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Forum BEHAVIOR Rabbit keeps shaking cage pen (tried alot of things and he won’t stop)

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    • A Flying Brick
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        Just over a month ago I got Riley from a RSPCA shelter so he’s already de-sexed. I made a area for him by fencing off the kitchen/bathroom with a cheap pet play pen. The area is a deacent size with alot of toys, etc to keep him busy but he won’t stop shaking and biting the bars. He’ll start at about 7am and not stop untill it’s night meaning I have to get up at 7…

        I’ve tried putting towels over the fence but he just finds a spot and rips it off or tries to climb it. Currently there’s a hole where the door is where I left a gap so he could see out, but he’s chewed it bigger and has got back to the bars. I’ve tried using white vingar and even a small amount Tasbasco only to have him lick it all off and come up to me wanting more. My current plan is turning him around and giving him a little push on the butt to make him move away.

        I really don’t want to use sparying him with water as a deterant, as this summer looks like it’s going to be a hot one and I want to be able to spray him with water to cool him down. I’m planning on getting a less noisey fence, but I have no ETA on that. I’m sick of being woken up early but I really don’t want to shut Riley in a carrier or in the bathroom. I know he wants attention but I don’t want to make it worse by giving it to him for shaking the fence.


      • Sarita
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          Can you just let him out when he shakes it so he can play for a bit and you can sleep?


        • Sarita
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            Otherwise move him to a different spot in the house – having a rabbit penned in your bedroom is not ideal for many reasons, this being one.


          • Flopsie
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              How much out of cage time does he get and what type of toys do you have?


            • A Flying Brick
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                He’s not in my room, just the kitchen/bathroom (which is near my room). He’s not in a actual cage, he has free run of that area 24/7 with 1-2 hours, normally, in my front room to run around. If there’s stuff that’s not for rabbits in my front room I can’t let him out. But the kitchen area is more than big enough for him and I even got him a square of carpet but he still goes for the fence.
                Toy wise he has cardboard tubes, cat toys with bells in them, apple wood sticks, a old towel, a plush cat and a phonebook. But he seems to ignore alot of them and just go for the fence :/
                I managed to find some cheap child gates at the hardware shop so with some creative modifications it’s going to be the new fence, that is hopefully less noisy. But I’m also paranoid that it’ll do some damage to his teeth/mouth so I’d like a no fuss way to make him stop.


              • MeketatenBun
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                  My bunny does the exact same thing. In the middle of the night, if she hears me at all, she’ll shake her cage door and jingle the bell on her cage unless I let her out. When I first got her I gave in and let her out for a few minutes and she did it for YEARS. Until recently, when I moved away for college and thus she was ignored by my parents for her cage shaking, did she stop. She’ll shake once or twice, but she won’t do it all night like she used to. When she does do it for long periods of time I just say “MEKI. SHH.” to acknowledge I hear her tantrum and she’ll do it a few more times and stop.

                  It may just take some time for him to realize he’s not going to get attention, or maybe he needs to get used to his new home and new rules. It’d probably be best not to let him out because he’s learning that making that racket gets him playtime when he’s most awake (a.k.a when you’re trying to sleep). It’s like Pavlov and his bell, except your bunny is connecting this bad behavior with playtime. Hopefully the new cage is quieter, but if he still continues, you may need to give him hard love and ignore the best you can. Perhaps by putting a towel over his cage area like you would a bird cage to make things quieter for him as well?


                • Flopsie
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                    Well my bun chews the cages too. Maybe not as much as yours but I’ve tried this

                    1. Bought some baby chains on amazon. The type that you give babies to mouth. Linked them up and hung them where she chewed. Sure id love for her to not chew at all but I figure chewing the hard plastic was better than the metal bars. So far it’s worked. Can’t say it’s less noisy though

                    2. You can try to lace pieces of cardboard through the bars. This might insulate the sound a little and allow your bun to chew cardboard instead

                    3. You can also strategically places tunnels made of cardboard along the gate in an attempt to block off the area


                  • A Flying Brick
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                      Riley is a he, my current plan is to tidy my flat and put up the new gates. Hopefully they won’t make as much noise.
                      I tried using cardboard already, he just tore it all off in a few days and also tore off the old towel fabric it attached there next. I made little padded bars for him, but he just tore it off.

                      He’s always chewed the bars since I got him, I suspect he was kept as a outside rabbit in a hutch because he looks up more than he stands up, like when you go to pat him so I think it’s just the method he’s learned to get attention and entertain himself. I’m trying to replace the behavour but it’s hard to ignore it when it’s so loud so early. I’m hoping he’ll grow out of it, since he’s such a young rabbit ( 1 year old).

                      Also I try not to let him out when he does it, I normally wait a bit. I had to put a small lugage lock on the gate because he had learned to open it and it was taking too long to twist wire around it to secure it, I think he’s learned what me opening the gate looks like. The current gate is just a cheap light wire one (that I have to step over to get into my kitchen), the new one is thick and on a actual hinge. It’s ment to be a child gate so it’ll be much stronger. I was too cheap to buy the expanded wall sections so I’m going to use bits of the current fence to span the gap with chicken wire and duct tape to make it bunny proof.


                    • Deleted User
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                        Riley wakes you at 7am? That’s a sleep in!!! Ha ha ha!
                        Try having a bunny that decides when he’s awake you should be too! And climbs all over you at 4am…. sigh!
                        But I have to admit (and I have no idea why or how this came about), but my bunny hasn’t woken me at 4am for months – YAY!
                        It’s nice waking up to a nice quiet bunny laying on the floor when I wake up at a decent hour and NOT 4am! Lol!

