Cage phobic

[Marrie]

Powder since getting the advice of the vinyl around the litterbox has been using his box exclusively again, yay!

But he still has one issue which I thought would resolve itself in time when he settled in, but has instead gotten worse rather than better:

He has an absolute phobia of being locked in anywhere - which I can understand after 6 months being in a small cage and not being allowed out at all (in the shelter). He is allowed out when I wake up and stays out until I go to bed - I don't work, so I am home all day with him usually. But when I put him in his cage for bedtime, he spends at least 4 hours just trying to get out. It kind of reminds me of a claustrophobic person who is locked in a confined space.

He has a cage larger than any pet store cage I can buy here. It's about 6ft long and 3ft long (it was a lot larger until a few days ago, will explain why). He is only in it while I am sleeping. He has toys in his cage, a cardboard box with a hole cut in it so he can have a den, his litterbox, a stuffed animal he likes to groom/sleep beside, chew sticks, a towel to cuddle onto, a water bottle.

I had originally had him in a cage that was about 70% of the floor space of the room he's in (our 2nd bedroom) but he figured out he can jump over the 26" panels so had to rebuild to add a roof two days ago, which took some of the run space away.

When he gets put in at night he slams himself against the panels trying to break it open. When that fails he runs up and down the cage trying to figure out a way to jump out. When that doesn't work he pushes on it. He keeps at it until at least midnight, probably longer, but I usually fall asleep in one of his breaks and cease to hear his noises. Last night boyfriend said he was being woken up until 3am with the noises. Eventually he sleeps, I usually come in to him laying beside his stuffed animal in the morning.

I don't want him to be so stressed out but I do not trust him running free of the house exactly, he loves to try to sneak a chew in on things (carpet, wood trim we have all throughout the house, etc) when I am not looking. Is there anything I can do to solve his phobia of being locked into an area? Or should I just try to rabbit proof and let him stay out of the cage? .. we don't own the house, so I am kind of worried about damages he might do, but I hate to see him stressed. He gets put in and let out same time every day, I figured he'd get used to the schedule and calm down... but he's just gotten worse about it. He's been a bit phobic since the day we got him.

The shelter knew nothing about his history - so he could have been cage bound before he ever came there as well, plus the 6 months of being locked up. He's at least a few years old, they couldn't tell me anymore about his age.

 

[Inle_Rabbitry]

Perhaps you could put some treats in his cage which will distract him from focusing on trying to get out.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

I think what I would recommend is an open cage or playpen where he can run in and out at his leisure. But feed him in the cage so that he not only gets used to being inside the cage, but also starts seeing it as a positive place to be. I think in time, you should be able to make him more comfortable so that he will stay in his cage overnight. But it sounds like right now, he sees it as a negative place and a punishment so you have to overcome that fear with him.

 

[Marrie]

He gets his pellets at night, which he loves. He also gets a veggie treat to get him to go in the cage, but once he sees the door close all food is forgotten until he finally settles down.

 

[Marrie]

Hrm, it won't let me edit.

Julie, his cage is left open when I let him out in the morning. He's free to go in / out at his leisure. As long as the door is open, he's fine with it - he goes in for his water bottle, or some pellets if he has any left.

Last night I stayed in his cage with him to try to settle him down, didn't help. I gave him the stuffed animal because he liked it when he found it in my bedroom and I was hoping a "friend" would settle him down, but it didn't.

I feed him his pellets at night because I read it can make the cage more appealing to them, but it hasn't worked on him. I don't pick him up to put him in as I don't want to stress him out (or make him think he's getting punished), so I bribe him into his cage. He always goes in of his own free will.

I do have hay in the living room for him since that is where he spends most of his time, do you think I should remove that so food = cage completely?

He only freaks out if the door is shut and he can't get back out.

Part of the reason might be because he is very attached to us already. Anytime a person walks, they have a rabbit underfoot doing binkies in a circle around them. Getting up to get a drink means taking two steps, waiting for the bunny to make his circle, taking two steps, waiting, else you'll end up stepping on him. lol When he does get out of his cage through his escape attempts, he comes into our bedroom and lays down between the TV and the bed and tries to go to sleep there.

