Good bunny turning bad, help!

[Bun]

I Rescued bunny off street several months ago. He is so sweet, not aggressive, and loves me. He gets lots of free run around time and cuddling. He first started rattling his cage when I’d go to the kitchen because he knows there’s food there. Now, he rattles all day (mostly the cage door cage which then opens)no matter how much I secure it and he escapes. The noise and escaping drives me crazy. Also, he’s litter box trained but he’s starting to go to the bathroom outside of cage.. and sometimes pees himself inside the cage. I feed him well, play with him plenty, and he’s been to the vet and confirmed healthy. It seems like maybe he’s gotten too spoiled but it’s getting out of control and I don’t know how to stop it.. how do I get him to stop rattling cage, stop escaping, only use litter box and not pee himself?

[LBJ10]

Hmm, has he been neutered yet? It may not solve the problem completely, but some of his behavior may be linked to hormones. And some is probably just him becoming comfortable in his new home and he really likes to be out of his cage.

[FlemishDad]

Well, first you need a secure door. If he’s rewarded for rattling the cage by escaping of course he’s going to rattle! Ours got better (not cured, but better) after we started latching ours correctly. If yours just can’t be secure, get another. Second – is he in a literal cage? That’s small if he spends most of his time in there. If it is a cage, can you get him a pen?

[Bun]

Thanks! He is neutered. He seems to be acting up the more I “spoil him”. I don’t know why he’s peeing himself though he generally uses the litter box

[Bun]

Thanks for responding. What you say about the door makes perfect sense! He’s not in a large cage ( I live in a small apartment) but I let him run around the apartment everyday. he’s litter box trained but he sometimes pees on himself in his cage and I catch him here and there still marking his territory outside of his cage. He then peed on me today when we were cuddling!

[Rabbitpossm]

How much time does he get out of his cage? It’s generally said that buns need to get at least 3 or 4 hours of play time a day (I think that’s the number… something like that at least.) The ideal situation is for buns to be totally or mostly free roam, but of course that isn’t possible for everyone and depends on living situations.
Sully rattles his cage if I’m in the room and am not letting him out for one reason or another. He’s definitely gotten used to being out whenever I’m there and doesn’t understand why he isn’t allowed at times. So the rattling may just be what he does when he feels like he should still be allowed out. Like the others have said, if you secure the door and he doesn’t get rewarded by rattling, eventually he will stop. He may continue to rattle his cage, but hopefully eventually he’ll stop rattling it after he realizes it won’t do anything and possibly stop completely.

As for the peeing, yeah probably territory. He might also do it to show you he’s the top bun. Some buns also angry pee, so could be his way of telling you he wants more outside time or something else. Especially if he’s peeing on you :p Other than that I’m not too sure ): hope the issues resolve and you can continue to spoil your rabbit (as we all love to do) without attitude from bun!

[A Happy Herd of Hares]

Magpie (unfortunately!) can only get out about an hour a day. She does have a massive 3-level hutch though.
She used to chew her cage bars before her new hutch, breaking her teeth and causing them to grow in wrong and she has an underbite now.
I used smaller wire so she CANT chew now.

[Rabbitpossm]

Ohh that’s unfortunate. I understand though, sometimes living situations can get in the way. At my old place Sully had to live in my room cause of my roommates cat and dog. While he was mostly free roam as long as I was home, there were definitely quite a few times when I was either doing something for school in my room or got too busy to keep it clean and he missed out on his roam time.

That sounds like a pretty impressive and luxurious hutch though! I hope her underbite doesn’t cause her any pain or eating issues (: Good she has smaller ones now and she’s no longer breaking her teeth (ouch!)

I would say that ultimately the best thing would be for more exercise time, even if it’s not full roaming, anything you can figure out to give her more activity to get her energy out and stay fit would be good. But of course it’s not always possible and you just gotta do your best to make it work. (:

[A Happy Herd of Hares]

@rabbitpossum thanks!
That never slowed her piggy habits down, and we make sure she’s always got good length teeth!
She’s only out for such a short time because EVERYONE else in the family is allergic to her!

[Asriel and Bombur]

If he pees himself you might want to get him checked. If he’s neutered and you’ve litter trained him, he might actually have a medical condition. Not because he’s spoiled. UTIs, bladder infections, EC, and a host of other things can cause bunnies to not use *pee* themselves. Sometimes it is behavioral and some buns take extra training but with a bunny you really need to make sure there’s no medical reason first and foremost.

[Rabbitpossm]

ooh yes, also what A&B said! A good thing to look for with that is whether or not they’re “preparing” to pee. Like if they lift they’re tail and do their thing to pee or if it just comes out of them as though they couldn’t control it.

[Author]

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