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strange question about naughty lily!

ChloeLawless

Mama Doe
:wave: hi all.
i haven't been on here for agesssssss, hope everyone is ok and all bunnies are well :)

i'm having a bit of trouble with lily at the moment. i recently had to move home due to financial reasons but have been able to keep all my buns which is fantastic.

lily now lives in my room in her crate and has free time when i am home, shes free range basically.
the problem i am facing is during the night where she constantly feels the need to jump on my bed and scare the hell out of me :lol: i've tried telling her no and bribing her with all manner of things but she still does it.
it is rather funny but at the same time waking up at 4am nose to nose with a bunny is quite scary!

does anyone have any ideas as to what i can give her or even if i can train her not to do this?

sorry for the randomness of the question.

heres a little photo of her enjoying a treat.
8834_132441671149_518206149_2951233_5695950_n.jpg


thanks, chloe x
 
She's a very pretty bunny! :D

I can imagine that gives you quite a fright! :lol: I think what has probably happened is that she tried it once and you responded, maybe laughed and greeted her am I right? So she does it again - you respond again - she has now learnt a behaviour that gets a 'reward'. All you can do really is train her by not giving her a reward. In effect - no response at all. Telling her off or responding in any way for buns can still be a reward of attention in some form. As the behaviour has become a bit ingrained by the sounds of things i'm just warning that it could take several weeks of consistently ignoring her when she does this...before she gives up even jumping up on your bed at this time.

You may find that other times spent on your bed receiving attention when it is appropriate for you will mean to her that it is 'always' appropriate so you might have to be consistent throughout the day. Failing this I would block your bed off at night or even dare I say it, lock her in her cage at night, provided it is big enough for her to have room to hop around and stretch her legs - perhaps an attached puppy pen to her cage for night-time exercise would be better. :)
 
She's a very pretty bunny! :D

I can imagine that gives you quite a fright! :lol: I think what has probably happened is that she tried it once and you responded, maybe laughed and greeted her am I right? So she does it again - you respond again - she has now learnt a behaviour that gets a 'reward'. All you can do really is train her by not giving her a reward. In effect - no response at all. Telling her off or responding in any way for buns can still be a reward of attention in some form. As the behaviour has become a bit ingrained by the sounds of things i'm just warning that it could take several weeks of consistently ignoring her when she does this...before she gives up even jumping up on your bed at this time.

You may find that other times spent on your bed receiving attention when it is appropriate for you will mean to her that it is 'always' appropriate so you might have to be consistent throughout the day. Failing this I would block your bed off at night or even dare I say it, lock her in her cage at night, provided it is big enough for her to have room to hop around and stretch her legs - perhaps an attached puppy pen to her cage for night-time exercise would be better. :)

brilliant advice, thank you! you're right yes, shes very good at getting a fuss and she is spoilt by everyone :roll: i think she also does it when i'm not in the room either so she gets away with it further!
i do sometimes leave her in her cage but she bites at the bars and shakes the door and wakes us all up :roll: :lol:
gosh, i have a brat on my hands! i'm going to get her other larger crate out now i'm settled back home and see if shes any better then.
i'll also try the ignoring idea :)
thank you very, very much! x
 
i do sometimes leave her in her cage but she bites at the bars and shakes the door and wakes us all up :roll: :lol:

That's a classic attention seeking behaviour - which also needs to be consistently ignored! If you've ever rewarded this by offering treats through the bars or lettting her out immediately after she has done it or whilst she is doing it.....then she will relentlessly pursue this reaction again! Buns are quick to learn and slow to unlearn i'm afraid!
I used to offer my two a treat through the bars just before going upstairs to bed....this was a year or so ago - I did it regularly. They will both still now come bounding over to the bars....very good memories! I have to be VERY strong and resist those begging little noses that frantically get pushed through the bars looking for treats! :lol: If I don't then the bar chewing would start up again just like they used to do....especially Nino. It got to the point he would chew the bars everytime we came into the room. It's all stopped now because we learnt it was a reward associated behaviour which WE taught them! We all do it.....don't worry! :oops::lol:
 
Bunnies sleep a lot during the day and are their most active in the evening and early hours. Daisy, who is free range, wakes me up during the night as she trots and jumps around.

If she is in a crate during the day, she will need to be out at night. Shes trying to get some attention from you and jumping on the bed.

Might be worth leaving the crate open during the day and arranging a pen around the crate with panels (lots of ideas on here) so that she can get out the crate and move around. Not sure of the size of your bedroom.
 
I've had issues with biting bars too, from both buns. I've found it helps to reward them every time they go back in their cages. I normally time feeding with putting them back, so they're quiet for awhile. Lots of toys to distract them helps too. I've tried to change their mentality from "OH NO! BACK IN THE PRISON!" to "oooo, my other playhouse!!"

But they still bite bars from time to time. Naughty buns! :lol:
 
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