                        PS – I have baby gates to stop Henry from going into the lounge room and my son’s room, but I had to thread chicken wire through it, the little bugga managed to squeeze through…. ha ha ha! Now he doesn’t even go near the gates, he FINALLY worked out he couldn’t get through and gave up. But I don’t dare take them down – I’ve already had to throw out a tv and 2 fan’s. DAM bunny!

                        Honestly, stick to your guns – it’s a time thing. I’m just sorry to say in my case, it took well over a year. Good luck!


                      • litheandgraphic
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                          Is there something else you can insulate the bars with that he won’t be able to rip off or chew through? I’m thinking, for example, of tying thick hand towels around the bars tightly so that he can’t rip them off. You’d need individual towels for each bar – if there’s a dollar store near you, check there. At the very least, that will absorb the sound.

                          Otherwise… well, earplugs are pretty good… heheh…


                        • Deleted User
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                            Earplugs! Why didn’t I think of that FLR??? Good one – ha ha ha!


                          • A Flying Brick
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                              It’s probably going to be earlier since we’re getting into summer and 7am seems to be the time I notice the most. I’m normally up late so 7am is really early for me.
                              I have fairly small wire and I was going to sandwitch it on the main gate. Also Riley is a big bunny, he’ll try but won’t make it. The rule I go for is if I can get my hand through it it’s too open, hense why I had to move the fridge.
                              Also he’s not allowed in my bedroom, too many cables, he hasn’t really cared about the fence there only the one that keeps him out of the front room. I have 2 gates so I’m going to do my bedroom first and watch him while I do the big one (since there’s nothing that’ll keep him out of the front room).

                              He tends to ease up when he has his fill of attention but he needs to learn that he has to wait.


                            • Deleted User
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                                That’s fine FB – I don’t let Henry into the lounge room or my son’s room for that reason, toooo many cables and bits n peices! The only reason Henry is allowed in our bedroom is because we hang out in there at night with the dog’s and it wasn’t fair or right not to let Henry in to join us. Before he was neutered, he sprayed our bed (and us, the dog’s, furniture and the walls) so we put a board up to try and keep him out, but he jumped and climbed it – he was so desperate to come in and be with us – so that lasted one night, ha ha ha! Since being neutered he stopped spraying and we now enjoy his company in bed at night – but that’s us.
                                Your Riley will learn – eventually. It will just take a while. But how lovely he wants to be with you, he wants your company. Do you know how many BBer’s will be jealous of you??? I know quite a few member’s that are desperate to have their bunnies want to hang out with them. Lol!


                              • A Flying Brick
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                                  Riley was de-sexed and tray trained when I got him (thank-you RSPCA), he’s warmed more to my mum and my sister more than me.
                                  Part of the reason he doesn’t have free run yet is that he keeps being naughty, ie nibbling the carpet and going to behind things he shouldn’t plus he’s still kinda settling in still and still gets scared when someone walks past the front windows. So I want him to calm down more before I give him free run, plus I need a more rabbit proof tv unit as well.

                                  Also I can’t wear earplugs at night, I have a issue with my ears gunking up at night and earplugs will make it worse :/
                                  And I’ve tried wraping the bars in towel he just pulled it all off.


                                • A Flying Brick
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                                    Ok the gates weren’t labeled as tension gates so I’m going to get creative. So tomorrow morning I’m going to go to the hardware shop and buy some catchs or something to keep them shut. Since they won’t stay shut on their own >_>
                                    On the plus side, Riley is too big to fit through the bars. But I’m sure he’ll try.


                                  • A Flying Brick
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                                      Sorry for necro but I have a update, the gates I got were useless so I just used them on the other doorways.
                                      Currently my plan is to ask my dad to help me build something sort of like a flat hutch, ie use all the parts, etc of a hunch to make a wood and wire fence.
                                      Still Riley is going after the bars, I managed to get a weasel ball that makes a loud noise and rolls around near the fence. I feel bad using it but it makes him leave the fence alone for a while atleast.


                                    • emm_renn
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                                        My rabbit does that too. She will bite her cage in order to get my attention and let her out. But it is always in the morning like around 6-7.


                                      • A Flying Brick
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                                          Can anyone recomend something I can put on the bars to make him stop, the cheap body spray I was using has kinda stopped working. I love him but he’s being a real pain.


                                        • BellaKezia
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                                            We had this problem with dinks when she was a baby but it has stopped now she has a larger playpen.
                                            In terms of the bars the only thing I can think of is a way to stop the rattling sound rather than trying to stop him rattling the bars cause it seems like nothing will stop him. Have you tryed securing the panels with duct tape or electrical tape so they don’t rattle against each other?
                                            When dinky did this we swapped her cage from a cage with horizontal bars to a playpen with vertical bars which were harder to shake. Our little one duke has dinky old cage and he shakes the bars like crazy!
                                            I’m about to swap their cages for some pre bonding scent sharing so I’ll let you know if it stops duke too!
                                            Hope you find something that works!


                                          • A Flying Brick
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                                              Any kind of tape will get chewed :/ so I kinda don’t want him eating any of it. The sound itself is him shaking the whole fence. The fence is very light so he keeps trying to pull it over. I’m planning on getting something heavier, either with vertical bars or just covering the lot in perspex or tiny holed wire. Not sure when tho, since my dad is busy and most places only sell the gates and not the extensions.

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                                          Forum BEHAVIOR Rabbit keeps shaking cage pen (tried alot of things and he won’t stop)