Luring TigerLily into her cage when its Sleep Time.

[BUNNYFOOFOO823]

My husband and I have the worst time luring TigerLily into her cage for the night. Normally I let her out of her cage and into our bedroom when I get home from work at around 5pm, she hops and plays in our bedroom as it is bunny proof.

Around 8 or 9pm its night time for us as we have to get up early. Well, we must spend about 30min trying to round her up to get her to go in her cage.

 

Nothing works, we can give her treats or jingle her favorite rattle she knows its time for bed and she wont have any of it! However when we finally round her up and she runs in her cage she eats, goes potty and usually goes to sleep or sometimes she grooms her stuffed rabbit and then naps. She doesnt seem stressed at least when i check her her heart is normal. I think she thinks the round up is a game

 

Anyone have any tips? I am afraid we ARE stressing her out or scaring her.

[BinkyBunny]

wow, doesn’t even come for treats. Tricky! Is she at all territorial of her cage when she does get in there? Is she an affectionate bunny? The reason I ask is maybe you can add a bit to her routine once she is in her cage. Give her treats once she is in, and pet her. I know that doesn’t currently help the “round-up” part, but if she begins to see the nighttime cage time as something to look forward too, maybe she’ll not be so resistent.

Also, how big is her current cage?

[LittlePuffyTail]

My bun Olivia is very hard to catch after her “binky time” too. She knows it’s time to go back home and seems to enjoy making me chase her all around the bedroom. It doesn’t help that she hates to be picked up.

I find this helped though. I started making a routine that while Olivia runs (she is usually the last to run in the evening cuz she’s the hardest to catch) I give the buns a little bedtime salad so now everytime she goes back to her cage there is a tasty salad waiting for her and she runs right to it. She’s still a pain to catch but I can usually catch her in half the time now.

[bunnytowne]

Well yes it is tricky.  Cotton has a routine.   I say bedtime he runs to his box. I pick it up and place it in the door of the cage. Then he darts out of the side of the box where the holes are to his litterbox.   At that point I go pet him then carry litterbox and bun to the cage and guide him in with my hands.  Goes smooth.  

There were times I just threw a towel over him and he hates that. If I didnt’ do that it would take half the nite of chasing him to get him in the cage. He now does the box and litterbox thing knowing he will get the towel if he doesn’t cooperate by going in his cage from the litterbox.

Now that I have Ruby and he sleeping together is a bit harder. I don’t know how to figure that one out.  Last nite was easy they both went in to eat so I shut their door. 

The other nite I left the top door open and shut the front door.  When I went to get Ruby Cotton jumped out the top door onto the couch. OH great.   Here we go.  I had to go catch him and carry him to the top door and put him in.  I am afraid to leave the front door open cause Ruby might jump out. This is going to get veeery interesting.

Yeah it is a big pain getting buns to go to bed.

[Beka27]

i agree with giving a healthy treat INSIDE the cage. it’s gonna take some time to teach her that, but rather than chasing frantically at night, you can teach her thruout the runtime what her home is. pick a word “home” “bedtime” whatever you want her to relate to the cage, and when she hops in it, she gets a treat. it might take some time, but after awhile you will be able to HOPEFULLY say the word and there she goes. this does not mean she will listen everytime of course. mine know when it’s time to go home, but it’s still their choice if they decide to go. in the meantime you can try to corral her a half-hour earlier if you absolutely need to get to bed.

an option you might explore is having an xpen or enclosure attached to her cage for some additional nighttime playspace. rabbits are more active in the later hours (9-midnight usually), so she might like having some safe, confined binky room to play, instead of being herded in just as she’s stretching her legs.

[JK]

I was also going to suggest an xpen attached to the cage. I did that when I first got Edson.  It works so well and they just have so much more room to run around.

[masteroffm]

establishing a routine really helps, my rabbits for the most part know to wander down the hall to their room when 9pm rolls around. and they are now to the point if we need to round them up all we have to do is clap our hands and proclaim “BEDROOM” and they know to head down the hall. now if they are feeling in a particularly obnoxious mood it might take us 15 minutes to round them up, but this only happens on occasion.

[BUNNYFOOFOO823]

TigerLily is an odd Bunny or maybe not Odd maybe we are the odd ones. She is somewhat affectionate, when she wants to be petted she comes up to me and nudges me and I know she wants pets. But, if she doesn’t want to be petted she will thump at me. I am usually working on my laptop on the bed and she jumps up on the bed and lays next to me or hops from side to side of me, i think she thinks I am a jungle gym.

But she does not like treats She will take a hay offering from my hand and toss it

I have not established a “key word” just yet but will start working on that. I have never had a house bunny before but i would describe TigerLily as a very dominant and rebellious Bunny. She likes things done on her own terms and I am just happy to see her hop around so I don’t force her or push her to do anything I just enjoy watching her. But when it is time for bed it can be very frustrating as it is time consuming and we have to wake early for work .

Thank you everyone for your advice!!! I love this Blog and all of the people here you all seem so nice and knowledgeable

[jerseygirl]

Some buns just KNOW when bed time is approaching!  Mine has taken to getting into spots where she knows it is difficult to get her out!  So usually a boxing match ensues.

If Tigerlily is somewhat affectionate and seeks you out when you’re in the room, maybe sit on the floor around bed time. Don’t sit directly in front of her or look at her, just be down there and see if she comes to check you out. Then you can give head pets for a while then scoop her up.

If I have to carry my bunny to her nighttime area, I always keep stroking her head as I carry. Even after I’ve put her down until I hear that tooth purr. Then I know she doesn’t associate going into this area as a totally bad experience.  Also, a nighttime salad ready and waiting is a great idea!

[Author]

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