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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
› Forum › DIET & CARE › Putting bun to bed question!
I am curious – how many of you put your bun in their cage at night? I have been doing that only because Edson was having some accidents in his xpen. He has not had an accident in close to 3 weeks now! I just feel bad putting him in the cage and think maybe I don’t need to now that he is accident free. But then again it’s kind of a piece of mind knowing he’s in there. What do you guys think?
I put mine in their condo each night before I go to bed, and then sweep up the 57 poops that they have left in the room while running around. With a foster in the house, the marking is constant. I could never let mine free roam unsupervised. I could leave their "veranda" up all the time (2 xpens with a binky mat), but then I’d have to get a divorce 
I usually bribe them into going into the pen with fresh hay.
Just 57 poops! Lucky you 
Maybe repeating the same phrase will help in the long run. Our bunnies have learned that "time to go home" means something special, and will (mostly) rush home almost immediately. Sometimes Bailey will just sit there in front of the door and not hop in. A gentle shove helps then.
I put my bunny away in his cage because if I dont he likes to jump on my bed and
leave me a little surprise in the morning, which just leads to more laundry. Sadly I have
tried to let him roam around at night but everytime he does the same thing, so for his
own safety and my parents utility bills I decided it was best to put him back into his
cage after plenty of time out.
My bunnies are lucky in that they have a whole room for themselves with not much else in other than their belongings and my drawing table. They are very well toilet trained and will use their trays (actually plastic dog beds) but they have habit to throw hay all over the place! My two bonded bucks have free reign of the summerhouse which is 12ft by 10ft and Milly has her pen in there. I would like her to have more space and we are due to be moving so once that’s over with I’ll sort something out. She only gets put in her pen for the night though so it isn’t too bad…and it’s 7ft by 3ft with two levels.
Thanks for your answers! Edson doesn’t mind his cage at all because he gets a special treat for one! I just thought maybe he’d prefer being out in the xpen. I guess for now I’ll keep to the schedule.
my usual routine with baby bun had to change after she became more adventurous post-surgery. i always left her bedroom door open & hung a curtain across which kept the dog out but allowed her to roam. thing is she only roamed as far as the hallway to visit the sleeping dog so this was never a problem. but then a couple of times i caught her in my living room and the party had to end since she needs to be supervised there (my office is there … too many things to bunny proof). oh and twice i was awoken by her jumping on my head! this was a complete shock. i thought i was dreaming. she NEVER ventured into my bedroom much less jumped on my bed! i was so flattered at first that i let it happen again & was rewarded with a nice pee spot & pile of poo next to my head. doh. i now babygate her into her room at night so i can get an uninterrupted sleep. ![]()
Isn’t that sweet of her – what a nice present! That is really so funny. I do think they are awake at night, don’t you? I really think Edson is because he’s so sleepy after his pellets at 5:30am and goes back to bed.
i def think they’re awake… least for part of the night! some times i’m up late working to try to meet a deadline & i always have a hard time getting to sleep because she’s making all kinds of noise ripping up cardboard and re-arranging her toys in her room (which is right next to my bedroom). if i goto bed at my normal time i never here a peep out of her. so either it’s her regular routine to ‘tear it up’ around 2 or 3 am when i’m normally fast asleep, or she protests my staying up late to work!
Gizmo’s always tucked in around 10:30 or so and doesn’t seem to mind at all. I guess since that’s what we’ve always done he doesn’t expect anything else. I’m too concerned about the kitties being naughty or the bunny finding the one thing I may have overlooked to let him have free roam at night. He’s definitely awake at least part of the night though. I hear him in there hopping around, or rearranging the cage. I like to think his nighttime lock down gives him time for cleaning and interior decoration. In the mornings if we haven’t gotten up at the normal time he starts ringing the bell on his hanging chew block until we come feed him. It’s like a dinner bell and alarm clock all in one!
Yeah Edson goes insane banging on the cage until I come in and give him his pellets. I really am afraid he’s going to injure himself with his backflips and crazy antics! It is pretty funny though. They really know what time it is!
My babies get tucked in at night. It was so cold last night that I put an extra blanky over their cage. I do lock them up at night b/c when they were free roamers they would poo & pee all over the cat beds and the couch. So that had to end!
