My bunny gets grumpy whenever I put her back in her cage?

[Emmatrue]

 My bunny is outside of her cage all day most days, but whenever I put her back in the cage like at night when I need to sleep or leave, she gets really grumpy. She tries pushing the door down and bites the bars and paces around. Sometimes she’ll even kick the food dish over, and acts like she’s mad. 

Her mood totally changes as soon as I put her on the floor, she starts binky-ing and prancing around, acting like a totally different bunny than when she’s inside her cage.

She has plenty of room and toys. How can I make her time in her cage more bearable for her? 

[Sam and Lady's Human]

What size is her cage? What kinda cage is it?

[Tate]

Welcome to bunnyhood.
There was nothing I could do to prevent this with my buns… What finally worked was getting an xpen. Haven’t heard them since! I’m not sure if it’s the actual size of the pen or the fact that now they are part of the room, rather than being “locked away”.
You can try some different toys- don’t give her all of her toys at once. Just rotate through them. Also look for problem solver toys- fill up one of those egg cartons that holds six eggs with hay, pellets, and maybe a treat. You can also do that with toilet paper rolls!
I used to put a thing of wheat grass in my bunny’s cage at night. Sometimes I would hide things in there- food! always a huge motivator- and this would keep him satisfied for a while.
Other than that, try to ignore her. She may learn “play time” from “sleep time”. Keep in mind though that they are busiest at dawn and dusk which is generally when we’re all sleeping! Even though she’s out during the day, she may feel like she’s missing out on her activity time.

[Emmatrue]

To onetwothree, It’s a wire cage with a plastic bottom, it’s 46 (length) x 20 (width) x 18 (height)  inches. She’s a particularly small rabbit as she’s still young, once she starts getting bigger I’ll be getting a bigger one.

To Tate, thank you! I’ll try rotating the toys and trying the ideas you suggested I’ll also try ignoring her. She is out til pretty late into the evening, (8 or 9) so she does get to be out for at least part of playtime/activity time. She’s a pretty spoiled bun!

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Posted By Emmatrue on 05/01/2011 07:08 PM

 It’s a wire cage with a plastic bottom, it’s 46 (length) x 20 (width) x 18 (height)  inches. She’s a particularly small rabbit as she’s still young, once she starts getting bigger I’ll be getting a bigger one.

 

 

Hmmm not sure. I have a much smaller cage, but he has an xpen as well that his cage is always open to. He’s never bit at the cage or xpen bars though Well, not yet anyway 

 

[Emmatrue]

 Ohh. Well mine doesn’t have an xpen, so I’m glad at least her cage is big. Maybe she’s just spoiled and will have to just deal with being in there  

[Cuckoo]

my bun does the same too, and if I open the door, he would just sit in his cage anyway….
Guess doesn’t like to be locked up

[Ashley and Emily]

I am so glad you posted this today was Emily’s first day out of her x pen for quite a few hours until I needed to get some things done so I put her back at first she was ok but now she is pushing on her x pen and just being very loud and looks so upset! She has plenty of toys and room to run! I guess this is just a phase I will try to ignore it :/ so hard to do!

[Monkeybun]

As she gets older, that cage will get far too small for her, even if she stays small. Buns need alot of room! I would suggest the xpen, they are great, for both the buns and you for cleaning

[Elrohwen]

I feed dinner right at bedtime so that mine are more than happy to head back to their cage and settle in for the night. A little bribery goes a long way! Having some veggies and pellets to eat makes them forget about being locked up.

[Lagomorphic]

Posted By Elrohwen on 05/02/2011 10:46 AM
I feed dinner right at bedtime so that mine are more than happy to head back to their cage and settle in for the night. A little bribery goes a long way! Having some veggies and pellets to eat makes them forget about being locked up.

That’s what I used to do when I had a rabbit that stayed in a cage at night.  I kept the litter box in there too and never had any trouble.

 

[Bacuzoro]

When i used to put my rabbit in her cage at night, i would also feed her right when i put her in so she would go willingly. This worked for a while, but eventually she would just start rattling the cage after she was done eating wanting to get out. So I ended up just attaching her x-pen to the cage and letting her stay out in the x-pen all night.

[Emmie]

I think it’s just a bunny thing. Zelda HATES being in her cage. I think BB recommended wrapping cardboard around the bars to keep her busy. I do this and it seems to work. She’ll never be happy with having to go back into her cage, but it’s for her safety. She calms down after about ten mins, which is much better than when I first got her.

I usually feed her something nice at night to distract her too. And I put a towel over the top of the cage and that seems to calm her down, means her cage is like a cave, and there isn’t an open space at the top of it.

PLUS! I bought this kinda parsley bell chew thing that hangs from her cage, that also helps keep her distracted. If you try using heavier food bowls? I know Zelda would do the same, she would pick it up and fling it across the room on several occasions!

[Author]

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