Very loud

[Solstice and MaMa]

Hi, brand new to this site, and brand new to owning rabbits, I got them a little over a month ago and they live in an enclosure in my bedroom, they are super noisy, every night the scratch the floor waking me up, and they knaw on their boxes. I know they have to do this but is there a way to do anything to make it quieter? The floor of their enclosure is plastic. They are so loud that I wear earplugs to be every night and they still wake me up. They are a bonded pair of female rabbits daughter and mother (solstice and MaMa or midnight)

 

[Hermelin]

Give them fresh hay and feed them at night before you go to bed instead. After a big meal they will often rest or sleep ^^

 

[Catlyn]

Plastic also tends to be clangy and loud, just like wire grids and the sound of rabbits gnawing wood. Maybe you can provide them with a soft material/fabric they won't chew on.

 

[Solstice and MaMa]

A quick update; tonight they were really loud, every other second solstice was digging or chewing. I didn’t get a wink of sleep, I’ll try to put some kind of blanket in there tonight

 

[Catlyn]

Musti likes to gnaw on wood at night, so we took that away, he seems fussy but churns on hay, so he gets the log back in the morning. This way, noise is avoided at night. Some rabbits are able to learn when to ruckus and when not, although it may take some time. Good luck!

 

[zuppa]

You can set playtime and a big fat dinner right before your bedtime to exhaust them, also leave them with loads of fresh hay so that will keep them busy. Also remove all loud toys from the cage and put some fleece blankets in or/and under the cage. You can also cover their cage with a blanket for a night.
Photo of your setup would help us to understand your situation better

 

[Solstice and MaMa]

Sorry for being inactive but that last couple nights they have been a bit quieter. I started feeding them right before bed and put towels in to stop some scratching. Still a lot of noise as they really destroy the cardboard boxes I give them. Here is a photo of their living area, tonight is cleaning night so it is quite messy as I haven’t cleaned it. The photo may make it look like there only food is in their toilet but there are food hangars right above it out of frame

 

[Flakes]

There was a night when I first was getting to know Dortmund that I thought to myself "Maybe the reason he runs back and forth like a crazy person all night long isn't that he is nutso, but because he is looking for some place to hide and can't find anywhere." So got up at around 2 in the morning found a large cardboard box cut a couple of holes in it, and put it where Dortmund could find it. Sure enough he cut down on his running, but only because he decided to spend his time gnawing on the cardboard box I'd provided for him. It was very loud, and to this day I haven't given the little furball any cardboard (well except for the occasional toilet roll filled with hay).

At one point in time he did try to eat his plastic cage, and there are plenty of gnaw marks to prove this. Recently he decided that he was a free range rabbit, which meant that he hid from me underneath my dresser drawer and made absolutely no noise. I think he was under the misapprehension that if I found him I would eat him. This silence lasted all of about a week. Now though he is back to running around like he's bonkers (the sound is sort of like what a chipmunk sounds like running across a roof) and snuggling up to my hand demanding scratches and snuggling up with my feet demanding who knows what -- maybe he's like Quinten Tarantino and is a foot guy.

I put on Thunderstorm sounds on my Alexa and the white noise usually drowns out whatever the hell Dortmund is up to these days. I also find that if he plays and runs a lot during the day, he tends to be too tired at night to be a nuisance.

 

[Apollo’s Slave]

Apollo was really loud when I first got him too. How big is the enclosure roughly, because maybe you could refund it and get an expen (exercise pen) instead. The plastic flooring of most cages or enclosures is generally really loud. If you can’t get an expen, try lining the bottom of the enclosure with a fleece blanket you don’t might getting ruined. Make sure they get lots of hay in their enclosure and that they have at least 2 hours of playtime a day out of their enclosure. Depending on how big or energetic your rabbits are, your enclosure may be too small. They should be able to stand up fully and get a few good hops inside their cage without bashing into anything. Apollo is extremely loud at night and loves - like a lot of other mischievous house bunnies - to thump while I’m asleep. You could also try to set a schedule that you stick to. Like breakfast at 7:30 and dinner at 6:00pm? Whatever suits you. If they are still making a ruckus, cover their enclosure with a blanket. That may work. As you get to know them more you can know how to fix some things they do.

