She won't let me sleep!!

[Moxiez]

Hi everyone,

I need some help! My bunny Moxie won't let me sleep at night! I actually ended up on the couch last night and I just don't know what to do.

Here's what's going on:

She has a NIC cage that I built her, and it's pretty big, as big as my little bedroom can accommodate right now. It's 29" tall, 14 1/2" wide,and 29" long, and has the full bottom level and three more half-levels,so she's got a fair amount of room. She also has a large cardboard cubby tube that she sleeps in, a litter box, several wooden chew toys,lots of paper and cardboard to shred, a small plush dog toy, and a dried corncob chew. She also has free-choice hay to keep her busy.

Moxie gets plenty of out-of-cage exercise time - a half an hour to an hour in the morning, then my sister takes her out for a half hour in the afternoon, and then she comes out as soon as I get home, and stays out for 3-5 hours, so she getting between 4 and 6 hours out of cage time every day, and she spends most of it zooming around and doing binkies (she's a very happy, playful bunny).

The problem is at night - starting at about 3 or 4 AM (we go to sleep around midnight because I do homework after I get home from work), she starts to "pluck" the bars on the cage with her teeth, loudly and rapidly. It's REALLY annoying and I can't sleep!
She gets plenty of exercise, and she has hay and toys and room to move around, so why is it that she's bored enough that plucking the bars sounds like fun?!

More importantly, how can I get her to stop??

I've tried telling her "NO" in a firm voice, and I've even tried letting her get out a run around for a few minutes, but she just goes right back into doing it!

Help!

 

[HoneyPot]

Well... this may be a battle that your bunny will win. They tend to be noisy at night and the plucking...is probably her telling you she's not too happy being locked up.

I was going to suggest making sure she's active before you put her away at night, but it sounds like you're already doing that.

Maybe someone will have a better suggestion... my solution for my and my bunny Misty was to get her cage out of my room and into the spare bedroom.

Is it possible for you to let her have free run of your room at night? That might calm the noise down too as she'll be free to come and go from the cage as she wants...

__________
Nadia

 

[SOOOSKA]

Can you get her some of those hanging wood toys?But make sure it doesn't have a bell on the end of it or that may drive you crazy too.

Susan:bunnydance:

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

You could also try giving her a toilet paper roll stuffed with hay, mine love these and entertains them for quite awhile. Also, try adding a paper towel roll and hang it at the top of the cage, cut the ends in various places for her to tug on. This may help a bit.

 

[Mr. Stee]

The plucking of the bars means your rabbit wants to come out to play. The plucking of the bars is her trying to chew and tear her way through them. Since she spends so much time out and playing, she probably has come to assume that the rest of the area is her personal domain and is frustrated by the bars blocking her from some of her favorite places in the room.
The only way I can see to have her stop pulling at the bars is to make it particularly obvious to the rabbit that, "this time is play in the room time and this is stay in your cage time." By letting her out when she pulls at the bars only re-enforces her to pull on them next time she wants out. Try to make her play times very routine. Say about twice a day at the same times everyday. Try to make feeding times when you put her back in and make the biggest meal right after the evening romp. This will help in two ways. First it will signal the end of play time and rabbits tend to calm down and rest up after eating a lot (who doesn't). It may take a while, but if you stay strong and consistent, your rabbit will sooner or later adapt to the routine and will stop futilely trying to be let out at the wrong times.

 

[gwhoosh]

My bunny is a bar tugger too. She has tons of time running around the room but as soon as the cage door closes behind her she starts tugging. She'll wake me up with it in the morning, but luckily not at night. When we go to bed, I hang a blanket in front of her cage to try to let her know it's bedtime. She'll stop tugging only if the blanket is up AND the lights are out. I wish I had a better idea, but maybe a blanket will help?

 

[Moxiez]

Thanks so much for all the help everyone. I'm glad that my bunny isn't the only one with this habit.

She really does consider herself the "queen" of the room, and I know she's having a hissy fit because she's not getting her way.

I'll try everyone's suggestions and let you know how it goes.

 

[Haley]

Another good idea is a loud fan!

Or, is she destructive when shes out? You could consider leaving her out at night. That's what I do. My guys are out at night and then I put them away when I go to school/work in during the day.

 

[gwhoosh]

Maybe you can get a grass mat and hang it where she bites the bars? I just put on on the floor in front of the door to my bunny's cage and she took her anger out on it first before going for the bars. So maybe if it was hanging ON the door (or whever she tugs)she'd chew on it and not make noise? Just an idea I got

 

[Moxiez]

I wish I could let her out all night, but she has a habit of getting into and destroying things when not supervised.She doesn't need a close eye, but I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving her out. My closet doors are broken and I'm worries she might get trapped in between my dresser and file cabinet, and she likes to climb up into my stuffed animal collection, and once I caught her chewing on one of my sketch pads (she had to stand up on her back legs to reach the shelf, but she was pretty determined to chew up my drawings>_&lt. So doing that isn't really an option.

The grass mat sounds like a good idea. Where can I get one (preferably cheaply - I'm a tad broke right now).

 

[Starina]

My bunny does this when she thinks I need to let her out. I haven't cured the problem, but when I am sleeping she doesn't do it anymore. I tied some fabric scraps to the bars, she LOVES grooming fabric, give her a toilet paper tube full of hay, and a phone book. She grooms, shreds, and digs until she falls asleep. (It is messy, but it is SO worth not hearing her rattle her cage all night)

Good Luck and Good Night!

~Star~

 

[myLoki]

Bah! Loki also tugs on his cage when I put him back in after he's had a good run. Thank goodness he stops as soon as the lights go out. He knows Mommy has to sleep so she can go to work tomorrow and have money for treats. haha!


t.

 

[Katie_LuLu]

I was in the same situation as you! I finally got a squirt bottle, and I squirt her feet and say no when she does it.She still does it occasionally, but not as bad anymore, especially if I keep the squirt bottle near her cage at night. She knows I hate it to,because when i'm looking at her she won't do it, but I turn around and she starts again... oh bunnies..

 

[undergunfire]

Madilyn does this! She likes to rattle the clip that I have holding the pen door shut. It was my day off from work today and she started at 7:30 a.m. rattling her door clip.



ERRRR, so much for sleeping in!

I have now found a way to make her stop though. I use a piece of crinkle paper fabric (from a cat toy) and loop it around her clip.




- Amy (Mallory, Morgan, and Madilyn-Mae):hearts

 

[tundrakatiebean]

My rabbit used to yank on his bars all the time and it was so horribly loud that I ended up having to put him in the bathroom at night just to get any sleep x.x in the end I used a little bit of bitter apple spray and rubbed it on the bars, now he only tugs his cage when he KNOWS he's entitled to something he hasn't gotten yet(dinner, a treat after I open the package etc.)

 

[Moxiez]

Good news everyone! I took your suggestions and Moxie has been letting me sleep the past several nights with no trouble! =) Thanks so much!

 

[missyscove]

That's great news! My bunnies are bar-chewers, but they're a few rooms away.

 

[bluebird]

My rabbits are in the basement and i can hear them at night.lucky for me im a sound sleeper.bluebird

 

[HoneyPot]

Cool! So what did you do? Spray bottle? Grass mat? All of the above?

Nadia