She hates her cage

[msarro]

I’ve noticed that Layla seems to *hate* her cage. Not a little dislike, but full blown hatred. When playtime is over and I start herding her towards her cage, she’ll do everything she can to avoid it – even when she’s basically boxed in with no where else to go (going in of her own volition without herding her in is impossible so far).

When she gets in she starts gnawing on the bars, and pushing on every place she knows that opens. Her heart rate skyrockets and she starts breathing really fast. Tonight she even started as if she was going to nip me afterwards, but she stopped. She won’t give me bunny kisses like she normally does either until a few hours after she’s been in her cage.

I don’t know what to do until I can get her pen for her (hopefully I can place the order on thursday).

Any help would really be appreciated. I try to let her out an hour everyday at the very least, but tonight was a short night because I didn’t get home til after 1am and I have to be up at 7.

[MarkBun]

Perhaps some more out of cage time would help. Maryann used to do the same thing all the time – especially when I was in sight of her cage and she didn’t want to be in there. Buns don’t want to be caged but sometimes what is best for them isn’t what they want.

I’d suggest putting some things into her cage that she can destroy. A tissue tube or some shredded newspaper makes for a great stress reliever.

[Deleted User]

My guy hates being locked in and he had a double decker cage with a cardboard bungalow. When he was on lock down after being neutered he carried on so much, it was safer to just keep him out and confined to one room. Now he has a whole room to himself (kiss my dining room good bye) and the little beast still carries on every night like he was being stuffed in a closet. He has the run of the house when we are home, but is not allowed in the bedroom…to hard to bunny proof and he ate through the baby gate trying to get in.

Moral of this story…bunnies are never satisfied!

[JK]

Xpen xpen xpen!!!  Your bun definitely needs more room.  Cages are really never big enough.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I believe it’s also a priveledge thing…They feel like they are getting a good thing with their out time and are upset if it’s cut short.
When I had to do seperate out times, and sometimes didn’t have enough time, I’d let Rupert stay out all night (cuz he wouldn’t get into trouble) and in the mornings he’d greet me extatically like ‘thank you thank you thank you’ ….I think they feel maybe like punished when they go into their cage.

In the meantime try to make it feeding time when you send her home to her cage. And give a treat or something too and make a fuss about how good she is…That may help for now!

[msarro]

Thanks so much everyone. I’m working to get her a bigger pen – doing a yard sale tomorrow which will hopefully raise enough cash for her new pen. I’ve got the design all made up for a 3 floor bunny palace from NIC cubes – hopefully she’ll have some more room. I would have had enough money but I screwed up on my budgeting and forgot to include a bill – so no bunny stuff til next thursday.

She’s been driving me nuts at night the past two nights – nonstop chewing on the bars, digging in the corners to get out, pushing at the doors, etc. She just wants out.

[TARM]

Man, I hate when I screw up on the finances. It happens way more often than I care to admit.

I recently spent every last extra cent I had on stuff to make my cages. The bunnies LOVE them so it was worth it…but I’ll be scrounging for the next few weeks because of it. Thank God for CareCredit so I can get Digger neutered.

[msarro]

I still need to get Layla to the vet before I can get her altered – luckily the animal hospital is able to set up reasonable time payments for the surgury (it’ll be about $30 a month for a few months), but I have to pay full price for the consultation beforehand. Its expensive but it’ll be worth it.

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