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BlueCamasRabbitry

BlueCamasRabbitry

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Feb 21, 2007
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Thurston County, Washington, USA
Well, I'm sure we all have some experience in this field! Hungry bunnies getting angry when it comes to feeding time! They dont care what happens as long as they get their food!

My bunnies are sooo pushy! They have their limits and rules to this too. For instance, if they shove the measuring cup out of the way to get to the freshly poured pellets in their dish and the cup is still trying to be emptied, but gets spilled everywhere else in the process, they get what's in their dish and nothing more.

Example 2, if they throw a fit about not having enough food, (since they're all on diets lol) and toss their dish, they either eat the food off the floor (unless it falls through the cracks, then they get a minimum amount back) or get their dish taken away until they can behave, and they have to eat it off the floor (clean spot, lol)

Do you take dishes away from your bunnies when they throw fits? What other things do you reinforce during feeding?

I have taken the dish out many times of my rabbits cage and let them eat off the floor; either they're going to eat their food without tantrums, or they'll learn- much like the child at the dinner table who plays with their food and gets sent to time out or bed.

Emily
 
Oh my rabbits do this all the time.
Marley will grunt and sometimes push my hand and the pellets will spill. I used to not give her her food till she was calm.

Dolla and Domino are ALL OVER the place! They are so pushy!

A few weeks ago I was gone and my brother was supposed to feed the bunnies one morning but when I was talking to him he thought I said he didn't have to. So they missed their morning feeding.
My dad gets down there and Dolla's out and she had jumped up onto the counter by jumping on some bins. She knocked down two ceramic bowls (which broke), a pitcher (is that how it's spelled?) with water in it, a roll of paper towel and toilet paper (it was for the gerbils).

Marley pulled something like that too. She got out, got on the counter and I had some gerbil food in bowl and some sunflower seeds sitting there, which she ate. It scared me too! I was worried that might cause an upset tummy but she stomached just fine. Anyway, she also knocked down a ceramic bowl (which broke), some other plastic bowls she knocked down as well, and tossed anything else liftable off the counter. Oh she also pooped on the food bin and peed in the corner by Domino and Dolla's cage.
They can't be good can they? :headsmack
 
Ruby can get quite pushy but thats only when im pouring it into the container otherwise they just get completly over excited and start running round in circled and fluff licks me lol :biggrin2: love my wee baby
 
Boz wrote:
, and tossed anything else liftable off the counter.
Click to expand...

Lol. That's so funny! I can imagine my rabbits doing that! Especially Savannah! She tosses everything she can lift!

Lol Pep. My rabbits do the same thing. It's funny, cuz when we bring in a hay bale or a bag of feed, they rush to their cage doors and start freaking out. If I jiggle a can of feed, they go bizarre! Rushing around looking at me.

I usually open Magic's cage door while Im in the rabbitry, because he likes to give kisses and visit, and if I wiggle the jug he'll look at me with this look on his face like "Mooooommm!!!!! I want food noooow! It's my turn! Not his!" lol.

Emily
 
Oh yes! Snuff, when Daddy feeds him always acts like he hasn't been feed in weeks, the little turd, haha! He's so cute. But, really, he's nuts!:p

When I feed him, of course, you have to let him eat outto the "big bowl" that his food is in, haha. Then also, have to play a game with him, well, Daddy does, hee.

When I go to feed him, he comes out to that bowl that I make sure I have the lid off of, and proceed to pour his water. He runs under my arm, while I'm trying to pour it in his bowl and yep! Dumps the water all over the place, haha! Silly goose!:p Gotta Love em!

We can't resist laughing with him, we love him tons!:D
 
Lol! That's Max alright.. the turd.. He throws a fit all the time if he feels like we're being unfair in ANY way, haha and the second he sees me in the morning, he immediately starts demanding food by pulling on his cage bars and bounding around. He'll throw everything he can lift in his cage and bash it around when he's upset with us, too.