P.S. The photo is of Apollo’s set up. Fairly cheap and CLEAN once he was litter trained

 

[Solstice and MaMa]

Solstice and mama are pretty inactive, except when they want food or are chewing, I don't think they dislike me, I think they just like each other more, like a lot of bonded rabbits. They are taking up about as much room as i can spare for them. i put towels down in the bottom of the part of the enclosure they sleep in. Their noisiness is very on and off now, I've had them for almost two months now, some nights they are completely silent (almost) and some nights they are super loud. My rabbits love their boxes so much, they always sit in them or lay out of them like in my profile pic. So I feel like if I got rid of their boxes they wouldn't like it.

 

[Marcella-Jaine]

I use ear plugs that are the highest rated for machinery and gunfire! I also buy bunny bamboo sticks and wicker and willow balls on Amazon for my buns to gnaw on. They seem to be a bit quieter than the cardboard. It’s amazing how much noise cardboard can make!!!

 

[Solstice and MaMa]

I use ear plugs that are the highest rated for machinery and gunfire! I also buy bunny bamboo sticks and wicker and willow balls on Amazon for my buns to gnaw on. They seem to be a bit quieter than the cardboard. It’s amazing how much noise cardboard can make!!!

I bought earplugs for sleeping that are identical to the foam ones at gun ranges. My father actually works for a gun range in the winter so i got these really high decibel rated ones that I can't hear anything through but they are so uncomfortable I can't sleep with them in. The foam ones I can sleep with but I can still hear the noise if they are loud enough

 

[cuteus]

Hi, brand new to this site, and brand new to owning rabbits, I got them a little over a month ago and they live in an enclosure in my bedroom, they are super noisy, every night the scratch the floor waking me up, and they knaw on their boxes. I know they have to do this but is there a way to do anything to make it quieter? The floor of their enclosure is plastic. They are so loud that I wear earplugs to be every night and they still wake me up. They are a bonded pair of female rabbits daughter and mother (solstice and MaMa or midnight)

One thing we rabbit guardians need to consider is that lagamorphs can tend to be active when we are not. They are sort of nocturnal if you consider the time before sunrise as "night". We are trying to mold them to our circadian cycle and it should be the other way around. They might be waking you in the wee hours before dawn. If they cannot be in their own room, then some sort of ear plugs would be needed. Mine have free range and like to go under the bed. If I have a box under there, I will be woken. The other bunny in his own room likes to roll a beach ball several times a night (I saw it in the monitoring camera). It is the natural way of the species. Perhaps bunny proofing another room in the house and letting them free will expend the energy of youth. Right now, because of their age or because of the space available to them, they are not as active. The older one spends the time under the beds, rarely does he chews on the box under the one bed. I guess is not novelty anymore. One thing though, they might not do one activity for months or years and one day, they start again! The nature of the bun. They never cared for wood furniture but one day, who knows?

 

[Flakes]

Right now, because of their age or because of the space available to them, they are not as active. The older one spends the time under the beds, rarely does he chews on the box under the one bed. I guess is not novelty anymore.

Dortmund is only a few months old and he spends most of his time under my bed. I'm not sure if he sees me as some sort of rabbit eating monster who feeds him, cleans up his poop, scratches him behind his ears, and gives him strawberries.

It is weird though. When he was confined in his cage he would run from one end of the cage to the other and do tiny Binkies in the confined space. When I started taking him out of the cage and limited his freedom to running around my bed while I lay on it, he would run back and forth doing Zoomies for hours. Now that he has learned that he can just jump off the bed for freedom, he spends most of his time hiding.

 

[JenGibs]

Dortmund is only a few months old and he spends most of his time under my bed. I'm not sure if he sees me as some sort of rabbit eating monster who feeds him, cleans up his poop, scratches him behind his ears, and gives him strawberries.

It is weird though. When he was confined in his cage he would run from one end of the cage to the other and do tiny Binkies in the confined space. When I started taking him out of the cage and limited his freedom to running around my bed while I lay on it, he would run back and forth doing Zoomies for hours. Now that he has learned that he can just jump off the bed for freedom, he spends most of his time hiding.

Awwwwwww....sweet Dortmund! I can only imagine the things you would say to him while he was doing zoomies on the bed! LOL

 

[Flakes]

Mostly go to sleep you silly rabbit I have to get up early.