Coaxing bunny back into cage

[Tay]

Hi everyone!
I’m wondering if anyone has advice on how to get Charlie to go back into his room when playtime is over? If I’m home he has an entire bunny proofed room to himself along with his cage. If nobody is home he’s in his cage (which isn’t often) – we have dogs and I’m still nervous leaving him out even with the door closed (paranoid? ). Usually I just play with him in his room or bring him into my bed because he likes to cuddle. Lately I’ve been bringing him into another room because he loves it – runs around, binkies all over the place, and is really interested in the different scenery. I want to give him the chance to free roam as much as possible and will sit in that room with him for hours while I do homework, but when it’s time for him to go back into his room down the hall it’s a fight to get him in there. He doesn’t get roam of the whole house because of the dogs, but he and I live upstairs and he has almost an entire upstairs floor that he can roam around in when I’m here. 

I typically like to let him put himself into his cage – don’t want it to feel like a punishment, but I can’t even get him into his room on his own, I have to carry him. That’s not my concern – I can’t catch him. He hides under things and when I think I’ve coaxed him to me he zooms away. It’s like a game of cat and mouse for 15/20 minutes each time 

I’ve tried bribing him with pellets – worked once, and he loves pellets. That doesn’t work anymore. I thought we were getting onto something the other day because he just followed me into the room without any bribing, but hasn’t done so since. I would leave him in the room but there’s way too many things he can get into to be in there alone

I’m just looking for advice on how to get him back into his room when playtime is over. It’s getting to the point where I don’t even want to bring him in there anymore because I get so mad trying to catch him – and I feel terrible cornering him because I think it terrifies him. I’m definitely going to keep trying to bribe him, and will get some other treats to coax him in with, but any advice is appreciated!

[Joeythenethie]

I’ve heard of some people who train their rabbits to go back to their cages when called. I’m not so sure of this technique as I’ve never tried it, but apparently lots of bunny owners have had success with this. My bun lives in the basement, and will sometimes jump the gate and hop upstairs. He’s been upstairs before, and he’s usually looking for food (he plants himself right in front of the fridge and stares). Once I get the veggies out, he hops right back down the stairs and into the basement because he knows that I won’t feed him unless it’s in the basement. My bun is really food motivated, so this works well. The trick would be to find out what gets your bun excited and then only give it to him when he’s in his room. from your post, it seems that he likes to be petted. You could try figuring out his favorite spot to be petted, and then give him a big fuss and pet that area when he’s back in his room. Just a suggestion, but let us know how it turned out!

[Jessica]

I command trained my previous rabbit to go back to her cage, all we had to say was Amber go home no then follow her and give her a banana chip. Those were her favorite treat and that was the only time she got them

[Jessica]

I command trained my previous rabbit to go back to her cage, all we had to say was Amber go home no then follow her and give her a banana chip. Those were her favorite treat and that was the only time she got them

[Author]

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