I used to remove each bunny's bowl and fill them separately outside the cage in the kitchen, then put it back in already filled. This system seems to work better. Lately, I've been more rushed and just brought the filled measuring cup to their bowls.. and every time Max shoves my hand. I don't take his bowl away if he pills them all because I don't think he'd connect the two.

He's on a diet too which doesn't help.. diet = extra ornery bunny! Lol.
 
Anyone who'd watch me feed Annabel would think I haven't fed her in days :?Luckily, she's plump enough that I could use that as proof :pI don't know what it is with some bunnies being the way they are. Lol. Silly bunners :biggrin2:
 
We sure have a bunch of spoiled bunnies! On weekends, when I sleep a little later than usual, around 6:00 (weekday feeding time is 4:00 am) Virgil will start banging his bowl on the tile. When Sparky and Scooter hear me get up, they will start rattling the bars on their pen if I don't get there fast enough with their salad. They have me well trained.
 
Since Max has started his cage rattling, I do try to wait for him to stop and be calm before I give him his food and not do it if he's still making a racket to try and reaffirm the good behavior. Don't know for sure if it is working, lol.. Max is a very good bunny, but he is super obstinant and opinionated!
 
Toby gets super-excited at feeding time! When he used to be in his hutch most of the time (before I knew better *shame*) he would box the bowl right out of my hand. After awhile, he matured and stopped that, but now he charges your hand and will occasionally box. He doesn't do this to me, often, but bunny-sitters, beware! Now he'll just shove my hand off the bowl and nuzzle his way into the bowl and make happy-squeaky sounds (like snorting/grunting with a squeak to it).

Now that I weigh his food, he has to wait a few more seconds. This is the morning ritual.

1. I wake up
2. Toby chews on his cage bars
3. I get up and put his ramp on the cage
4. He runs down to the floor and bolts under the bed
5. I grab his food bowl from the cage
6. I weigh what's left over of the food
7. I weigh out the new food
8. Toby comes'a'running and does happy circles around my feet
9. I pour his food into the bowl
10. Happy bunny squeaky sounds

I gave up training him, so he wound up training me! If I am moving too slow (I normally have to do this at 6:00AM) I will get a warning nip. He's trained me so well, I actually hurry up when I get "the nip"!
 
HA HA our bunnies are a wild bunch,lol. I seperate Sooty and Belle , becasue of Belle being aggressive towards him, but i noticed that she gets very aggressive when it is feeding time so i dont let her out of the cage until the food is down so her mind is on getting to the food and not bitting Sooty.They run around as i am putting the food in, knocking things over and things like that.My guinea pigs are the same way they act like they never eat and they climb all over, ontop of each ot her, knocking into things and nearly falling out of the cage to get to the food.
 
My guys get really excited. A bit before I or my bf wake up, the bedroom bunnies (Ben and Frida) will do binkies all over the carpet. I think they start when they hear the alarm (I've been known to hit snooze a few times). I feed them veggies, and the bf feeds them pellets, so they get excited for either one of us. My guys live in the living room (Tony and Muffin), and they will follow me closely as soon as I enter until I give them pellets. Tony will binky about too. I've started making a point of cleaning up any messes they have made the night before (stray poos, etc) before I give them their food, perhaps so they learn not to make messes? When I get the scoop of pellets out of the bag it's a race across the room to get to the dishes. I usually end up almost stepping on one or both of them, they're so excited. I have to fill both bowls out of their reach because as soon as pellets go in the bowl, they stick their faces in there and won't let me pour more in! They each have to have their own bowls, too, so that Muffin can get in on the pellets.

Later in the morning, they get veggies, and Muffin will sit patiently outside of the cage waiting for them when she's finished her pellets (I wait to feed veggies in the morning because if I don't, Tony will eat all the pellets and Muffin will eat all the veggies). Then we again have binkies over to the food dish. In the evening, they'll stand on the other side of the refrigerator door while I get the veggies out.

