Sometimes too much freedom too soon isn’t a good thing, but it sounds like he is doing okay. Some bunnies just can’t be free-range 24/7. I would not be able to trust Leopold. Wooly, yes, but Leopold is always asking for trouble.

Have you considered getting an exercise pen to make a fence around his cage? That way he can be secured at night, but the space won’t be quite so small.

My Henry is free roam 24/7 with 3 dog’s. I never encourage this with other member’s as I only know MY dog’s – I trust them completely with Henry. My Henry doesn’t even have a door on his house – like you, it stores his food, water and hay. When we leave the house we call out “Henry, your in charge”, so if we come home to a mess, it’s Henry’s fault cause he was responsible, ha ha ha!
Henry sleeps under our bed while the dog’s sleep on top with us, but it doesn’t stop him from jumping up at 3am upsetting us all (ME!!!).

Just 2 weeks ago we ‘tried’ to lock Henry away while having our carpets cleaned – we put up 3 boards and the little bugga still got out and laid on the wet carpet under our bed. What infuriated me – the next day he spent the day in his house – so angry!

What I am trying to say – free roam bunny’s do NOT appreciate being shut out/away, locked up! It doesn’t mean they want to be into everything, they just hate being restricted. The more you lock them up, the more they are determined to get out – not to get into trouble, just the choice/freedom to do what they want whenever (does that make sense?).
Before Henry was neutered and he sprayed us I put a board across the bedroom doorway – he jumped and got his front paws over and then climbed with his back feet scratching on the board – he got over and in! I took the board down that night and yes, got pee’d on!

A free roam bunny means the new boss of the house – ooop’s! Sorry!

Try feeding and hiding treats. Sounds like you have a board bunny. I usually feed Tulley and hid a couple of peanuts around his cage.

I wouldn’t worry about it. I was worried too when this first happened with my bunny, Willow. She has full access to our house, except when we’re sleeping, then we cage her in. For the first year we had her, she’d always chew on the bars and I thought it meant she was unhappy. Truthfully though, I believe bunnies do need a little boundaries to understand that they can’t get away with everything they want. LOL

Anyways, she eventually learned that the cage wasn’t a punishment and was just a nightly rule. She now hops in willingly (my husband used to have to playfully chase her in and she would run around the house learning new ways to make him run like a nut! She really loved outsmarting him and would binky the whole time!). Now she only chews on the bars if we slept in and she knows she was supposed to be out earlier. Keep in my though, she only chews on the bars once she sees us. If we peek in and she doesn’t spot us, she’s flopped on her shelf or eating hay. Bunnies just have a talent at knowing how to make us feel bad so they can get their way. ?

Keep doing what you’re doing, although, getting a bigger cage could be helpful! We have a cage from Petco for bunnies that is quite large and has shelves and ramps for her to play on. Teaching your bunny that there are rules can definitely be a good thing and your bunny will adjust, and still lick you and give snuggles!

We have a cage with an attached play fence for Nugget, It’s by Oxbow, and it works really well for confining him away from the dog. I even bought and attached a seperate small animal fence to allow us to expand it as needed. Works great, and lets him be semi-“free range” without making me worry, or stressing him. i’ve put a pic of part of it below, i’ll try and get a better pic later and post it, maybe meeting him “halfway’ would alliviate the issues