Bunny Opens Cage by Himself??

[Ghost]

For the past two days, Pocky has opened his cage by himself.  At first I wasn’t sure how he was able to do it, until I saw him do it myself.  You see, he bangs his head against the door and it pops open!  I’m a little worried that he might hurt himself.  He’s acting normally now, but I don’t want him to get a concussion.  The cage is made out of that normal black metal (it’s a puppy play pen), and the door is one where you just lift it up to open.  He’s a very playful bunny, and, a master escape artist at that .  So, is there a way to deter this behavior?  I let him out everyday for at least four hours..!  I can’t make him a free ranged bunny yet because my apartment has only carpet.  We bought vinyl for his cage, but he’s notorious for chewing carpet.  Anyway, we should be moving to a house in June or so, so I’m planning to make him free range then.  For the time being, give me some tips for this behavior

[Bam]

Would clothes pegs be of use? I made a pen for my bun during Christmas and one night my dog woke my mum up and she found a playful wabbit in the hall. We used 8 or so clothes pegs to secure the pen door.

[Asriel and Bombur]

Carabiners and binder clips also work really well!

[Ghost]

Thanks for the tips, Asirel and Bam.  I’ll try it when I get home, and I’ll be sure to update on what happens!

[Alisha]

I use those lobster claw clips and put both the metal part of the door and the metal part of the structure inside the loop if that makes sense. That way there is no room for it to move around

[Ghost]

Hey, everyone! He’s stopped banging his head completely since I clipped the door shut.  He has, however, still tried to bite the cage open…  Good thing is, he seems a lot happier when I take him out.  Whenever I do, he sprints, binkies*, and flops.

[Alisha]

Have you considered free roaming your rabbit? I had mine fully free roam until she had hormonal behaviors like excessively digging at the carpet and the “spray” here and there but once she’s fixed I’m letting her be free roam again. I still let her out a lot but definitely not enough. Yeah, the cage biting just means they really want out and it makes sense to not want to be cooped up in a cage all day. You could look into bunny proofing (and if you already haven’t – litter box training it’s super easy) and see if you could consider free roaming They’re generally happier and behave pretty much like cats

[Ghost]

Yes, I have!  Ever since I got him I’ve been meaning to free roam, but we live in an apartment, and he’s a big chewer.  I can’t protect the carpet when I’m gone, and it’d be a really big expense if he were to chew it up, or, even worse, swallow it.  We’re moving into a house in June or so, so we’re planning to get him his own bunny room for him to stay.  He’s a really active bun, so whenever I get home from school I let him out right away, so he gets out of his cage for 4+ hours .  He’s already litter trained when it comes to pee, but he poops everywhere… Thanks for the advice, though!  I can’t wait to have him free roam

[caillou]

I used to have a bun who was obsessed with getting out of his cage! He would chew/rattle the cage bars incessantly. I found that looping cardboard through the wires helped with that behavior a bit, if you’re interested in a solution for that!

[Alisha]

oooo yes I actually take toilet paper rolls and paper rolls (once they’re empty of course) and I stick them through the holes (my cage is made of nic grids and they squeeze through the holes pretty well) so she can chew on them. She loves it and it helps distract her when she feels like chewing or digging things. I have the same problem about the apartment thing. If the whole apartment was just wood flooring or something that’d be perfect and maybe some rugs that are bunny proof haha it’s hard with carpet. and the pooping thing should really go away with getting fixed. Mine isn’t too bad she likes to mark her territory with it but I was really adamant about putting her poop back in her litter box and make sure she sees me do it when she was little and so she’s really good most the time.

[Ghost]

Thank you both for the advice!  And yes, I’m planning on getting him fixed as soon as we move into our house

[Author]

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