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coco_puffs

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I've heard that rabbits are nocturnal, but the vet told me they're not - that they need a full 24 hour night/day cycle just like people.

I've been keeping parrots for many years and we all get up about 5am here. Birds and bunny go to bed around 8pm. Is this normal? He makes the occasional chewing on the cage and shredding of the newspaper noises at odd times during the night. During the day Coco has full run of the house when I'm home to supervise, and has several spots that he spends long naps.

Is this all normal? Also, I uploaded some cute pix of Coco (in my profile) and am testing the photo 'insert' feature here!

0530000.gif
 
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Sounds normal to me. Buns seem to spend the middle of the day napping. I know Ellie does, she sleeps during the middle of the day, only gets up to eat and poop. Then goes back to a corner and naps some more. Around 6-11pm she goes insane and gets really active. But goes to bed pretty easily, she gets up again at about 7:30-8am when we get up. We all seem to be on a similar schedule.
I think everyday it just sort of depends on whats going on in the house, as to what she's doing during the day and during the night. If I'm up late, she's up late. If the house is quiet during the day (ie. my son isn't home) she's napping in a corner. So different days, different behaviors. I don't think there is a set "normal" for buns, like there isn't a set "normal" for people.
 
bunnies aren't nocturnal, but they don't follow a "people" schedule either - they're crepuscular, which means most active at dawn and dusk, doing a lot of sleeping during the middle of the day and the middle of the night.
 
Thumper wakes up early when we do. I then let him out into his room around 8:30am. He plays for a while. The rest of the day he spends napping other than to eat, drink or potty occasionally. Sometimes he'll groom himself. Around 8pm he then gets active again. We put him in his cage right before we go to bed. Sometimes I hear him up for a while moving around in his cage.

I used to clean his cage in the early evening. Now I do it in the early afternoon and now he will come over to play for a little while during the time I am in his room.
 
Mine are basically the same. I let them out usually mid afternoon when I get home and they are pretty quiet most of the afternoon, napping and then wandering and napping again. I usually put them away when I go to bed around midnight and i can still hear them tossing things about and making noise for a little while. They usually binking and race about between about 9 to 12 just before I put them away. I try not to mess with their schedule too much regarding feeding although they always know when it should be due.
 
I can't tell you how happy I am that I found this site. He is such a little joy and I want to take the best care of him that I can. I've been watching him closely for the past month and have noticed that from about 10am - 5pm he's very inactive. Napping a lot and snacking here and there. But he is more active in the mornings and evenings for sure.

Thanks again!!
 
Dawn and dusk when predators have the most trouble spotting them. Some of ours are active if they are out day and night, and some are just lumps. It varies from rabbit to rabbit. Our Checkered Giant is an extremely active bunny and she's huge.
 
Me and the wife work the graveyard shift so we're odd enough, I have no idea how the rabbits work out. Conan gets active about 6am then his activity level dies at about 10am. He gets active again around 10pm and stays so until 2am. Xena, can't say I've gauged her accurately yet plus with splitting out time for two seperate living rabbits its a bit difficult to tell at this time.
 
It sounds like Coco is pretty normal, thank goodness. I have another question, if you don't mind. This question is going to be a bit disjointed, but will make sense in the end. Bear with me :)

I have five parrots who, along with Coco, have full run of the house during the day. We bird proofed our house long ago so it's very safe in here. And Coco does not have an interest in cords. And I'm here all day to supervise.

At night everyone goes in a covered cage. I've done this with my birds for years, so they can sleep well and not have to be 'on guard' at night. We leave Coco's cage a tiny bit uncovered because I'm not sure if he was used to such darkness before we got him, and I didn't want him to be scared at night. Coco sleeps downstairs next to my roommate and he has reported that Coco chews on the bars of his cage at night, every night. And he is often up chewing, scratching, etc. at all times of the night.

My question is this: given the safeness of my house, would it be OK to let Coco have full run of the house at night? I'd hate for him to feel 'stuck' or 'caged.' And do you think he would prefer or benefit from the sense of security that a covered cage would afford? Or, does he even care about that? I know rabbits are burrowing animals and thought he might like that cave feeling of a covered cage.

I worry about this every night so any advice would be most welcomed. Thank you!
 
I, too have birds so have bird proofed my house as best I can. Long time being owned by birds but still new to buns. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt! lol Anyway, I personally feel it is best for the bunnies (I have two Jersey wooly does) to be in either a cage or an xpen for the night. A bunny's main "job" besides reproducing more bunnies is eating & chewing! lol With those teeth & their intelligence it is hard for them not to find away to get into trouble. Perhaps other more experienced bunny people can give you more help from their experience but I am still not comfortable with my bunnies being allowed "total freedom" without supervision. Oh, course, I tend to be overly cautious with the philosophy "Better to be safe than sorry." Nice to meet another bird/bunny person! Will be interested in following this thread & the replies you receive! Coco is a beautiful bunny!
 
