Bunny not wanting to go back in her cage?

[Lilypad]

Hello!

We are first time rabbit owners, and just got a new baby girl named Lily. She is 12 weeks old, and really awesome. Anyways, we are doing our best to try and include her in our (my boyfriend and myself) daily lives. When we are home, we let her run around our living room while we work on homework, watch TV, or just hang out. This way, we are able to supervise her and make sure she doesn’t try and eat what she’s not supposed to. She loves being out, and she does the binky dance all the time. 

Her cage is in the living room and right on her level, so when we are home, she can run in and out of her cage to eat, use the litter box, or just hang out if she feels like it. We usually go to bed around the same time each night, and lately, she does not want to go back in her cage. We try and gently coax her in, bribe her with treats or hay, and give her time, but nothing seems to be working. She just will not go back in. 

I rarely catch her chewing on her cage to get out, and even when it is open she enjoys to spending time in there playing. I don’t think there is anything wrong with her cage, though I suppose there could be something I’m missing. 

So, lately, it is becoming very stressful trying to get her back in her cage when she needs to go. Anyone have any ideas?

[lmais]

Does she mind being picked up? Ruby is okay with it so when she doesn’t want in I’ll just pick her up and place her near the cage door and turn her to face it so she knows to jump in. It’s trickier with rabbits who don’t like being picked up, but I’ve heard that it can be really helpful to make dinner time at bed time – that way she’ll run to her cage for her pellets

[Hazel]

This should be easy. All you gotta do is find a better treat Have you tried craisins? They LOVE craisins! The important part is that she ONLY gets it when she goes in her cage at bedtime. If it’s a rare treat it will work a lot better.

You can also schedule one of her meals for bedtime, like Imais said. Since she’s 12 weeks old I assume she’s free fed? If so, pellets probably won’t tempt her much, her daily serving of veggies might do the trick.

[Lilypad]

Those are both good ideas! She is just getting used to being picked up. She doesn’t love it, but once we get her secure she does pretty well. The problem is trying to catch her when its time to go in. We try not to chase her, but she will run away from us. I think she knows she has to go back in, and she doesn’t like it. I think the treat idea is good! She gets small carrot treats the vet recommended from time to time, but it would be totally doable to give her veggies, but the vet kind of hinted that we shouldn’t give her too many until she’s 6 months. Do you know of any veggies that are good to give to babies?

[Hazel]

Here is the list of approved veggies: https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/VeggieList/tabid/144/Default.aspx

You can theoretically feed any of them, but don’t introduce more than 1 new vegetable per week. Also, for now she shouldn’t get more than 1/2 an ounce. Make sure to watch her stool, if it gets runny, stop the veggies.

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