Bunny’s Bed Timea

[Emmie]

I know it’s only been a few days but Zelda’s night time behaviour has me feeling really guilty. She hops into her cage at night and I close her up, but she proceeds to spend a good half hour to an hour chewing the bars and trying to pull the door open. I’m concerned about what this could do to her teeth.

Any tips on getting her settled at night?

[LBJ10]

You mean you actually can get her back in the cage at night? Haha! I have a headache every night trying to get my little terrors to go to bed.

[mocha200]

My bunnies chew on the bars after I put them to bed to. Rabbits are naturally awake at dawn and dusk so when you put her to bed she might still be wide awake and want to play. How big is her cage?

[LoveChaCha]

My bunny does the same.. I don’t think it will hurt their teeth. They just want out.

Monkeybun was over yesterday and said that after she turned out the light, the biting on the condo stopped

[peppypoo]

I remember somebody on the forum saying that they did have a bunny who had dental problems due to overenthusiastic cage chewing.

Don’t feel too guilty about it…you are giving her a great life and a great home, but as a human there are certain things you need like a good night’s rest!  That’s her “rent” to pay for being spoiled, haha.

I did have some mild success using an aversive response to chewing on the bars…I put a handful of coins in a small tin, and shook it whenever Peppy would chew at the bars. She hated the noise! However, quite honestly nothing completely stopped her behavior until Milo came around.

[lwayne]

Try feeding them before you go to bed. I give mine buns their salad before i go to bed, it gets them to go back ‘home’ and keeps them busy..

[LBJ10]

Posted By lwayne on 04/15/2011 09:12 PM
Try feeding them before you go to bed. I give mine buns their salad before i go to bed, it gets them to go back ‘home’ and keeps them busy..

My boys have grown wise to such tricks!

 

Emmie – I don’t think the cage bar chewing is a huge deal unless she is going postal on the bars prolonged periods of time.

[jerseygirl]

Don’t give her attention when she does it or let her out because then she’ll think that will be the result everytime. I have a bunny set up in my bedroom currently and this past week it’sbeen…not so good. He’s really hit the teen stage and is really persistant with bar chewing. He has a lot of room but I think rabbits will just naturally work at barriers.  Previously, he would chew for a bit but once he saw I was going to bed he stopped. Turning of the light helped also. But lately?….I’ve been sleep deprived.  I was guilty of letting him out last night (rewarding the bad behaviour) which was stupid! He even chewed the bars even after he was let out! Brat. I’m on the hunt for a branch for him to chew (hopefully) instead.

Hope you find a solution. Some people say wearing them out a bit more during the day can help.

[Emmie]

That’s her cage there when I first took her home. There’s no litter now except in her tray. She does settle after a half an hour, and once I go to bed, I don’t go back into the room. I do feel really bad, I’m too soft!

[OskarAnnie]

No worries! My rabbits know that once it’s time for bed they get some sort of treat, and then I turn off ALL the lights, I hear them hopping around but then they settle down. Treats/foods are a great way to make them WANT to go back into their pen!

[Emmie]

Posted By OskarAnnie on 04/16/2011 07:38 AM
No worries! My rabbits know that once it’s time for bed they get some sort of treat, and then I turn off ALL the lights, I hear them hopping around but then they settle down. Treats/foods are a great way to make them WANT to go back into their pen!

 

I think I will give this a bash tonight! Thanks, guys!

[Beka27]

What time is bedtime? Very often, buns don’t really start getting their evening energy until later, at about 8-9pm… if bedtime is shortly after that, she probably just feels like she’s not done playing yet.

[Emmie]

Well right now I’m having problems with my back so I’m up till 3am most nights.

Tbh, I think she’s getting used to it! I went to bed at 3 last night, put her in her cage, gave her a small treat and said goodnight. There was a little bit of noice, but she settled very very quickly! I was quite happy!

I’m beginning to see her more as a child than a pet actually! I haven’t been paying attention to her when she does chew the bars and it seems to be working! I’d say once I sort her bunny room she’ll be very happy at night!

[Beka27]

Oh wow… that’s really late!

[Kate Monster]

I give Kate and Spence a papaya treat at bedtime. Now, once it starts to get late they race around and beg for the treat starting about an hour before bedtime. They are very food motivated little brats so it works well. Of course as soon as they finish the treat and realize that they fell for that AGAIN Kate nibbles bars and Spence aka the Billy Goat, rams the door with his head trying to get back out. But they settle down after ten or twenty minutes.

[Emmie]

Yeah I know, plus the time difference between myself and himself means I’m usually up late talking to him or I’m working on projects.

 

Yeah, she sees to be getting the idea. She no longer knocks over her bowl and when I wake her in the morning it’ll be a couple of mins before she even comes out of her cage. I think the noise she’s making is her trying to get settled down. She also moves her house around a good bit.

[Elrohwen]

I feed every night when it’s time for bed. At least this makes them happy to go in their cage and they don’t mind when the door shuts. This might help distract her for a while, especially if it’s something like veggies that takes longer to eat.

[BinkyBunny]

When Jack was in a pen, he would chew on the bars. I ended up hanging chew toys, weaving cardboard, newspaper, grass mats between the bars to give him something to do and work off his energy. Now obviously that wouldn’t work if your bunny is near you at night — would wake you up. Jack wasn’t within ear shot at night and so he could chew on all of the hanging toys and weaved “distractions” to his hearts content.

[Emmie]

Okay, that’s good to know. I was thinking of getting something for her to chew on with the bars alright. Now I can hear her at night, but she usually settles down in ten mins. I think she’s starting to get the idea!

[MimzMum]

lolz…I am also up till late at night. Back problems stink. I completely relate.

My lionhead cross female actually gives ME thumps when my light is on too late. I have to shut everything down and put headphones on to keep the peace. There is only bar chewing when the treat bag is crinkling. >.< My daughter was too slow getting her the routine nightly APD cookie one time and she grabbed the bars and shook them so hard I was afraid when she let go her incisors would be still stuck in them. 0_o; Luckily she was fine and we never went too slow with the cookie feeding again.
They all live in my bedroom with me, so I feel like I’m bothering them more than they’re bothering me, so….lol. More than likely I’ll get up and do whatever a good rabbit slave should do to make them happy again. I think we call that being bunny-whipped around here.

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