To Keep Your Rabbit Quiet At Night

As you all know, this blog is full of ideas. If you sleep early, or have a shifted sleep cycle with your rabbit, then you may think you have a "nocturnal rabbit."

The video above was provided from Stormy Rabbits. She had great tips, so I asked her for permission to add this to my blog.

And now for additional ideas:

1. Give them a night snack inside the cage--a full belly sometimes does the trick
2. Clicker train before you put them in their cage or before you sleep--perhaps they'll get tired
3. Turn off all the lights of where you rabbit's cage is--it's night time!
4. Add a comfy place or a hide out to the cage--like a bunny bed

I use these ideas at dusk since my rabbits always crave for more playtime even if I give them the whole day to play.

Play Time Considerations

It's a great idea when you change your rabbit's play time surroundings, but sometimes, you just limited to what you can give them. Weather it's because of your parents, or just your space in your home. I know that I can't and is really hard to, give Hoppitus and Hippitus different areas to play in. So, what I've done, is to change the area of they're play time instead of carrying them to other parts of my home.

Just to clarify, I do not think it's a wise choice to change the area of your rabbit hutch. That can stay.

It'll be easy if you have a ex-pen. Just give them less space once in a while. I had them craving for even more space when I gave them the whole floor. It caused them to escape a lot more and become more spoiled... They still do things similar when their space was smaller, but after a few weeks to a month, I gave the whole floor back to them. 

Their territory was back once again, but it felt new to them. As a result, I got to see amazing high jumps and binkies. 

It's a matter of perspective.

If you don't want to bring your rabbit out to play time to different places in the house, that is a option that I found useful recently.

Yippee! More space!

They have the whole floor now!

This picture is from a long time ago, but this is how much they wanted play time

Door Holders

I have a bunny abode for my rabbits as a cage. Check out what it is right here
As you can see, my door looks like this and you may have something similar. You can modify it all you want for your own doors like what I have done.

<--This is the door holding product you can buy at leith pet werks





Supplies:

• clothes pin
• string (pet safe)
• scissors

1. cut a piece of string about the length of the space between the door and the cage when you open it fully. (the length of the official "door holder" )
2. tie the string together to make a ring
3. the put one side of the string in the clothes pin

   

   (For step one)

   
   
4. put so it's nice and tight in the pin
   
5. hook the string onto the door and clip the pin to the cage

I hope this worked well with you. Tell me in the comments!

Bunny Proofing (Blocking corners & favourite chewing areas & escaping experts)

Baby Gates / Storage Cubes

 Baby Gates and Storage Cubes are one of the most common items used for blocking areas. Storage Cubes are better zip tied together. Baby Gates are used by me because I had a spare one. I would consider Storage Cubes if you don't have a spare already. Unless you move the floor time areas around a lot, then you can just use the baby gates for your convenience. Storage Cubes aren't sold lately and if your desperate for those cubes, look at London Drugs.




Phone Books

The heavy ones are most affective. If your rabbit is like mine and likes to try and escape by tugging those gates you have tried to use, them put a phone book or 2 on the inside so the gate seems too heavy to pull.

Toys and Tunnels


Hanging baby keys where your rabbit likes to chew on the bars of the gate works. It's in the way!! Hippitus nibbles on the bars of the gates and only in one spot. If yours chews anywhere, that's going to be a lot of hanging of toys to do! The reason I said tunnels instead of hiding houses is because Hoppitus is a real jumper when it comes to escaping. You can't stand on tunnels, at least for too long before you fall down. 

Boards



Any scrap boards lying around? If they are big enough and not too funny shaped, they can be a excellent barrier. I like to use those boards when they space I want to cover is just a little too big or a length too small and hard to fill in. Try tilting the board around in different ways like you're solving a puzzle. That always seems to help me.

Sitting Human

Just sit in an area that your bunny always seem to be bothered of like a little tiny space they can try to get though if they were really really skinny. That space you sit in front of can be a little temporary part of the floor time you just get too stressed out with. Beware of any nipping saying "Human, I want to go there. You took my spot!"

Random small items you don't need at the Moment (ex. water bottle, container)

Another tight space, but you are already sitting somewhere? You don't have enough phone books? Not the best place to set up a hide out for your rabbit? Well, use a water bottle, or any tall enough container you can shove in there. I've seen unneeded towels, pillows and flexible items put in those areas too. Lastly, rapping and item in newspapers are fine as well. Make sure you are updated with what you have covered items with!

Bored Bunny?

My rabbits aren't the craziest chewers, toy ignorers, and love to do notty things like escaping their floor time area and getting into small spaces where they are never suppose to go into. One of those places would be the detergent area. 

Thank god they never ate anything hazardous. Thank the Bunny heaven if you don't believe in god.

Off topic. 



A great decision if you have that type of rabbit in your household is to provide lots and innumerable hidy houses and possibly tunnels. The rabbits in this picture are my rabbits.




  Those hiding spots can be an alternative "small space" where it's darker like a warren. Cool mazes can be created by you by just arranging the entrance and another entrance together. If you can find any tunnels at any dollar stores, they work great since they are cheap. 

Cardboard huts work best with me and are basically free.

Some stores carry boxes you may take home to put the groceries into. I go to Costco and apparently, No Frills gives you boxes too. Use an cardboard cutter to cut out holes for a door way. 

How much is enough boxes? I like to have at least 3 boxes at hand and I currently have one tunnel that is actually for children. Tunnels for cats are suitable for lager rabbits. Unless you have a Netherland dwarf,  I suggest bigger tunnels than the "small animal" tunnels because they are just too small. Besides, they are way more expensive then the dollar ones.

Don't worry too much about the tunnels because I haven't found the correct dollar store for the affordable tunnels. I found out that stressing too much about them is just making you cranky because you can make tunnel-like-boxes with 2 holes at each end of the box!

Anyways, you get the idea.

Chewers should enjoy those hidy houses aswell. Get creative! Your rabbit won't mind.

How in the world one cup???

I think some of you may be a little confused on how you would get the amount "one cup" of veggies for each rabbit. 

Nope, no blender. You could, but the bunny ain't going to drink that every day! But have you ever thought of chopping?

Well, this can be approximate. The rabbit of yours, isn't going to die just because of a 10 cm more of a parsley. 

1. My advice is to cut up some pieces of veggies (not too small! That's what their teeth are for.) . 
2. Then, get a dry measuring cup to measure about how much of these you need. 
3. I think using quarter cup for each type on vegetable(less depending on your variety of vegetables)

*Note that you only really have to measure in the beginning when your not so sure how much a cup of veggies are.