I just want a good night's sleep ya'll

[alexandra the great]

Hey guys, so I've been having an ongoing problem with Bean lately. Some background:
He lives in a pen in my room. He gets playtime twice a day; in the morning and at night. But, usually, he'll chew the bars of his pen. Sometimes he'll do it if I'm late for his breakfast or his playtime and then he stops when he gets what he wants. But when he chews at night... naturally it gets very old very fast.
For the past few nights he's been rattling and rattling and chewing the pen and I can't sleep soundly because 1) the noise and 2) I can't stand him being upset at all so I'm always getting back up to try to get him to stop.
Sometimes i put a blanket over the pen but he still finds a way behind it.

What I'm looking for is for some enrichment or boredom breakers i can put in his pen area so that he'll start associating his pen with fun enrichment. I don't want to give him too much fun and treats outside of his pen, because then he'll just not want to go back to his pen anymore. Does anyone have any good enrichment ideas or toys that work great for your rabbits, so this teenage girl can get a good night's sleep?

 

[Blue eyes]

Chewing those bars may be irritating to you but, even worse, is that chewing the bars can misalign his teeth and cause costly vet bills. So the bar chewing has to stop. The only way to really prevent it is to block access to those areas he's chewing on. Diversion may help a little but the only way to stop the bar chewing is to make it so he cannot get to the bars. Zip-tie pieces of cardboard to those areas. He'll likely chew on the cardboard, but at least that won't misalign his teeth.

Secondly, he is, as I'm sure you know, trying to get out and/or wanting attention. By getting up out of bed and trying to "get him to stop," you're actually encouraging the naughty behavior. He gets some sort of attention or acknowledgement each time you go to his pen when he's making too much noise. This only 'rewards' him for making a ruckus. So try to avoid paying any attention to behaviors you don't like.

There are a few things you can try that may help distract him in the night. Just bear in mind that rabbits tend to be up & active quite a bit in the night anyway. That's why I discourage people from housing their rabbit in a bedroom where someone may be trying to sleep. If you don't have that as an option, then you can try the following:

• Fill up and refresh his hay right before bed.
• Place hay-filled TP tubes in the pen, right before bedtime.
• Re-arrange exploring items (boxes with doorways cutout, tunnels, stepstools) within the pen to create new interest -- again, do this just before bedtime.
• A timothy hay cube can keep a bun busy for awhile too. (Be sure it's one made of just hay and no added junk.)

 

[alexandra the great]

thanks for the suggestions. I plan on buying some toys for him. Any good recommendations for toys that last a while or that can be reused? or maybe that are cheap and I can buy over and over?

 

[JBun]

If you don't have to wake up to an alarm, ear plugs are your best friend. The other option is if you can completely bunny proof your room to allow free roaming.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bunny-proofing.html
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bunny-proofing
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Toys_and_games

 

[Blue eyes]

thanks for the suggestions. I plan on buying some toys for him. Any good recommendations for toys that last a while or that can be reused? or maybe that are cheap and I can buy over and over?

The last 3 bullet points I posted above are all "toy" ideas. They are mostly free. By switching toys out (rotating their use) & by rearranging places to explore (with boxes, etc) , it will help keep him occupied.

 

[alexandra the great]

The last 3 bullet points I posted above are all "toy" ideas. They are mostly free. By switching toys out (rotating their use) & by rearranging places to explore (with boxes, etc) , it will help keep him occupied.

thanks. i have a few cardboard boxed stashed somewhere i can use. and this is what my amazon cart looks like rn.
https://i.ibb.co/9yMc0rH/capture-amazon-cart.jpg

If you don't have to wake up to an alarm, ear plugs are your best friend. The other option is if you can completely bunny proof your room to allow free roaming.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bunny-proofing.html
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bunny-proofing
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Toys_and_games

thanks. This is what I plan to do ultimately. But at the moment I don't trust him to free roam all the way. (accidents on soft things ya know. Like MY PRECIOUS BED) I'll probably think about doing that next year. All my money rn is either going to his toys or Christmas gifts.
also, thanks for the suggestion about ear plugs. I am an avid hater of alarm clocks so this should be perfect.

 

[Preitler]

The distraction that keeps mine occupied in the night are tree branches, willow, ash, fruit trees, hazel, conifers..., but mostly willow.

That steady *gnaw-gnaw-gnaw* is kind of like Homers Everything Is OK Alarm but I sleep well knowing they are ok and happy.
I put the branches, preferable with lots of small twigs, right in the paths they're used to go, so they have to clear the path.

My alarm is a 30W LED construction spotlight hooked up to timer switch, light works better getting me out of bed than noise or the radio.

 

[Plumpedbunny]

One of my bunnies started to keep me awake at night by pulling at the wire mesh I put on the door frames to stop them from chewing and she was making a racket. She would find the loudest part to tug at and shake and she would also dig the floor. My bunnies free roam. I tried everything and nothing worked. They ignore there toys and get board of the hay.

My bunny did this for 5 solid days and I was shattered but then she suddenly stopped. Your bunny may just be having a moment like mine did. The only other thing I can suggest is that you change your bunnies enclosure maybe make it bigger if you can or find a bigger area where he can have some freedom to move about or if you have a spare room you could create a bunny safe room to keep him in?

 

[FunBunMom]

I personally give my bunnies corrugated cardboard. When they chew it, it makes a lot less of racket than bar chewing

 

[Plumpedbunny]

I personally give my bunnies corrugated cardboard. When they chew it, it makes a lot less of racket than bar chewing

I give my bunnies the odd cardboard box sometimes during the day and that keeps them entertained but at night it woiuld be noisy. Also my bunnies literally eat the cardboard so I tend not to do it too often I can't imagine them digesting cardboard is very good for them. My male bunny is fine with it but the other two they will eat everything.