biting of cage door :(

[babymor81]

Hi all,



i let myND cookie out of the cage yesterday and it was roaming about.. after that, i noticed that he often bites the cage doors.. i guess he learned that that is his path to freedom.. when i walk away, he will do it so loudly.. i will come back and tell him a firm NO and point my finger at him. After a few times.. he will stop and have a drink.. he may do it once in a while again.. however the moment i am gone, he will do it VERY loudly..

is my cookie a naughty rabbit? how can i tame him..

 

[Kipcha]

If you figure this out, let me know. I have tried everything with Jabberwocky as he does the same thing.

He has plenty of hay in his cage (A rather large cage at that), numerous toys, branches to chew on, plenty of time to run around, I even sprayed bitter apple on the bars in an attempt to dissuade him but nope, nothing has worked.

I would try doing things I've tried, I know it works for other people. How big is the cage? Do you have pics?

 

[babymor81]

no pics but it is probably about 2 x 4 of his size stretched out..

he began doing this after having a "taste" of the outside world.. ie out of his cage

 

[tamsin]

Rabbits are active an playful so even with a 4x2 cage will need 6-8 hours of time out when they can run, hop and explore. You might find adding a puppy pen to the cage to give him more space will help. Alternatively, get into a daily routine so your bun know when exercise time will be so they can relax more in between.

 

[Spikethebunny]

I have stopped trying to figure this one out. Spike will bite the gates of his x-pen - even when it is open and he can run free! He has toys and hay balls and hay matts to chew, yet he goes for (what I imagine) are yucky metallic tasting bars. I'm always worried he is going to hurt a tooth.

 

[babymor81]

is it true babies are forgetful ? last night he seems to have forgotten about that.. did not bite at all LOL but i did spend more time outside with him... i pickhim up and he struggled but i brought him close and stroke him. he was able to be like this for 10 mins !!!

 

[ani-lover]

mocha does this all the time. she really just wants her cage door open. there are many times where she starts biting and shaking her door and as soon as i open it she goes to lay down and wont come out. she just likes to know she can come out if she wants. silly bunnies!

 

[babymor81]

He is still biting and now bites the shelter made of wood logs too

 

[EricaBear]

Mojo started doing the cage-door rattling thing about a week and a half after we got him. It's not a problem anymore, but when it first started, I decided that if I could let him out, I would, but if for some reason I couldn't at that moment (ie. going out, busy with something else, vacuuming, etc.) then I would go to his cage, apologize and tell him that I will let him out as soon as I can, or a loud "No!" with a hand clap (claps don't really work on him anymore..).

I guess the point I'm getting to ultimately is he is probably letting you know that he needs more play time... However, he'll need to eventually learn that sometimes it just can't happen. So my suggestion would be to get into a playtime routine (I let Mo out for several hours in the evening) and let him know when he does go back into his cage(whether you have to coax him in or he goes in on his own), he will get some kind of reward.

I have Mojo trained now so that (again, unless he feels cheated on the amount of playtime he has gotten) he'll go back into his cage on command. And after he goes back in, he gets a big huge salad dinner with all of his favourite things.

I hope this helps! Good luck!