 

[plasticbunny]

Instead of letting him out all day, start sitting in there with him with the door locked for an hour or so. If he gets agitated, soothe him with pets and soft words. Once he can handle that, try the same exercise but with you sitting just outside the door.

Move further and further away as he adapts, until he can stay in there without becoming frantic.

Of course, one thing that may help him a lot...a friend! If he gets lonely that easily, you may want to consider a cagemate for him. Just be sure to research bonding carefully if you decide to go this route.

Good luck!

 

[Marrie]

Thanks, Erin. I will try that. We plan to get him a friend after he is neutered/heals up from the surgery. His neuter will be in 2 weeks. After that, I will be researching on bonding.

He is very docile, my cockatiel can bully him (little tiny bird that flies away anytime the bunny moves too fast). Last night the bird chased the bunny away from his fresh cut grass, so I plan to be very careful if we do end up bonding him, since I don't think he would fight back against a bully. I can pick the bird up and make him leave the bunny alone, but I have seen what rabbit teeth do to each other from the pictures here, yikes!

 

[plasticbunny]

That's great! Nothing cuter than two buns cuddling :bunnieskiss!

 

[tamsin]

Night time is quite an active time for rabbits and they can get quite frustrated if they are confined when they usually have access to a larger area.

I would try distraction, see if you can give him enough activities to keep him occupied for those hours between being shut in and him going to sleep.

You mentioned he likes his pellets? I'd suggest a treat ball for these, it will increase how long it takes him to eat them and give him an activity to keep him occupied. Do you feed any vegetables? If not then gradually adding these to his diet will give you some tasty low calorie enrichment. Vegetables are very versatile, you can hang them up, hide them in and under things etc. and it really encourages them to put some effort into searching them out.

If the treat ball works out well, you could also try jiding the pellets in boxes, start easy, a box with a biggish hole, but as he learns to shread them, combine boxes in boxes, treats wrapped in paper, boxes of hay etc. Shredding them will help work off any frustration and wear him out ready to sleep.

 

[Marrie]

Foraging... I can try that, I have had to teach my bird to do it as well.

Last night the boyfriend felt so bad for him we ended up leaving his cage open and blocking off the living room so he had access to his room (which has nothing in it except his cage and a bird cage), the hallway and our room. He binkied around for like 10 minutes when he realized we weren't putting him in his cage, chilled out on top of the A/C vent (he likes it COLD apparently, he is always DBF on the vents even though it's 72F in the house!) and ended up in the cage by his own choice (with door open). And, as far as I can tell, he stayed there most the night... he came running into my bedroom at 9:30 when I normally get him out like "ok mommy, it's time to get up, come on, lets go" and even got up on his hind legs to check up on me.

He is actually active this morning, which usually I get him out, he runs under our bed and goes to sleep for the morning/afternoon he's so tired from his nightly escape attempts. He's all bright eyed, doing binkies, running around like a crazy rabbit.

So, I guess he'll be staying out for now and working on training sessions in the cage to adjust him to it slowly since he's so stressed over it. I'll add some forage toys to it and try Erin's method of staying with him and then backing out, gradually increasing the time he has to be there until he's calm enough. I know he can't be as active after his neuter and he needs to calm down so he won't hurt himself when that is done, since he'll need to be in a smaller space to heal.

Thanks for the ideas everyone, making my masters (bunny) life easy enough for him is hard work!

 

[MiniLopHop]

I'm glad you were able to work out a solution. Your not alone.

I have a rabbit that came from a very cramped situation. She didn't have space to hop properly or periscope. She also freaks out if her door is shut. She has a large cage that is essentially just her bed and then an attached play pen that has the litter, food, water, toys, hide box. If I shut the pen door so she can't get out into the room she freaks and focuses on getting out.


I ended up just leaving the door open all the time. She will sleep under the dresser some times or hop around to check things out, but she doesn't get into trouble. She still spends a lot of time in her cage so I know she likes it. I think it is just psychological that she doesn't want that choice taken away from her. Poor bunny.

 

[Marrie]

Thanks for telling me about your little girl. Sounds exactly like my bun - the cage they had him in was so tiny when you looked at him in it and he wasn't one of the "pretty bunnies" that they took to schools and such so he didn't get to come out much at all (if at all). At least I know he's not alone in being scared of being locked away, poor little babies!