Silly bunnies!:roflmao:
 
Bailey of course acts as if I am starving him... My dorm room bed it up high, so when I wake up for class in the morning I jump down. He has heard my alarm and waits for me right at the edge of my bed (i have to be careful to not land on him...). When I walk from my bed to where his food is, he runs around my legs in circles, grunting the whole time. Sometimes he goes so fast I trip over him.... The he wolfs down his food as soon as I put it in the bowl.

By the time I am dressed and eating breakfast, he is contentedly DBFed by his cage....

Amazing how he comes first ;)
 
Lol. I know the starving act! All my bunnies pull the same thing! Especially Bruce! He acts like he hasn't eaten in weeks! I can't understand why they'd be so excited about pellets, they must grow tired of the taste, but surely they dont! lol. Bruce scarfs down his food so dang fast! One minute its there, the next it's not!

They all take extra time with their salads,but they still get excited!

Emily
 
Benjamin is such a piggy! He is the only one who gets hypa at breakfast and dinner time.

He jumps around his cage and jumps on your hand when you put it in to get the bowl out. He doesnt bite or anything he's not agressive, just impatient!

Then when you put his food in he doesnt stop eating until its all gone :shock:

Craaazzzy Bunner :D
 
Thumper is really good at feeding time, he'll come over and sniff my hand and start eating the food before I've even finished pouring the food in the bowl so he ends up getting clonked onthe headwith a chunk of apple lol, but he never jumps on me or knocks over his food or anything.

Princess doesn't like people at her bowl what so ever and will jump at my hand and grunt and try and pull the bowl out of my hand before I've even gotten the food in! Lol, it's like she doesn't want to be fed! So I usually give her some of her food, like a piece of cucumber or lettuce to keep her occupied while I swiftly remove her bowl from her cage lol.

My rabbits are mostly feed on a natural diet and rarely get pellets so I don't really know if they would act differently with pellets, I don't know which one they prefer.
 
I gave up using discipline with Casper because I just learnt he was in charge - no matter what. When he boxed I would take the food away, after a month nothing changed so I just forgot about it. Now he has food in two parts. Half in the morning I leave the bowl on the bedroom floor and let him out of his cage so he cant box me when he gets the food then when its time for him to be put away (or close) whilst he is asleep/resting he gets half of his food put in his cage, then I call him and he goes into his cage to eat and I lock the cage up (or sometimes leave it open for the night, depends on day.
 
Hehe. BunBun is impatient at breakfast, too. I sometimes even joke that his pellets are like his "coffee". He wakes me up at 7-ish weekdays, 9-ish on weekends (I'm sure he tries to get me up at 7, though. ;)) by running around and jumping on things and making lotsa' noise.

Sometimes I accidentally confuse him by getting up when he wakes me up, feeding him, than going back to sleep. Once I get up again, though, he thinks it's the next day and will want me to feed him again.

I can't even pet BunBun before he's had his "coffee". He'll grunt and shove my hand out of the way, than he'll look over and under and around my hand to see if I have his pellets yet.

He also circles me if I'm standing in his cage. He doesn't nip or get aggressive, but sometimes if I'm not going fast enough, he'll brush by my leg, or make a loud noise by jumping on one of his platforms/in his litterbox/etc, to remind me he's still waiting.

He also does the thing where he shoves the measuring cup out of the way to get to the food in the bowl. I actually started scattering his food throughout his cage for two reasons:
-He's forced to eat it slower/better for digestion/etc
-Once he gets his big head in the food bowl, there's no getting it out until everything is gone, so I might as well put the remaining pellets somewhere. :p

Ah, he's so cute. I love "hiding" his pellets in his cage while he's finishing up what's in the bowl, but he always remembers my usual hiding spots. Oh, well. It's still cute to watch him eat.

~Xila :purplepansy:
(I don't like how this post is worded, but I can't think of any other way to say it.)

Also, WaterLilly (I can't believe I can't remember your name! Sorry! D=) I know what you mean about the rabbit coming first. BunBun gets fed first thing. Before I get dressed, or brushed my hair, or even brush my teeth. Usually, I'm over feeding him before I even have time to get cold from being out of bed. =3
He'll have a fit if he feels like he's being ignored. :p
 
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