chewing and wanting out

[marshbun]

So my bun chews on his litter box all night at the same time almost every night and early morning. Also he always chews on cage demanding out when hes only in his cage at night hes free roam in my room most of the time and gets two hours almost everyday outside. its quite annoying now because its at night when i try to sleep and ive opened his cage at 530 one morning so he can stop and get out but he stayed inside and did the same thing. i feed him he always has hay and toys idk whats up.

[Wick & Fable]

This is a common predicament because a rabbit’s sleep and wake cycle does not line up perfectly with a human being that likes to wake up after 5am.

While it’s great you have him out so often, being confined is a deterring feeling for him. It’s like letting a prisoner be free for the week, but put them in a jail cell on the weekend — the weekend is when you want to do things, regardless that you were free from prison for five days already.

You can try and keep his cage now stimulating at night by around fresh hay and saving pellet time until night so he can munch and sleep. Attaching an xpen outside the cage at night could give him some more room so he feels more satisfied and less confined. The xpen could just be set up at night so it’s not a permanent, large space hogger in your room.

I made Wick a larger cage, but getting him quiet was too difficult honestly. It’s not something you can punish for because it’s literally just how a rabbit’s body functions. Wick is just free roam 24/7 now and he’s my alarm at 515am, which works when I need to get up for work. On the weekend, I just pet him enough that he falls back asleep with me so I can squeeze in another hour or two. Or he realizes I’m not getting up and goes to eat hay.

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.

[sarahthegemini]

I think it’s awesome that he’s only caged at night. Unfortunately that’s a busy time for bunnies! Mine often wake me up at 2am or 4am by sprinting and binkying. I would try and add a pen to his cage at night so he has a little more space unless you’re able to have him free roam while you sleep?

You could also try giving him mentally stimulating activities to do during the night. You could hide pellets or forage around his cage, fill willow toys with hay (my bunnies love eating willow so a willow basket full of hay keeps them entertained), make cardboard and/or hay based toys (stormyrabbits on YouTube has a tutorial for a hay ‘carrot’ made with timothy and jute twine) You could fill cardboard tubes and paper bags with a ‘treat’ hay and forage.

[Author]

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