help! bunny biting cage and wont let anyone sleep

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 10sd replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 10 months ago by GM.

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- 05/24/2015 at 4:16 AM
  GM
  Participant
  7 posts
  Hello!
  
  So my 8 month old female dwarf lionhead (momo) is driving me and my family crazy. Every day she rattles her cage, grabs her litter box and flips it upside down, flops her hide house on its side, and grabs her hay basket and throws it across her cage.
  
  Momo has been rattling her cage since March but only recently started doing these other things. I know its simmply because she wants to be let out but she cant always be. She gets to roam the house as she pleases throughout the day as long as I or my dad is home. The only time she gets put away is if we are cleaning the house, are not home, cooking, or if are unable to watch her at the moment. She gets about 7-12 hours outside her cage depending on the day.
  
  But when shes briefly put away, she goes insane and demands someone let her out. She does this in the middle of the night and is doing so right now at 2 in the morning. I ignore this behavior at night because I am 1. Too tired to get up and 2. I know she will stop when she realizes no one is in the living room.
  
  However, it is getting too much and i dont know what to do. Especially during the day, whenever she hears me come in the living room where her cage is, she starts rattling her cage. I could be in my room shouting something to my dad who is outisde and she will rattle her cage again. Thanks to this behavior, i have had sleepness nights and a bad mood for the past few weeks.
  
  This really needs to stop but i have no idea how. Any ideas to end this behavior?
  
  Also she is not spayed. I have been planning to do so because i have heard it de reases this behavior but am still a bit unsure.
  
  Sorry this is long. I appreciate any advice
- 05/25/2015 at 10:50 AM
  OreoBunny
  Participant
  14 posts
  Does she have a big cage? She might need more space to run around.the minimum cage requirements for one rabbit is 6x2x2.does she have a variety of toys to keep her brain stimulated? Best of luck?
- 05/25/2015 at 10:50 AM
  OreoBunny
  Participant
  14 posts
  Does she have a big cage? She might need more space to run around.the minimum cage requirements for one rabbit is 6x2x2.does she have a variety of toys to keep her brain stimulated? Best of luck?
- 05/25/2015 at 11:14 AM
  Tessie
  Participant
  1231 posts
  I would have thought at 8months this behaviour is largely hormonal, so, she needs to be spayed.
- 05/25/2015 at 11:57 AM
  buncuddler
  Participant
  3 posts
  My Dova used to do this. Make a huge ruckus each time I put him in his cage at night. It stopped when I used his x-pen to make a cage/area for him. I keep his cage (open) in that area too. I guess he feels he has more space to roam around and doesn’t feel so caged in?
- 05/27/2015 at 3:41 PM
  Sr. Melangell
  Participant
  1708 posts
  Olly does it on and off and is neutered and 2 years old, I tied a carrot toy to the bars where he chews, now he is calming down.
- 05/27/2015 at 3:41 PM
  Sr. Melangell
  Participant
  1708 posts
  Olly does it on and off and is neutered and 2 years old, I tied a carrot toy to the bars where he chews, now he is calming down.
- 05/27/2015 at 6:20 PM
  Flopsie
  Participant
  388 posts
  2 possibly easy solutions and I recommend both: get her spayed and increase her “area.”
  
  My bun chewed through the “chew proof cage” when I confided her in the cage. The commercial bought cages in stores are way too small. If you don’t have the ability to have a large area blocked off for her, I recommend that you attach an x pen to the cage and leave the door open so she’ll have more room. This is one way to address the issue.
  
  Second is to get her spayed
- 05/28/2015 at 11:54 AM
  emm_renn
  Participant
  309 posts
  My rabbit did this before and also does it now even after she was spayed. Before she was spayed she spent most of her time in her cage during the day until I came home from school/work to let her out. Every morning around 5-6am she would chew on her cage to either be fed or to be let out. When I got her fixed, I noticed her chewing habits decreased so I decided to let her free range my room. Problem solved, except she liked to hide under my bed and chew up the underside of the bed and the baseboards. So I had to block that off with NIC grids. And now she thinks she can chew her way through the metal gate (she really can’t or at least hasn’t yet) every morning at 6am. Will we ever win over our rabbits? They are smart little critters and will test your patients every chance they get.
- 05/28/2015 at 5:13 PM
  kristen58
  Participant
  26 posts
  I was going to ask almost the exact same question. My bunny (a 7 lb mixed breed rescue probably around 18 months old) spends most of her time in a giant x-pen, it’s actually 2 x-pens clipped together, so, she can move around the whole room. But she chooses to spend most of her time biting the bars and trying to eat her way out. Reading this answers, I guess it would help to spay her. I’ve been meaning to do that, but my dog just had to have hip surgery, so, that took up all my vet money for the time being. i was trying to think of ways to give her entertainment in her pen if anyone has ideas for me.
- 05/29/2015 at 7:11 PM
  GM
  Participant
  7 posts
  Thank you all for your suggestions!
  she does have a lot of space and roams freely through the house from 8 am to about 10 pm at night. She will go in her cage on her own and will fall asleep. But the second i close the cage after she voluntarily enters, she starts pulling on it.
  
  Ive started to cover her cage with a blanket which surprisingly stops her from pulling. I guess she knows she is in trouble haha
  
  She is getting spayed monday so I will updat you all on if anything changes. But thanks for all your help!
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