How to Encourage Bun into New Home

[NaluNut]

I just finished building Nalu her bunny hut and was excited to finally give her a home of her own. But she was not so excited. She hated being in there as soon as her dinner and treat I gave her were gone. She was nibbling and clawing at the wire, trying to break free! I felt so bad so I ended up taking her out.

I admit, it’s been three months and she’s never had a cage, just my room which is connected to my open air, enclosed, back lanai. (porch) But I want to keep her somewhere at night and while I’m away for long hours so that she is safe.

Any advise on easing her into it? I thought of training her to think of it as a good place by putting treats in it, but I don’t want her to get fat either! How can I help her feel like it is home and a place she won’t mind being in?

xoxo

[Lulu Cuteness]

i honestly don’t know what to do. just try to make the cage as comfy as possible for her. she’ll get used to it over time. just try to let her out for lots of playtime so she doesn’t think of it as when she goes in the cage she isn’t going to be able to come back out.

[Bam]

Small bits of treats are ok to put in the cage, just for starters, so you establish a connection between good things and the cage. Once she’s comfortable in her cage, you can stop putting treats there.

She should have a hidey-house in her cage (upside down cardborad box), fleece blankie to dig in and preferably something to chew like apple or willow twigs. I can very well see that it must be difficult to cage-train a bunny that has been free roam. Maybe you could just keep the cage open to begin with, put treats in it, let her go in and out as she pleases? She might even like to have a safe place like that. My Bam has a set-up like that at my mother’s, a cage that is always open except when thaere are visitors etc, and when we need to shut the cage door, Bam seems very relaxed about it. (But he is a relaxed type of bunny, I should add.)

[NaluNut]

Thanks guys! Great advise. It’s day two and she seems happier in the cage… but just before I went to bed I heard her biting at the wire cage again. Do I force her to stay in there until she gets use to it? Or keep her in it little bits at a time? I don’t want to have a sad bunny.. I don’t want her to be mad at me. I just want her to be happy and safe.

I don’t know if keeping her in a cage feels right

[Mimsy]

I would leave it open most of the time and just keep increasing how long she is in there at her comfort level.

Willow has a pen which is two actually two pens connected, which is pretty darn big for a little lionhead and she also acts like she has been falsely imprisoned. I only leave her in there at night and if we are all leaving the house, which is very rare since we are all on different schedules…so it’s usually we went to dinner or some other short type thing if we leave.

I have her pellets, main litter box with lots of hay and give her her greens in it there. I have all her favorite chews and toys also in there. She goes in there on her own all the time to just lay down or play with her toys and to eat of course. But if the door shuts, we get the whole this is unjust thing. She stands at the door with her little arms out the fence reaching for us. Makes us feel like we are abusing her. I’m t hinking with time she will realize that it’s only at night and short term otherwise and will mellow out about it.

[NaluNut]

Yeah,I only want to keep her in there at night, and when I’ll be away longer than I’d like her to be alone. She is getting more and more use to it each day I think! So that’s good news. I put woodchip bedding, a towel, basket and hay in there with a toy or two (thought she doesn’t care too much about toys!)
I also grew a patch of wheatgrass and left it in the cage for her to munch on. This is okay in unlimited quantities right? Like hay wheatgrass is grazing material? It seems to keep her preoccupied!

xoxo

[Vienna Blue in France]

Mimsy : lmao !! “Falsely imprisioned!” ….
Yes Zouzou makes me feel like that on the odd occasion she has to be closed in when travelling (in a huge dog cage!)
She throws a tantrum and the food bowl goes everywhere, water too and with her 6kg behind her she makes herself heard !!

Going home for Christmas will be “fun” again as she has to be in the cage when not surpervised because she can’t be trusted not to chew the carpet to bits or “rabbit-vandalise” the side porch on her own…. ho hum ! So around early Dec I’ll be getting the cage out – doors open and treats inside – to get her used to it again, positive reinforcement and all that, to make it a happy place.

[NaluNut]

hum -.- well I’m glad I’m not the only one with a anti-cage bunny!! She didn’t stay in it again… I thought she seemed happy and entertained enough to last the night, but a couple hours into bed time I heard the retched cage pounding awgh….
free again!

[Rhian]

Maybe try training her during the day for the first bit. Slowly work up to being in there for more and more hours, ignore her when she starts to throw any tantrums and see if you can get her used to being in there when you’re not trying to sleep. Obviously make sure she has enough to do/eat inside of the cage but don’t feel like you have to let her out if she kicks up enough fuss, she’ll be fine for a few hours. Giving in once is enough to get her to keep on trying, and getting more creative about it!

If you have an exercise pen, you may even try to just slowly crawl back her available space as well. Start off with the cage and, say, as much room as the average x-pen will allow and then start to scale that back night by night until you’ve got her in her cage.

[Author]

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