I’ve read quite a few forums about this same subject, but all of their solutions either involve giving him more time out of the cage or ignoring him til after he’s stopped shaking and give him a treat or THEN let him out?
Thing is, my bunny gets let out of his cage at 7am, and since I babysit at home, he has full access to my bedroom til I put him back in his cage at 10pm! (If I leave the house, to go shopping or anything, I put him back in, but this isn’t often at all! Less often now that I’m scared that he’ll shake his cage and upset my parents or harm his teeth every time I go out or make plans!)
He doesn’t shake or rattle his cage during the night, well, most nights, and usually has no problem going in! He’s seemed to get into the routine of knowing that lights out means cage time and tends to sleep straight away! But every morning he will viciously shake his cage as loud as he can and for the first few mornings I took it as a sign of “I want out, give me my pellets!” and gave into the noise instantly, giving him what he wanted! Because of this, I think he associates shaking his cage to his being let out and being fed, and probably thinks if he doesn’t do this, it won’t happen? That, or he’s just very stubborn and loves getting his way! Each morning the shaking has gotten earlier and earlier, and I’ve been trying to do the ‘ignoring til he’s stopped’ approach, but my bunny is relentless and doesn’t seem to grasp the concept that I will feed him ONCE he’s stopped! The noise is driving me absolutely insane, my parents too! They’re not too fond of being woken up at 4 when they don’t have to be awake til 6!
I’ve tried clapping and a stern no, but he simply stares at me as if to say “Shut up and let me out!” and then shakes it harder than before! I’ve also bought a slightly bigger cage which I’m going to be setting up tonight, see if that calms him down!
I currently have a makeshift gate on my door that stops him from getting out of my room, and was considering getting a permanent gate and just allowing him to be out of his cage 24/7, but I know that even though my room is bunny proof, if I go out, I will be worrying if he’s gotten out or gotten somewhere he isn’t supposed to be or got a hold of something he shouldn’t have! I also don’t want him to keep me awake at night and want to have at least a few boundaries / rules, since I’ve already taken to letting him run free while I’m not in the room to supervise and am downstairs babysitting? Haha!
Are there any other suggestions?