staying in Xpen/cage

[piperknitsRN]

Does anyone else’s bunny or bunnies prefer to stay in their cage during the day?  I know rabbits are crepuscular, so they sleep most of the day, but even with the door wide open on her X pen, my bunny Olive seems to prefer to stay in her cage. I’ve only ever once had her jump out of her X pen by herself (with the door open, obviously).  I literally have to lift her out of the cage (either while in her large litter pan or I scoop her up and place her outside the cage.  Once she’s out, she seems to have a pretty good time (getting her in is another story).  (By contrast, Flip-flop–my first Holland lop–used to regularly beg to be let out of her cage.  Mostly so she could go destroy my stuff , but still). 

Since I can’t yet lure Olive back in her cage with fresh veggies or treats (she’s too young to have them according to some sources) I end up waiting until she jumps back into her litterbox (which I leave in the living room) and carrying her back, or throwing a towel over her and scooping her up (I know throwing a towel over her seems mean, but it’s pretty much the only way I can pick her up once she’s out of her X pen–she just moves too fast for me to catch her, and I don’t want to play chase with a prey animal any way).

[Beka27]

For some buns that’s pretty normal. Their cage is their safe space. I’m betting that as she gets older and has more unsupervised exercise time, she’ll start coming and going as she pleases.

As far as getting her back in her pen, have you tried herding her? I have used the blanket trick before, but I prefer that for more urgent/emergency catches. You want that to be startling enough that she will stop in her tracks. If you continue using a blanket on a daily basis she will soon figure out that she can keep running and then it won’t work anymore.

[RabbitPam]

My bunny often goes back into her habitat voluntarily and hangs out there with the door open. Perversely, she seems to want out if I close the door, but doesn’t leave if it’s open. I think it’s an option for freedom thing.

You can also try putting her back for the night at the same time daily. Luring with a very small treat can work with that eventually. Samantha never wants me to pick her up, so she actually made it clear that she would go in on her own if I gave her a treat (I bought healthy ones after that. Like Veggie Smacks. They’re like timothy hay ground into cookie shapes. Not really a sweet at all.) But it is clear that she knows when it’s cage time in the morning and in the evening. She mills around playing, but once she hears the rattle of the treat jar, she goes in. Many of our bunnies seem to tell time. It’s because they are creatures of habit, so if you establish a convenient routine time for her to go back, she may begin to avoid the towel and cooperate on her own, if there’s a reward in it.

[piperknitsRN]

Thanks for the information, RP and Beka. I used to be able to herd Flip flop in with a treat (and even that took some work). Sometimes I’ll wait til Olive hops into her litter pan I place outside in the living room and pick the whole thing up, but other times I have things I’ve got to do (appointments or errands) and she’s just got to go back in–ergo, the towel method. I used it successfully on Flipflop for years without adverse effect, but every bunny is different. It may be she’s reluctant to go in because the X pen is set up in the kitchen, and while she’s got a blanket down on the floor in her Xpen, there isn’t any rug on the entrance/exit of the pen to the linoleum floor, so she might find it a little daunting to hop out of her cage.

I can’t always have her out because she requires constant supervision at this stage (wish she didn’t, but she’s taken to chewing carpet).

[Beka27]

I think you just figured it out. ;o)

Some buns WILL NOT navigate lino/tile… no way… no how. Can you make a path using carpet runners going from her pen to her play space? I bet if given the correct flooring and a week or two to get used it, she would be returning to her xpen on her own… and venturing out on her own.

[MimzMum]

My Mimzy is the consummate bunny slug…WILL NOT leave pen or hidey area in xpen for love nor bunny.
I once tried using the litter pan method, but honestly it scares me to think of any bunny possibly spooking and jumping or falling from a carried litter pan. So when it comes to taking him to and fro (there really is no direct way to his xpen from the bunny room) I have to “football” him. That is, pick him up while kneeling on the ground near him or scooping him from his night habitat and then immediately take him close into the crook of my arm like a quarterback with a football. This method make take several tries and some practice at being close to the ground with your bunny and doing a lift and then a release at a low enough level so as they don’t drop any distance, but may get them used to you picking them up as far as a prey animal can allow for those times when you’re in a bit of a hurry, or when/if the blanket fails to work at some point.

Mimzy has never appreciated being carried either. Also, getting him into his pen from his xpen can be a whole other eggshell, and I’ve had him leap from my arms right at the door only to land on the storage box right below, slide to the ground and escape under my bed. (This was years ago…good thing he likes dried blueberries or he’d still be under there today and I’d have to wear kevlar kneesocks to keep my ankles safe whilst getting in and out of bed!)

By contrast, Pip (my female) may not like being held and will look like a chicken about to be plucked with her feet splayed out in all directions when I lift her, but she LOVES being out and sometimes will even tear up her grass mats to be on just the linoleum. She doesn’t like how she slips and slides over it, but she can manage it and I think she particularly likes the sturdy noise it makes when she thumps on it.

I don’t know a bunny to date that can’t be persuaded to at least make you think he or she is doing what you want them to do by the offering of a healthy snack, and eventually this may open up a whole new part of your relationship to your bun when treats are considered ‘okay.’ The way to a bunny’s heart is through their stomachs, no doubt. And repetition. As long as it is a routine they will comply for the most part…woe unto you if you deviate by even a few minutes, however! 0_o

I hope you are having more luck getting Olive in and out of her pen and play areas. It is becoming increasingly obvious to me just how much bunnies can thrive on motion and I think our house rabbits tend to get a bit lazy about this aspect of life…well, some of them anyway. Since they don’t HAVE to run from predators in the house…eh, why bother, right? ^_^

[Elrohwen]

Mine spend most of their time in their pen area even when it’s open. At night I’ll trick them into coming out in the living room, usually by carrying them out while they’re asleep in their maze haven. Throughout the evening they’ll come and go from their cage, but they often end up back there, just hanging out. Otto won’t go anywhere that isn’t carpeted, so that’s also a likely cause, as you figured out.

[piperknitsRN]

I put a towel down on the linoleum in front of her cage and now she hops in and out as she pleases.  Not on my schedule, necessarily, but at least she’s going in and out of her cage.  She has an extra litterbox and water dish out in the living room when she’s free range.  Over the past few dyas I’ve been able to let her have pretty much free range any time I home to supervise.  Only place she can’t go is the office/computer room (too many cords).  I do have my laptop cord protected since I spend most of my time out in the living room, with my bunny .

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