Morning feed, help!!

[xlHeartlx]

Hello all! I have an adorable 10 month old bun named nesquik. Ever since I got her, i’ve gotten her into the routine of getting fed a little less than 1/4 cup of pellets in the morning, ( i have now transitioned her to adult pellets from alfalfa pellets). She would be fed these pellets whenever me or my partner wake up in the morning, typically between 7-10am. Recently however, she has learned that she gets fed when we wake up, so she scratches at her bowl and her pen, as well as thumps to wake us up. My partner and I are night owls so we typically go to sleep between 11:30-1am and having her wake us up at between 5-7 am is getting tiresome and we get little sleep. She has fresh hay and water at all times so she isnt necessarily “hungry” but it’s getting to the point where we are going a little crazy every morning. Is there anything I can do to limit her behavior every morning? I tried covering the area where her bowl is (and where she scratches) with a towel but she just goes to the other side of her pen to shake and scratch around. Her pen also takes up a good amount of space in my room and i dont have enough towels to drape over it. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you all

 

[JBun]

First, are you getting up at all and paying her any attention or feeding her when she does this? If you have or do, then she has basically learned that she gets 'rewarded' for this behavior. It's the same kind of training with dogs. If they do something, even undesirable, and it results in attention or food from the owner, then they have just received positive reinforcement for that behavior.

 

[xlHeartlx]

First, are you getting up at all and paying her any attention or feeding her when she does this? If you have or do, then she has basically learned that she gets 'rewarded' for this behavior. It's the same kind of training with dogs. If they do something, even undesirable, and it results in attention or food from the owner, then they have just received positive reinforcement for that behavior.

I try and feed her closer to the time we usually feed her like 7 am or so. I try to hold off on giving her any attention but sometimes i do just feed her to get her quite so we can have some sleep. I also feel the time change (here in SoCal) has kind of messed with her feeding schedule. The sun begins to rise around 5 am so she’s probably thinking ‘oh its bright! I’m getting fed!’. Should I try ignoring her more in the morning until it’s her feeding time?

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Remember, cats have owners, dogs have masters, and rabbits have slaves! I've told everyone that if you don't train your bunny, your bunny will train you--sounds like your well trained. They do go off like clocks--my suggestion would be to feed later. Ours are used to 11 and 11 am/pm. Good luck!

 

[JBun]

Giving her any attention or food when she does that, is telling her that's how she gets your attention or fed. So, you're basically training her to wake you up early

Do you only feed pellets in the morning, not at night?

 

[xlHeartlx]

Giving her any attention or food when she does that, is telling her that's how she gets your attention or fed. So, you're basically training her to wake you up early

Do you only feed pellets in the morning, not at night?

Yes I only feed in the morning! I do that because I work in the mornings sometimes and my partner may not be home but I think I will start feeding her a little later

 

[JBun]

You may want to consider switching pellet feed time to quite a bit later. If you were to change it to late evening or even right before bed, your bun might even start sleeping in, and let you sleep in too.