Bunny wakes me up at 4am by jumping on my face…

[Vielgluck]

Hello! I need some advice. I have two bunnies–Lucy is probably around 2 and about 6 lbs and Norbert is around 1 and 3 lbs. We were told when we adopted Lucy that she had probably been food deprived in her previous home and that is pretty clear from her constant begging. Both our rabbits are free range, including at night. They both hate being caged (we do have two cages though). Lucy has always woken us up between 6-7am by jumping on the bed and running at our heads until we get up and give her breakfast (then we can generally go back to sleep without fear of disturbance). Lately, however, she has started jumping up (literally directly on to my face this morning) between 4am-5am. We didn’t want her to think she could get breakfast that early, so we gave her a fresh handful of hay and shut her out of the bedroom…which works for maybe ten minutes until she scratches at the door as loudly as possible until we let her back in or give her breakfast. And often once she finishes her breakfast, she is back up on the bed. Norbert, on the other hand, is quiet as can be and certainly is excited for breakfast, but never insists we get up to give it to him. Is there anything we can do to train her better? We are thinking we are going to need to put her in her cage at night until she can learn to wait till 6:30am. But if anyone has a better idea, it’d be appreciated!

Also any ideas on why she shifted her behavior from the somewhat expectable 6am wake-up, to this?

[Sarita]

If it were me, I would close the door to the bedroom or get a baby gate to keep them out of the bedroom at night. She may eventually get into a routine and that would stop, but I just think rabbits are terrible at telling time :~)

[LBJ10]

How about getting one of those timed feeders for cats? You could set it for in the morning and they could eat without needing to wake someone up. LOL

Or yeah, you could do what Sarita suggested.

[justwildbeat]

Pfffft I think rabbits know exactly what time is it, they just don’t care lol. Since Lucy knows that jumping on your face allows her to eat earlier, she’ll continue to do so until you stop “rewarding” her. Rabbits are quick to pick up and settle into routines. Also I wouldn’t force her to stay in the cage at night, just don’t allow her into the bedroom. Since they’re free roam you can try hiding hay and pellets around their play area to keep them occupied. That way they don’t feel like their going to starve lol.

[jerseygirl]

Firstly, I love the name Norbert for a rabbit. That is too cute!

I’ve experience a bunny jumping on my head and I think it scares him more them me. Lol. He didnt expect a head to be in his landing spot.

Also any ideas on why she shifted her behavior from the somewhat expectable 6am wake-up, to this?

The only thing I can think of is changes in the light. Is sunrise becoming earlier?

[Deleted User]

My boy has woken me MANY times at 4am – but with his face so close to mine his whiskers tickle my face. I think the idea of shutting them out of the bedroom with a baby gate is the way to go…..
Did I do that? NO! Idiot me, just whinges about being woken so early in the morning and being grumpy all day. DOH! Lol, cheers Vielgluck.

[Vielgluck]

Thanks everyone! The problem with closing the bedroom door is that she is quite persistent and can keep us up just as well by scratching at it…and she can jump baby gates She is a very tricky bun…which is fun most of the time, but not so much at 4am!

We ended up blocking off the hallway outside the bedroom w/ cardboard and closing the door and didn’t wake up till the alarm went off! It was kind of annoying to do, but worth it.

@jerseygirl: sunrise actually just got later thanks to daylights saving…very odd.

[BunnyLady1989]

With some bunnies I don’t think it matters how dark it is. Lulu definitely doesn’t care. That’s awesome that they are both free range during the day and night! I wish I could so that with lulu, but she likes getting into things too much. Do they have access to hay during the night or are they just running out?

[Deleted User]

Ah, another 4am’er, how lovely, isn’t it? I also have 2 free roam buns and their fave thing to do at 4 on the dot everyday is run through my apt like a pack of wild hyenas making so much noise it’s woken the guy that lives under me! And if course, this means bounding on the bed like it’s a trampoline. My boy used to do it somewhat before we adopted the girl, but he’s so little it didn’t matter. Now that there’s two of them (one big Flemmie), it’s a madhouse! What is it about 4am?? Must be the bunny witching hour, lol! I just make extra coffee in the morning. Good luck!

[Sophie, Lola, and Bailey]

My Bailey is free range day and night too. Lola will be once she has been spayed and has had time to recover. But Bailey is CRAZY in the early morning. I used to rent a room in a house, so she was in my room at night. I just got used to sleeping sporadically. But now that my boyfriend and I live together in a two bedroom, we keep the door to our room shut when we are sleeping. It’s open throughout the day, but we sleep much better with the door closed! I used to get woken up at 5 everyday my Bailey jumping on my face. Now I sleep until around 7-8 depending on when I start work. But my boyfriend wakes up much earlier. According to him, she just rips around the apartment doing laps the whole time he gets ready for work. And now that I don’t get to see her playtime, I kind of miss it! Not enough to wake up earlier, but still!

[BunnyLady1989]

I agree with the 4 am thing. That was Lulu’s favorite time to want to dig and bang her toys. Haha it must be a universally bunny thing.

[dianaberry]

I know this is an old thread, but I am having the exact same problem with my bunny. She wakes me up 4am on the dot. Regardless of if she has food or not. It’s so frustrating.

[Bam]

Hi dianaberry, I’m locking this thread now because it’s so old. I replied to you in your own thread on the topic, hopefully others too will read it and offer suggestions! 🙂

[Author]

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