Bunny behavior in cage??

[Pat]

I am curious whether or not my bunny’s behavior in her cage is normal or not? Usually when I walk by her cage she is either sitting there in the corner or she is laying down, stretched out and relaxing. Whenever I approach the cage, if she’s laying down, she’ll immediately sit up and start standing on her hind legs and poking her little nose through the top of the cage bars as if to say hello and see what I’m doing. Is she bored in her cage? I gave her a few toys to play with and one of those timothy hay tunnels (which she loves to chew on and move around, which I do hear her doing from time to time at night). I also make sure she has time to run around during the day so she’s never stuck in her cage all day long. I may be expecting too much from her given she is inside of her cage, but I just want to make sure she is happy and content . Is it normal for her to just be relaxing/chilling in her cage most of the time when I see her?

Thanks guys 

[Mikey]

How often is she allowed out of the cage to run around, and for how long? Generally, rabbits need 30+ hours a week outside of their cage to run and exercise. It could be that shes bored and might need more room.

[Pat]

Posted By Mikey on 8/13/2017 10:55 PM

How often is she allowed out of the cage to run around, and for how long? Generally, rabbits need 30+ hours a week outside of their cage to run and exercise. It could be that shes bored and might need more room.

I give her at LEAST an hour every day, which unfortunately does not equal the 30+ hours a week you mentioned. I do my absolute best but unfortunately, she cannot be a free range bunny and my work schedule and other responsibilities don’t permit me most of the time to give her more time than that to run around freely. I’ve noticed that most of the time when I do allow her to run around, she eventually ends up just laying down anyways (usually after doing a dozen+ sprints around the room over the course of about a half hour), is it possible that my little bun is just on the lazier side? 

It really is upsetting to me that I can’t give her more time to run around but nowhere in my house is bunny proof and I can’t let her go without supervision so sadly I have to resort to finding the time in my schedule when I can  does this make me a bad bunny owner? I love her to death but I just don’t have the extra time in my day right now to give her more than an hour… I wonder how other bun owners manage to fit in 30+ hours a week into their lives? Would love any helpful tips anyone more experienced might have for me

[Mikey]

Its likely shes bored and because she doesnt have much time to exercise, shes gotten used to lazing around the majority of her day. Its not really good for her health. Can you attach a large pen to her cage, or around her cage, so that she can run around safely when you are not there to watch her? Many users who cant bunny proof an entire room use xpens to allow safe exercising space

Youre not a bad owner because you are trying and obviously care for your little bun Bad owners are ones who just give up and dont care!

[sarahthegemini]

She wants to come out. No rabbit wants to be cooped up. I’m sorry but one hour a day is not really good enough. That means she’s stuck in her cage for 23 hours. You need to find the time to let her out. Can’t you bunny proof a room for her? It’s not hard bunny proofing. We can give you tips. Or what about a large pen attached to the cage? It’s really important for their physical and mental health that she has adequate exercise time. Also, they are so entertaining to watch running around

[Deleted User]

As Mikey suggested, an xpen would increase her space and allow her some floor time even when you aren’t there to supervise. I don’t think you are a bad owner, but I do think that bun would be much happier with more than 1 hour of floor time. Either an x pen in the cage area or a bunny proofed room would improve her quality of life tremendously. Just as sarah said, it’s important for their mental and physical health! They need stimulation to feed their curiosity! I love to see my little fluffs zoomie and binky around

[joea64]

I’m in a similar situation to Pat since I have to leave very early in the morning to catch my train to work and work plus commute generally takes up 12 hours or so of the day. That being said, I have a nice big X-pen that I got from Friends of Rabbits this past weekend and if/when I can figure out how to fasten it securely so the buns don’t stage a breakout, I should be able to give them the time they need out in the evening plus lots of time out on the weekends when I’m at home. It’s a 42″ high pen with up to 24 square feet space depending on setup (4′ x 6′ approximately), which combined with their new bunny condo will give them over 40 square feet to roam around in, so what I need is rabbit-suitable flooring (I’m going to look into natural fiber carpeting at IKEA Saturday) plus something to fasten the open end securely to the habitat when the pen is set up. My plan is to set up the pen immediately I get home and let them out into their play area not only so that they can have free time but so that I can take care of chores like refreshing the hay and water, placing their evening salad (as they say in the military, always feed the troops first!), cleaning out the used litter, and so on.

I’ve mentioned before, I think, that I expect to have near-constant interaction with my buns whenever I’m at home and awake. I’ve already got a large cardboard box with entrances cut out for their “outside” hidey box and a 8″ cardboard form tube that I got from Lowes yesterday for a play tunnel (may have to cut it down some since it’s 48″), plus LOTS of cardboard boxes for them to mess with and a bunch of empty toilet-paper tubes to stuff with hay for treat/toys.

[Deleted User]

Not sure of the plan for the setup joe, but maybe zip ties would work to secure the xpen to the bunny condo.

[joea64]

Posted By BunNoob<3 on 8/14/2017 8:15 AM

Not sure of the plan for the setup joe, but maybe zip ties would work to secure the xpen to the bunny condo.

That could work, or perhaps metal clips (I think the Friends of Rabbits people suggested that to me as one way to do it, I’ll have to check back with them). The main thing is to (1) make sure that the bunnies can’t get the fasteners loose and (2) can’t chew them. I do need to strike a balance between having them securely fastened and being able to easily erect and take down.

[Wick & Fable]

The storage cube grids work well to bunny proof some furniture. I have 5 grids zip-tied together to block off the TV stand, where the sound system knobs and cable system is.

It’s hard to bunny proof an entire room sometimes, but if possible, spend a portion of a weekend re-arranging and finding a place you can leave her that’s larger than her cage. You can also use that time to observe where your rabbit may “cause trouble” or harm herself. Mark that as a place to rabbit proof. I work full-time, and Wick is free-roam in my place while I’m gone. At first I’d be so paranoid he’d lodge himself in a corner and get injured, but after a while, I realized he really gets in the most trouble when I’m around, haha. He’s free-roam starting 6AM until midnight generally.

It’s definitely more difficult for some people than others to let their rabbit get enough exercise time, but I think all rabbits will have their vices which require owners to do more work than others. For you, it may be doing additional rabbit proofing, furniture re-arrangement, etc..

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

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