Rattling cage!

[Bkysiu]

Alright, since last night Perry has been rattling his cage .  I let him out twice a day for exercise in a long hall way and we he goes back into his cage on his own accord, or after several warnings of ‘NO’ (when he’s being naughty) I herd him back into his cage.  He has plenty of toys as well for mental stimulation so it can’t be boredom….can it?!

Why would he be acting up all of a sudden? He never was so willfull before, could it be his hormones? He’s almost at 12 weeks of age so I thought he could be getting aggressive? I am eventually going to get him neutered but I didn’t think he’d need to so soon! I thought Flemish Giants weren’t neutere-able till after 4-5 months (well some vets won’t do the procedure till that age anyway)… Any ideas??

Am feeling very confused as what I should do…Apologies for the numerous questions!

[Monkeybun]

Monkey does that if she feels like she hasn’t had enough play time… so now I just leave her out in her pen rather than locking her up in her cage. She much prefers that, and doesn’t rattle bars now

[rosalie68]

my bunny jack was doing that all the time. now he mostly just does it when its time to let him out. he has it set in his head like an alarm and if im late letting him play he lets me know this way. he didnt really care too much about toys so it didnt help putting them in his cage. what i did find that helped was cardboard bc he likes to shred it up and willow. these keep him busy with chewing so he leaves the bars alone for the most part. i also think now he is used to his schedule of playtime. i didnt reward him when he chewed the bars. i just tried to give him more things to do but made sure not to do it right after or during the time he was chewing the bars. didnt want to reinforce it lol.

maybe since he is so big he might need longer time out of his cage? i hope u figure something out.

kim

[Elrohwen]

I would guess that he is bored. Cage rattling usually has nothing to do with aggression. How long do you let him out to run? He should get at least 4 hours a day, especially because he’s young and has a lot of energy.

Also, I don’t know that he’s necessary doing this “all of a sudden” for any new specific reason. You’ve only had him a short time, right? Bunnies will randomly pick up new habits even if nothing has changed, so this might have nothing to do with his age or hormones – it might just be a boredom thing. Even with lots of toys, he may just want more time with you. You can give my bun all the room to run and all the toys in the world, but without human interaction he gets bored and destructive.

[Bkysiu]

I did leave him out for longer play time in his play pen but then he just starts to rattle his pen!! He’s calmed down at the moment because I think he tired himself out. Tonight I’ll play with him for longer after my tea and maybe that will help him get some of that extra energy out.

I wasn’t late at letting him out of his cage..I’m a person bound by routine so I sorta doubt that it’s not me being inconsistent. Call me intuitive but I think he’s just trying to push my boundaries to see how much freedom he can get! I’ve been reading barbi brown’s website (anyone heard of her?) and she raises Flemish Giants and gives such advice on providing consistent boundaries, which I have done so for the whole time I’ve had him! I will keep doing what I do so far and see if his behaviour persists.

[Elrohwen]

Also, whatever you do, don’t let him out if he’s rattling! That will only reinforce the behavior. Wait patiently until he stops, then let him out and give him attention and food. You may be right that he’s pushing his boundaries – he wants to tell you when to open the pen, but he needs to learn that you’ll do it when he’s quiet and patient.

[Bkysiu]

Thank you all for your insights! I am fairly sure I give him enough play time, in the morning he gets 2 hours and then in the evening he gets about 2-3 so amount of play time may not be the issue and I am always present for all his play time.

However, I have to agree with Elrohwen because the first time he did the rattle I let him out! So Perry must be thinking that ‘right, I’ll rattle my cage and she’ll let me out!’. Tonight I when he is rattling I won’t let him out till he stops that behaviour, then when he’s settled I’ll let him out .

Thanks all! I’ll let you all know how it goes.

[Monkeybun]

I always tell Monkey NO rather loudly when she does it, and turn my back on her.. she’s starting to learn that she doesnt get her way when she does it

[jerseygirl]

I don’t know if this will work but maybe provide some white noise for him – like a radio on low volume. Is he doing this late at night when you’re trying to sleep?
Also, I’m thinking give him some sheets of sturdy cardboard (as rosalie said) to take his frustration out on. This too can be noisy though…

Another thing you could try is line the lower part or the wire with cardboard or something.  The area where he can get his teeth onto and really pull. I can’t imagine the can stand and pull at the same time so it only need be a low height barrier. 

I just looked at more pics of him. Is he part Dutch?  He and his mother seem to have dutch like markings.

[Bkysiu]

His daddy is a full coloured sandy fawn (that’s not dutch markings is it?) and his mum has dutch markings. The mum is mostly Flemish with hints of Dutch I believe. Her size and demeanor isn’t typically dutch at all.

On another note he doesn’t rattle his cage as often anymore, when he does I tell him “NO” and I don’t let him out till he’s calm. I think that really worked .

[Elrohwen]

I’m glad you’re having success! I think bunnies are fairly trainable, you just have to think about what kind of reward they would want and think about when exactly to give them that reward so they’ll do what you want. Seems like he figured out pretty quickly that rattling his cage gets him nowhere 😉

[Monkeybun]

I’ve got Monkey trained when she starts eyeing the baseboards.. caught her the other day and I told her to not even think about it just as she was opening her little mouth to chomp… She froze, mouth still open, then backed away and hopped off

[Elrohwen]

Lol, MB. That’s good! I think bunnies are sometimes more eager to please than we give them credit for. At least the ones I’ve seen are far more eager to please than cats! I’ve never had a cat care what I wanted it to do 😛

[Bkysiu]

He occasionally rattles the cage, but I’m staying persistent and let him know that biting and rattling the cage only means no free time for him. To be totally honest I’m more anxious and scared of when he’s a ‘teenager’ and will start doing other naughty things that will push my buttons!! Fingers crossed that it won’t be that bad!!

[Elrohwen]

Honestly, it might not be that bad! I have a young male (11 months) and he has never been naughty, never had litter training issues, etc. If anything, he’s only gotten sweeter and more cuddly (as long as those cuddles are on the floor :-P) as he’s gotten older. So keep your fingers crossed that his teenage months go by smoothly 🙂 Not all bunnies turn into crazy little devils.

[Bkysiu]

Thank you for your words of comfort Elrohwen!! You’re right my Perry may not even be that bad

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