If you didn't feel comfortable leaving Coco out all night with free run of the house, you could put an x-pen around his cage and that would let him have a little more space than the cage but still be contained. Because sometimes as good as they seem during the day while you're there, they get a little crazy at night by themselves.
I rarely put Ellie in her cabinet, I leave her out for sometimes a week at a time in the kitchen that is bunny proofed. BUT some mornings I wake up to my broom having about 50-100 bristles snipped off. She has decided that she likes a part of my cabinets to chew on a little and she has decided that the back door jam is the bee's knees. So sometimes while she is so good during the day, I come into the kitchen in the morning and I'm shocked that what she's done. There isn't anything to hurt her but sometimes I'm just like jeez, what do you do?! haha.

So I would put an x-pen for him to keep him limited to one area but still out of the cage. Until you know that he isn't going to go nuts in your house and start eating your doors or something. But I've noticed that it took Ellie a while to start misbehaving. I guess until she got comfortable enough to test the limits.
Or you could just let him get out and have free run and see how it works, he could just be a great rabbit all the time and never eat your door jams.
 
if he's never gotten into trouble during the day, I see no reason why it would be different at night... though I'd bunny-proof any cords as a precaution even if he doesn't show any interest in them. bunnies like to be active while you're asleep, so he'd certainly enjoy being out at night... and chewing on the bars is a sign of frustration.

if you don't feel comfortable giving him full run of the house, you could get a playpen or two and connect them to his cage to give him a larger space at night, that way he's still confined but has a little room to play.

I don't have my whole house bunny-proofed, but I have my whole living room fenced in with playpens so my girls have a 3-story condo with 24/7 access to 120+ square feet of run space - they LOVE it and are often very active in the middle of the night.

edit: lol, looks like morgan beat me to it!
 
Nice to meet another bird lover! Well, I let Coco stay out all night and he was just fine. Someone said they would probably do at night what they do during the day, and he's never destructive. So, I picked up all cords and let him have the whole floor. He was just fine the whole night. He has been such a perfect little pet. Never once had an accident, never once ruined anything with those teeth. I am very lucky. Thanks again!

I, too have birds so have bird proofed my house as best I can. Long time being owned by birds but still new to buns. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt! lol Anyway, I personally feel it is best for the bunnies (I have two Jersey wooly does) to be in either a cage or an xpen for the night. A bunny's main "job" besides reproducing more bunnies is eating & chewing! lol With those teeth & their intelligence it is hard for them not to find away to get into trouble. Perhaps other more experienced bunny people can give you more help from their experience but I am still not comfortable with my bunnies being allowed "total freedom" without supervision. Oh, course, I tend to be overly cautious with the philosophy "Better to be safe than sorry." Nice to meet another bird/bunny person! Will be interested in following this thread & the replies you receive! Coco is a beautiful bunny!
 
Thanks again - I let him have the whole floor last night and he did great all night. But if rabbits are anything like parrots, one day they have no interest and the next day they chew it all up. So I will get an enclosure of some kind. Thanks!

If you didn't feel comfortable leaving Coco out all night with free run of the house, you could put an x-pen around his cage and that would let him have a little more space than the cage but still be contained. Because sometimes as good as they seem during the day while you're there, they get a little crazy at night by themselves.
I rarely put Ellie in her cabinet, I leave her out for sometimes a week at a time in the kitchen that is bunny proofed. BUT some mornings I wake up to my broom having about 50-100 bristles snipped off. She has decided that she likes a part of my cabinets to chew on a little and she has decided that the back door jam is the bee's knees. So sometimes while she is so good during the day, I come into the kitchen in the morning and I'm shocked that what she's done. There isn't anything to hurt her but sometimes I'm just like jeez, what do you do?! haha.

So I would put an x-pen for him to keep him limited to one area but still out of the cage. Until you know that he isn't going to go nuts in your house and start eating your doors or something. But I've noticed that it took Ellie a while to start misbehaving. I guess until she got comfortable enough to test the limits.
Or you could just let him get out and have free run and see how it works, he could just be a great rabbit all the time and never eat your door jams.
 
This is what convinced me to let him stay out. I covered his cage and left his food bowls inside his cage, but left the door open. He's so perfect (!) he went inside to eat and do his business, and slept outside so he could have his belly on the cool tile. Also, I picked the cords up off the floor, but will still get him some type of enclosure. Thanks again!! Such a great group :)

if he's never gotten into trouble during the day, I see no reason why it would be different at night... though I'd bunny-proof any cords as a precaution even if he doesn't show any interest in them. bunnies like to be active while you're asleep, so he'd certainly enjoy being out at night... and chewing on the bars is a sign of frustration.
 
Thanks again - I let him have the whole floor last night and he did great all night. But if rabbits are anything like parrots, one day they have no interest and the next day they chew it all up.

hah, yeah, that sounds about right! (my girls and their coroplast condo flooring come to mind)
 

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