can a rabbit have TOO much space

[monty the bunny]

We have had our 1.5 yr old netherland dwarf rabbit for about a month now, and previous to us owning him he was mostly kept in a cage with not much free time. Since he’s come to us hes out constantly including all night and usually most the day depending on the day but only ever spends probably about 3 hours in his cage if I go to uni or out etc (on some rare days like once a month he could be in there a lot of the day but like I said, rarely). Anyway when he first came to us, he was quite shy and timid and not very curious, as we were a new scary place but also because he hadn’t spent long out of his cage in his previous home.

 In the past week he has been a very different character (I should note at this point he is not neutered but will be in the next month). He is a lot braver and a lot more confident with us handling him and a much more loving rabbit but on the other hand this has caused his tendency to bite at ankles and occasionally hands if they’re close. If put in his cage if hes bothering us too much, he’ll chew the bars and can get quite aggressive but eventually calm down. Is this because he thinks the house is his territory now? Do you think he needs more cage time?

He shows a lot of sexual aggression towards me as I spend a lot of the day with him, hence the eagerness to get him neutered as I’m hoping it’ll stop a lot of this.

Thanks for your help

[Vienna Blue in France]

If he’s like my bun, all the time in freedom, when she’s in a closed cage (at someone else’s home for holidays) she rattles the bars, but I think she’s saying ‘grrr let me out !!!’ she’s certanily not aggressive to me.
Maybe your bun has got the taste of freedom…..
You have to make his cage a pleasing place to be (I put her quality food in mine and nowhere else so she associates the cage with good things. YUM !!)

And can he have free access to his cage without you having to put him in it to be clsoed each time? If not he may associate you picking him up with going in the cage and being closed in….. and then start to resist.

Did the previous owners maybe get rid of him because he was biting ? It’s all too common people thinking bunnies are cuddly little teddy bears.

[monty the bunny]

His hay is in his cage but his food isn’t so I might try that thank you.

He does have access to his cage all day and night, it’s in the same room hes in and can hop in and out as he pleases but he tends not to unless hes after hay, but theres hay in his litter box too so he rarely is in it for long.

No, his old owner got rid of him as they couldn’t bring him out for long and felt it was mean, which is fair enough.

[LBJ10]

I don’t think a bunny can have too much room, necessarily. It’s more like too much freedom. Some bunnies just cannot handle all of the temptations an entire house would bring.

[Beka27]

I think they can have too much space/freedom too soon. He’s still getting used to your home, he has hormones to contend with, and that can cause those territorial behaviors to escalate. Rabbits work very well with structure, so you might try having certain times out for now. Something he’ll be able to become accustomed to. After he gets neutered, things may go haywire for 4-6 weeks after the surgery. It can take time for those hormones to calm down. Don’t think he’s “broken” though, things will get better!

[Author]

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