Bella is possessive of her pee blankie?

[Aminah Undone]

I have Miss Bella Bunny on flannel liners (sometimes, fleece) and I put a large folded towel in her potty spot, to absorb the excess urine (we’re working on litter training already). Well.. last night, I was changing out her “pee blankie” before bedtime ..and she got a little animated with me and wouldn’t let me take it out. LOL  Everytime I folded a corner of it over, she’d rush over and unfold it ..smooth it back out and give me a very defiant look! It was kind of cute.. making me giggle.. but she seemed really perturbed that I was disturbing “her house”.

I have some Tarantulas that get snooty when I remove their “trash” (food bolluses, poo bundles, etc.) ..but I’ve never seen a furry, or otherwise, animal be so adamant about keeping the “schmelly”.

Am I upsetting her ‘settling in’ process by keeping her enclosure so clean?

[tabalab]

Ive been told never to clean or change the cage with the bunny inside. Let the bun roam outside and then thats when you can change things and clean

[KytKattin]

First, it’s super cool that you have Tarantulas! I have a rose hair that I’ve had for about 4 years now.

Tabalab’s advice is great! Wait until she is out of her cage (it helps if it’s by her own doing) before cleaning it. The only problem I’ve had with this is with Nova; if she sees me going towards her cage she will run back to it as fast as she can and jump in. Actually, on that note, Eclipse does the same thing. So I have to be quick and sneaky about blocking/closing the door so I can do cleaning. Otherwise, both have at times been cage protective/aggressive and tried to bite me!

[Aminah Undone]

Yey.. someone else with a “bug”!!    I have a very psychotic Rose Hair.. and three other species in the same genus (Grammostola).

Okay.. so no more cleaning with Miss Bella supervising. I’ll let her play in the bathroom while I do her housework. Boy.. am I trained or what? 

So.. it’s pretty obvious that this is necessary to avoid cage aggression… but is that all of it? It’s just a territorial issue?

(I have experience with quite a few animals ..some of my snakes are really territorial about their space. All of my T’s are.. which is hilarious! I don’t think the River Pig.. my Cavy.. could care one way or another… he’s all about food and the daily groom. I do have to play tug o’ war with some of the rats.. especially the big squishy boys and their “pee rags”  ..hammocks, to them. The Iguana tail-whips me, if I move anything in her enclosure… brat! The other lizards and the tort could care less.)

It’s interesting…

[mrmac]

Some of Bella’s territorialness may/may not change once she has her babies and is spayed. I used to have an iguana, such neat animals.

[KytKattin]

I’m glad my rose hair is nice and calm. I got her to help me get over my arachnophobia! I almost got a bird eater (can’t remember the ‘real’ name) the other day, but my mom she would rather I get another rabbit than a 12 inch + spider. Hence Eclipse.

She might be particularly territorial because she is pregnant. When I first go Nova she was bity and protective all the time, now she will only try to bite me when she’s in her cage. I got her spayed fairly soon after her pregnancy, though because none of her babies survived I just had to wait for the milk to dry up and to put a little weight on her.

The scariest territorial animal I’ve ever dealt with would have to be my female betta fish. Fish kind of scare me in general so when I was cleaning the cage and one latched onto my arm I screamed and freaked out so much. She was okay after falling to the floor, but I learned to never stick my hand in that tank!

[MooBunnay]

Oh wow – what a variety of animals! I don’t think I’d do very well with a tarantula – I’m a little bit scared of bugs (but I’m just brave enough to “escort” them outside when they get in my house instead of killing them )

Bunnies are often very particular about their cage, and none of mine really like having their things moved around. After three years of us taking Henri’s litterbox out of his cage every night to refill it with hay, he STILL grunts at us when we move it. Also, if I put his food dish in a different area than he wants it in, he’ll dump the whole thing all over the floor, haha, thats why I think its so crazy when people tell me rabbits are dumb animals, because mine are clearly smart enough to know when their cage has been re-arranged!

[Aminah Undone]

The stories of “territorial” bunnies are really cute! I’m beginning to understand Bella more and more.

Whenever I move her water dish.. she hasn’t figured out the water bottle yet, though it is there for her, as well… she nudges my hand around until I have put it back, precisely, where she wants it. It’s so funny! She does the same with the crock for her pellets. She knows what she wants.. and she’s training me to do it to her liking. 

[Monkeybun]

She’ll make ya into her perfect bunny slave in no time

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

LOL Cute! They definitely can be very particular about their homes-and if you mess things up (put them where they don’t belong) they will often arrange things back the way they like it.

I can’t remember who’s rabbit it was, but she would put her toys away after playing with them! They sure have a lot of personality

[shlbysmom]

wow me and u would get along well animah undone! i LOVE ALL animals i have a turtle (had 2 one died) a 150 gallons fish take with oscars and pacus in it and of corse miss sheblypoo and a poodle and i had a betta for 2 years and it just died last month and i would love to have an iguanna but since i still live with my mom and she is scared of them and says absolutley not it will b a while on that and all kinds of others i would love to have a rat shew i would love to have everything lol im animal crazy

[DeVaStAt0r]

gizmo gets to play when i do a big cleaning but i can do anything in his cage when he’s there, if he’s not in the mood he will kick poop at me!

but usually he thinks if my hand is in there, he’s going to get some food and lovin and suck up.

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