Occasionally they break out and night and run around like party bunnies. There favorite past time is running underneath the lazy boy recliner and back into their cage.
since Meadow has had her new enclosure, i always leave her cage door open. she is meticulous with her litterbox habits, so i don’t need to worry about that. i don’t know for a fact that she plays in the middle of the night, but i assume she might, so i like knowing she has the running space if she wants to use it. she’s recently started sleeping in her enclosure during the day (not in her cage), so she might do that at night too. i would try leaving the xpen accessible and see how Edson does.
I wish I could have my buns free range, but my house is just not set-up for that. They have playtime in their x-pen, but stay in their cages at night. They really love their cages and have no problem going in for the night. I’m so afraid they would get lost and I couldn’t be able to find them if they were allowed to roam around the house.
I used to leave the cage door open so that he could sleep in his xpen but then he had the accidents. But now that he hasn’t in such a long time I may try leaving it open again since my set up is almost identical to yours Beka. My only fear is that he may try to jump on top of the cage so I’ll have to figure out a way to block that. Thanks!
knowltons4, i don’t remember if you said if you have a litterbox in the xpen too…?
Oh yes I have the litter box in the cage and Edson has never peed outside of it in his cage ever. I also put another one in the xpen when he was having those accidents thinking he just couldn’t make it to the cage. He appeared to be peeing in his sleep but now that has completely stopped! Very weird. Now he uses that one in xpen when he is out exploring outside of the xpen and rushes in to use it or the cage one.
I’d love to leave my girls out at night! My boyfriend gets too upset, says they poop all over (so what!!??! heeh) I do sometimes let them out of their cage and then go for a nap…This is probably what lead to destroying ‘secret spots” …I’ve found a few spots where low and behold the molding and carpet just disappeared!! LOL bad bunnies…
I know for a fact they are up all night and quite active. I was a student last year, and this year my bf is a student. So that leaves one of us usually pulling all nighters and witnessing that the bunnies are up and VERY ACTIVE all night hehe. I bought a nightlight so that if they want to sleep they can but they can still see around their bedroom to play. My boyfriend has frequent complaints that they keep him up ripping cardboard and tossing things around heehe…He’ll get used to it
lol
oh, I have a funny story about what bunnies do to you while you sleep…I had them out for a run and decided to stretch out on the ground for a rest, but not a nap since I didn’t have time…Kahlua, who has never ever groomed us really, strolled up to me and cleaned off my entire forhead…I was soo touched …until Kokanee jumped on my head lol
my bunnies are only out when being supervised since they’re hellions!
at night we call “bunny round up” and I put fresh hay in their house. Some nights they go charging into their house, and other night they turn into a game of chase ![]()
My 2 are out all the time now, day & night. It took a while but with a lot of patience and belief in the fact that they would eventually “get the message” not to go toilet on the bed, they can both be trusted to be left out whether we are at work, or we are in bed ourselves. All i get is a fluffy Bettie-bum in my face, and a licky licky chomp to my arm as she wakes me up to give her a cuddle.
Ziggy has his own room he’s never been in a cage. He stays in my bed till I get sleepy then he go’s to his room. Zelda has the dinning room and yesterday I gave her the living room also. All the rooms they are in contact are very well bunny proofed.
My two go to bed at night in their condo. I just clink the bunny cookie jar (in the shape of a rabbit none-the-less) and they hop right in. : ) I do not trust mine at night because I know that they will get into all sorts of things and I definately don’t want anything bad to happen where I would be asleep and wake up in the morning with something gone terribly wrong.
Kokaneeandkahlua – I share your sentiments 100%…I mean why does the boyfriend moan and whinge at me (usually waking ME up to do the moaning and whinging) when the rabbits keep him awake all night, or wake him up in the morning? He knows EXACTLY where the spare bedroom is if he finds it a problem. my bed, and the rabbit’s stay! lol
And again at the same time as the night before, i was disturbed by a great bum of Bean fluff being puffed in and out and in and out of my nostrils, then a lick and a head poke to my arm then a chomp, chomp..reposition of little furry bod to make contact with my hand, chomp lick chomp chomp. It’s just no good trying to ignore to ignore her, she’s not having any of it!
› Forum › DIET & CARE › Putting bun to bed question!
