, hay, a bed plus a hammock and toys! She just seems to get very anxious once the doors are shut.

Thanks guys!

Allybunny

[Boing]

I suggest only feeding her her pellets when it’s time to go back in her cage! My rabbit associates going to bed with pellets, therefore he loves his pen and hops in of his own accord.  He also gets his greens when it’s time to go to bed.  I only free feed hay!!

[lillian]

I totally agree with boing!

For one, 12pm, I’m assuming you mean midnight? For buns, that’s “PARTY PARTY PARTY” time. At that point, your bun probably wants to run around. Ive recently switched to night shift stocking so my buns are super eager on the weekends when I’m up all night lol.
Buns are also super routine, so, if you put her to bed at midnight one night, then 8pm the next, she will likely be upset. My younger bun will actually go in his cage around 11pm on his own (kinda scary… xD) just because that’s the time Ive always put him up since his first day home,

My older one is a little more difficult about bed time, but food! Her food bowl is in the center of her cage so she has to jump in to get it. My bun absolutely looooves her pellets, so, I only feed her the pellets before bedtime. She has gotten to the point of “OH, FOOD BAG. FOOD BAG MEANS FOOD” (Kinda like the binkybunny ad “did something crinkle? I know I heard a treat bag crinkle! once you crinkle, its all over…. I’m onto you!” Rabbits really are like that when they find something they love lol) so, Ill make sure she hears it (I actually use a metal bowl to transfer the food from the bag to the bunnys’ bowls as it makes more noise) to which she generally comes near but doesn’t go in her cage. At that point Ill step away, and within a minute or two, boom, shes in her cage! and shes occupied so no evilly innocent sad eyes for a short period!
For the sad eyes, the biting of the cage, all that stuff, both my buns do it now and then but nothing like they used too. I just kinda turned it into a cute thing “awww is someone having a case of the grumps” “awww someone is playing music with their teeth again!” and, I dunno why, but, I think it made them realize “dang! shes not giving in!” I guess you could compare it to a child. Some children are put in time out chairs, corners, etc. The first time it happens, they are going to scream, whine, fit, smack stuff, etc, but, when they realize they are getting nowhere, or getting worse punishments, they quickly start giving up on it.

[Excript]

Perhaps you can use cube cage for your bunny either 4×4 or 6×4 as you like. My bunny when she was 10 weeks old hates to be in a cage so i bought some wired storage cubes which are quite cheap and gave a an area where she can hope around at night. They’re very easy to dismantle when it comes to your inspection time. Just dismantle and put all into a plastic bag and have your bunny hide in the carrier or the cage.

[allybunny]

Thanks so much everyone! Yes I have been bribing her with greens before bed and she loves that but i just know she’s hating the next 8 hours in the cage whilst I’m sleeping. I think I’ll have to go have a shop around for some of those storage cubes. We live in Australia and I can’t seem to find them easily they seem like a popular american item shame because they look great for a bunny. I just need her litter trained then she can roam the house all night as she pleases (after I bunny proof of course)

Thanks again

[Excript]

 Im from asia and Daiso sells them, and i’m pretty sure aussie has daiso too. pretty common item

[Author]

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