Cleaning out cage with bun inside?

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

Hi again! You guys and gals are going to see a lot questions from me just to warn you I've had to clean Sophie's condo a couple of times since I got her last Sunday but I wasn't able to do it with her NOT being in it. The scenario is this: I open the door, she comes out. Great right? Except as soon as she sees me doing something in there, she comes bouncing back in to check me out! She doesn't appear to approach me aggressively and she hasn't bit me yet. I don't want to prevent her ability to enter her cage at free will so I haven't kept her out. I know from reading that its not recommended cleaning and mucking about their cages while they are in them but I'm having a bit of a time sorting out how to do this. What I DON'T want is to ruin my rabbit psychologically and cause her to become cage possessive or angry towards me. Any suggestions on how to proceed?

Thanks for your time

 

[PaGal]

I haven't dealt with any aggression from my bun and have only seen him act grumpy once for just a moment and it was with a box. Ha! I read here before getting my bun to let there cages be their domain. Not to pick them up out of it or pick them up to put them back. I simply open the cage and Thumper runs out. I used to have to herd him back into it at night, now he runs in as soon as I start putting his food in. I always start to clean the cage while he is out but most of the time once I start cleaning he will come in and check out what I'm doing and start chinning his belongings. I continue to clean as best I can with him in the way and limited space since half of me is also in the cage and it's not that big. Usually after a few minutes he will leave the cage on his own. A few times when I was in a hurry I would just give him a little push. He has never shown any cage aggression. It seems to work for us but he is also a very chill bun.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We've had most of ours for a number of years, so they do give me a bit of leeway, but it is normal for them to be protective of their perceived space. Some will let me clean no problem, but our smallest is the one I usually clean up after while she's out of her hutch. Ours are all up on tables so we don't have to compete for the space when they are out.

 

[Tauntz]

I do take my buns out when I do anything besides a spot cleaning. I have a nice carrier that I put them in during the cleaning. I've been thinking that it might be good to get them used to periodically having to go into their carrier in case of an emergency, I don't want them any more stressed than they have to be.

 

[Troller]

Before I got Xena and had two cages to clean I would wait for Conan to leave his cage and clean. Little stinker would come back midway and go to the 2nd floor of his enclosure to wait it out. That used to work for me. But now I got to cages, well one and an X Pen, and when I tried cleaning around Xena she just made sure to pee in the area while I was hard at work.

Since both my bunnies are good during their out time around the apartment, I just block off the room and clean without their presence bothering me. I get done pretty quickly that way, though 2 weeks ago I was doing one cage at a time while the other one stayed in theirs. Since I started bonding I now keep them in their carriers so I can tidy up faster. I'm sure they aren't fans of it but I see no other way and quite frankly I'm only so much of a slave!

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

Thanks for all of your responses. It sounds like some of your bunnies are ok with you cleaning while they're in the cage and some are not. Is it possible in anyone's opinion that if the rabbit appears to be ok with it and doesn't show aggression to it, that the rabbit will continue to tolerate it? Or do rabbits get annoyed more as time goes on? Like the more often you do it, the less tolerance they have? I know with other things, like brushing, picking up, etc, they get better with it the more often it's done. But I'm not sure what to expect when dealing with entering their territory. I haven't noticed her rubbing her chin on her things when I'm cleaning her condo but maybe I will have to pay more attention next time.

 

[PaGal]

I'm not sure but maybe chinning is like seemingly everything else with buns, some just do it more than others. I think you may just have to go with your gut on what to do while cleaning your buns cage. I normally would say that you know your bun best but I do know you haven't had her long. Thumper came to live with us at 10 weeks old so when he started coming into his cage while cleaning I just watched his reaction. If he had shown signs of being annoyed with my cleaning his cage I guess I would have thought of some way to clean while he was out and could not get in. He has always been very laid back and easy going. He is now a little over a year old and still shows no sign of being bothered with my presence.

You could just clean with her in the condo if that it what she chooses and watch closely. If she shows any signs of having an issue with your presence then you could stop and decide how else to go about it that would work for you.

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I will pay closer attention to her body language when I'm in her space

 

[Pigglebread]

I either set a playpen out in the backyard for them while I clean or I set a big plate of greens out and have them eat across the room while I clean. It keeps their attention and they don't bother me, I just have to work quickly:twitch:.

 

[existenziell]

Since you haven't had her for that long, she may not always be keen on you cleaning her set up while she's in it. She might become more territorial as she settles in.

To be on the safe side, try setting up a play area for her away from the cage. I always do that so I can move about freely and not worry about them getting in the way or stepping on them. It will also be more convenient for you.

It sounds like, to me at least, that she might just be curious about what you're doing. Rabbits can be really picky about their set ups. Like humans, they sometimes like things placed in a certain way and they get upset if it's disturbed.

 

[Azerane]

I never had a problem with either of my rabbits, Hazel-rah used to love it when I'd clean his hutch with him in it, but he just loved the pats. And Bandit is fine with it too, sometimes he'll come over and try to take a brush or dustpan from me, but never aggressively.

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

Thanks everyone! It's really good to hear about your experiences with your rabbits rather than just reading random information online!

 

[GoKittyGo]

One of my buns is at the rotten teenager phase and offers to take fingers off of hands in his house.. makes dinner time very interesting.