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- This topic has 4sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 2 months ago by
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I am a new bunny owner but have done a lot of research. I understand that bunnies do not have the same sleep schedule as we do. Due to being a student, I don’t get a very good income, so as of now I don’t have a play pen. I have a big cage (dog cage), bedding, pellets, hay+hay holder, hut, 4 toys, and a water bottle holder. I have recently got a job to raise enough money to get her spayed, but that won’t happen for about a month and a half, she is 4 months old. I wanted to allow her to be a free roam bunny 100% of the time but she is very mischievous, curious, and has mad hopping skills! She can get to all the dangerous areas that I have put barriers up to prevent. These barriers are quite high… So, when I go to class or go to sleep I put her in the cage. She gets plenty of play time. Anytime I am home I do homework on the floor to make sure she can run around and i’m there to prevent her from getting into dangerous areas of the room where cords are and behind my bed. I try to train her to listen to me when I say no but it doesn’t work. I clap and say no and it doesn’t work. I move her away and she comes back. Sometimes she just lays next to me and sleeps but most of the time she is trying to get where she shouldn’t be. I am NOT getting enough sleep and I don’t know what to do. I try to stay up late so she can let all her energy out before I put her in the cage for the night… but it’s never enough. She’s up by 6:00am or 5:00 ready for food so I let her out and feed her for about an hour and then put her back in the cage cover it with a towel and go back to sleep. I need more sleep than this… I can’t be staying up till midnight then waking up at 5:30 then going back to sleep… Sometimes she’s up at 1:00am making a ruckus in the cage and I can’t fall back asleep! I don’t open the cage or let her out because I don’t want to train her that she will get rewarded by doing this. I understand she has a differen’t schedule than me, but I can’t loose my sleep anymore than I already am. I am trying so hard to be the best owner I can be, she gets about 6-8 hours of play time a day and yet when I need to go to sleep I can’t because she wants to be up and tries to bite the cage, knock everything inside it over etc. I can’t afford a playpen yet due to saving up for her to be spayed which is about $325, I am only a student so this will take awhile. I also have been trying to litter train her by anytime she poops I throw it in 1 of the 3 boxes I have in the room that she likes to pee in, and if she doesn’t pee in the box i clean it with some toilet paper and put it in the box, yet she still poops EVERYWHERE. Please! Any advice?!?!?!??!?!
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Hormones. Not much you can do until she is spayed, sadly. Keep cleaning up her poops and pee by adding it to her litter boxes, as that will help a lot in the future when you litter train her after shes spayed
Just a side note, rabbits are most active in the mornings and at the start of night. Its natural instinct for them. You are very unlikely to curb that, especially while shes hormonal.
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Unfortunately there’s not much you can do to stop her being active at those times. Although getting her spayed is very important, I think in this case buying a pen for her would probably be the best bet. You can buy NIC grids (is that what they’re called?) to make your own pen which would be much cheaper than a store bought one
Obviously I know income is an issue, but as bun is only 4 months, you’ve still got a while to spay her. I think getting the pen first will be a real help for her. And your sanity! You could also give her activities to keep her busy during the night, perhaps scatter hay and forage (dried leaves, flowers etc) so she can focus on that. Apple twigs might also keep her entertained. You could hide treats in cardboard tubes and boxes or paper bags too! -
I got 4 playpen walls for £20, so it really doesn’t need to be expensive. You could also look on things like gumtree or craigslist, I think its quite a common thing for people to get rid of.
Something like these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ellie-Bo-Easy-Up-Rabbit-Silver-8-Piece/dp/B00IYQQWIG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1519813513&sr=8-5&keywords=play+pen
could attach to the front of her dog crate (although if she’s a jumper, 61cm walls might not be high enough).
I would get the play pen, then make sure she has lots of activities in it, like boxes with holes cut in (cardboard boxes that you get free from supermarkets are absolutely fine), tunnels (again, can be made from free cardboard boxes), twigs and hay toys to play with.
I also recommend ear plugs for you
Once you have the playpen, she’ll have adequate space, so you can sleep through without feeling guilty!
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