It’s time for your bedtime, but rabbits are quite active at dawn and dusk. Rabbits sleep during mid day, so it’s not surprising. You give your rabbit a bit of freedom, so it’s natural there’s resistance at night.

Is it possible to let out your rabbit longer than 4hrs per day?

Why would she want to go back to a hutch? She wants freedom.

It would be good if your rabbit was out of the cage more than 4 hours a day. Also, to give her more room, you could attach an x-pen to her hutch. That would give her more space and more of a feeling of freedom. Many rabbits will resist going back into a cage, especially if it’s a time when they are more active. The most common way to get them back into a cage is with food. If you only give pellets at that time or only give a favorite veggie or bit of fruit at that time, she might not resist so much.

I agree with TobyLuv. Maybe get her in the habit of going back to her hutch to a bedtime snack. My little Bridge bun, Olivia, was difficult to pick up so I trained her to come when I make kissy sounds and follow me to her condo to he snack waiting for her.

Posted By snowflake on 10/15/2017 9:28 PM

I understand she wants freedom…I just brought her to my home after a year in a shed..and I work all day.  4 hours is the most I can give her!

Could you attach a large pen to her enclosure to give her more space? 4 hours isn’t really enough tbh as that means 20 hours a day she’s in a hutch.

Is there a portion of your place you can bunny proof so she can be free roam while you’re gone? I work full time and understand it can be difficult.

Posted By Wick on 10/16/2017 8:46 AM

Is there a portion of your place you can bunny proof so she can be free roam while you’re gone? I work full time and understand it can be difficult.

That’s a big problem for me too, particularly since I have to commute a fairly lengthy distance (via train) in the mornings and evenings. I do have a large two-story condo for Panda and Fernando and get them out as much as I can in the X-pen connected to their condo, especially during the weekends, but I’ve lately been feeling that they need more time out. Previously, I’d been taking the X-pen down before I went to bed, but now I think I should start experimenting with leaving it up overnight, making sure it’s properly secured so they can’t get out. I’d take it back down before heading out to work in the mornings, after giving them their breakfast and refreshing their hay and water, as per usual practice.

I’m fortunate that Wick has no destructive fiber in him, so rabbit proofing is just caging-off sound equipment and not leaving remotes on low tables. Wick is free roam 24-7. It’s definitely difficult to find a good arrangement that fits work, life, safety, and rabbit happiness, but if you need to put in the extra effort to re-arrange furniture or purchase items, I’d say it’s worth it to make your rabbit feel both satisfied and safe.

Until I’m able to bunny-proof, I’m going to experiment, starting tonight, with leaving the X-pen up all night so that Panda and Fernando will have up to 9-10 hours to run around between condo and pen. I’ve made sure the pen is secured to the condo and positioned away from anything that looks tempting to chew but shouldn’t be the target of bunny teeth, so we’ll see how it all works.

EDIT: First experiment with all-night freedom of the X-pen appears to have been a solid success.  Panda and Fernando were very well-behaved and roamed at will between their condo and the pen; when I got up this morning, they were snuggled together on the floor inside the pen and were as perky and eager as usual for their morning pellets and post-breakfast treat. I do believe I’ll make this a regular thing henceforth, being sure that the pen is properly secured to the habitat so the buns don’t get any unseemly ideas about roaming places they shouldn’t be (at least until there’s time to do some proper bunnyproofing).

My bunnies do not get 4 hours out a day. I have 2 unbonded bunnies so they have to each take their turn. I wish they could have more out time but I do the best that I can and my bunnies are healthy and happy. I think there are much worse things for bunnies than not getting out for 4 hours a day.

I’ll just add, that if you can make a ramp or steps so she can go back in (and out) of her hutch on her own, it will make things much easier. She will trust you more, and you will be able to train her to go back in on her own with food.

If the hutch is small, I agree that adding a pen to be a “front yard” will be good for her, and is a simple solution.

You can get in the habit of feeding her pellets when it’s time for her to go back in, and she will prob run straight in when she hear’s the pellets hit the bowl.

Also, if you feed her right when you let her out, if she’s anything like my two, she will eat, then nap for a while while she digests, then get active again after 30 min to an hour…. So if you can let her play for a while, then feed her towards the end of her exercise time, she won’t be ready to run around right as you need her to go in.

I left Panda and Fernando’s X-pen up again overnight (securely latched to their condo) to let them scamper around as they pleased while I was in bed, and once again they were well-behaved; getting them back inside their condo in the mornings proves no problems since they run like little furry fiends to get at their breakfast pellets and I can latch the access door behind them once they’re inside chomping away. If they keep this up and don’t get into trouble by managing to get out (I’m going to make sure the X-pen is tightly fastened every night before bedtime), I’m going to make it a more or less permanent thing, or at least until I’m finally able to satisfactorily bunny-proof my efficiency. I feel a lot better about being able to effectively provide twice their usual space (the condo is 17 square feet or so on two levels, and the X-pen adds up to another 24 square feet depending on configuration) for up to half the day.

Glad you figured things out