Bunny driving me insane

[Plumped Cuddly Bunnies]

My bunnies have started to drive me insane. I have used wire mesh to stop them chewing baseboards and door frames so that I can freeroam them but they have now started to dig and pull on the wire mesh which makes a racket. I have to keep getting up in the night to stop them. Its very noisy and I’m now thinking about giving up on the free roaming and putting them in a dog cage at night outside. I can’t find any solutions.

[Bam]

You can put buns outside, but they do need more than a dog crate. Could you make an enclosure for them that they can spend the night in? Perhaps in the kitchen so they wont bother you during the night.

[BZOO]

If it’s cold where you are, you can’t put them outside if they’ve been in.  They are not acclimated to the weather.

I get where you’re coming from though.  Perhaps a laundry room?  That’s where my first hamster got banished to at night.

 

[DanaNM]

Many buns are not good candidates for 100% free roam, but there are alternatives other than putting them outside. Can you enclose them in a pen indoors at night? If you hang sheets or blankets over the pen walls that usually helps with bar chewing.

. . . 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.  

[Borya02]

I’d be worried about putting them outside due to predators getting to them 🙁 I’d agree with others – maybe a quieter place in the home? Is it possible? Cats, stray dogs, etc. roam around at night. Even if they couldn’t get to the bunnies, they could be scared enough by them if something tried to get them, that it could cause them harm. Sorry you are in this situation. I have had a lot of frustrating issues with my bunny over the years. But slowly I have just worked on solving the problems, and once a good solution is found, all the stress of that old problem is out the window. Sometimes it takes a bit of compromise. for example, if they can’t handle being free roam at night, maybe they don’t get their way in that regard. But maybe the compromise is keeping them penned at night, but inside somewhere?

[Plumped Cuddly Bunnies]

They’d be 100% safe from predators outside. Nothing can get in and nothing can get out. Its already bunny proofed with wire mesh. My male bunny already lives out there. I was thinking maybe putting them in the dog cage for the night but have them out in there pen during the day.

The other option was shutting the male bunny away and have the two females outside for the nights then bring them in during the day and letting back out the male bunny but I think that will just add more problems.

I could try having them in the kitchen in a pen but it wont stop them from pulling at the wire mesh but might eliminate the noisy digging of the floor as the kitchen floor is stone. If I were to put any blankets over the mesh they would rip them down and destroy them in hours. I’m out of wood right now so I can’t build them a new pen until then.

[Plumped Cuddly Bunnies]

Unfortunately they are getting too much. I can’t continue to live like this and need my sleep at night. If they were spayed and neutered then they all could have been together outside. I’m going to have to get rid of them because its starting to affect me mentally. I will keep the male bunny as his well behaved and doesn’t keep me up at night. but the two females will have to go and soon so that I can sleep.

Its not ideal keeping two unspayed females anyway.

[Plumped Cuddly Bunnies]

I found out the reason why she is digging so much. A month and some weeks ago I thought she was pregnant and she has been getting big. I gave her the name Big Booboo as she was growing very fast. Its been far to long now so I doubt she is pregnant and shes not been anywhere near the buck since they were all separated. She has started to build a nest and shes torn off fur from her stomach to line her nest. She is by herself in the other enclosure I had made for them in case they did have babies. I’m sure its nothing more than a phantom pregnancy as its been well over a month ago possibly two months since I suspected she was carrying..   .

[Plumped Cuddly Bunnies]

An update on the rehoming. Its not something I’ve taken lightly. I want to keep all three even though they can drive me crazy at times. I’m going to re-home one of the females, “I haven’t decided which female but I will give myself until next week to decide. I will keep the male and one female and keep trying to see if I can get them both fixed then bond them even if it takes next summer to get them fixed.

[Plumped Cuddly Bunnies]

Big Booboo has given birth. I can see two babies in her nest so I will leave her to it.

[BZOO]

How are the kits doing today?  Did she just have two?

Would love to see pics of your crew.

[Plumped Cuddly Bunnies]

She wont let me near them, each time I put my hand near her nest she will lunge at me so I’ll leave them alone I think there is a third one in her nest too. I’ll give it another week and I’ll attempt to have another peak to see exactly how many babies she has. I’ll get some photos up when they are a bit more visible in the nest.

I have some news in regards to getting my male bunny neutered although nothing is set in stone just yet. I got in touch with an organization who said they might be able to get me some help either to get him neutered for free or a reduced price which would help a lot and take the pressure of things a bit where I can then concentrate on getting one of the females spayed but saying that I don’t know what the babies will turn out and I may want to keep one of those.  Its so hard on deciding who to re-home and who to keep. The male bunny I will most definitely be keeping no matter what because he has such a wonderful personality. I will have to sort out my Pets 4 Homes account then start creating some adoption/re-homing listings once the babies are ready for homes. If I’m successful then it could mean I could rescue more bunnies in the future. I would love to be able to have a bunny rescue service running but I have to take one step at a time and I know bunnies are not the most easy pets to re-home and ensuring they go to good homes not just anybody.

[BZOO]

Babies still doing well?

[Plumped Cuddly Bunnies]

Sadly not. I really did not want to have to tell people they didn’t make it. I don’t know what happened but the mother decided she wasn’t going to look after them and kept scattering them about her enclosure. I had to keep putting them back in to her nest with tissue paper.

[BZOO]

So sorry.  Happens with new moms sometimes.

Hugs to you!

[Bam]

I’m sorry about the babies. As BZOO says, it’s not very rare with first-time bun moms.

[Author]

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