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Help! I'm in a Dilemma

Kiwibunny

Banned
Tweed has been an indoor bunny since he arrived, altho confined to one room because of our two little old terriers. He has been happy and playful and ran to greet me every time I went into the room. BUT then he started making noises at night running around, not a lot, but just occasionally and enough to disturb sleep (his room is right next door to our bedroom). So then I started confining him to a sleeping box, but he didn't like that and showed his displeasure by thumping in the box. Hubby said "enough!" and I admit, I also hate being woken up. So I set up a hutch outside in the shed, a real "home away from home", to put him into at night. So he has been inside 7am to 7pm. NEW PROBLEM is that he no longer runs to play when he sees me, instead he goes and crouches under the table, because he thinks I'm going to pick him up. And he hates being picked up. He was such a jolly friendly little fellow before and now he just seems anxious and I wonder if he is stressed by having a change of accommodation every 12 hours. In the morning when I go to get him to bring him inside he crouches all hunched up in the far corner of the hutch, knowing he is going to be picked up. I always handle him correctly and carefully but I think he has been hurt by children picking him up roughly in the past. Should I persevere with the current system in the hope that he'll get used to it? But I hate making him miserable and stressed. I'm thinking he may just have to be an outside bunny and move in next to the guinea pigs. All ideas and opinions appreciated. Thanks.
Anna
 
Hi there Anna, and I am so sorry to hear of your dilema and it struck a personal chord with me ...I had to work through something similar with my House Rabbit Mistletoe who at first had the run of the house and slept on our bed every night. :lol:
This system worked for months, and then Mistletoe began going for my Husband each time he dared :lol: to get up in the night to go to the loo...Mistletoe also began snoring loudly and making loud thumping noises (as bunnies do!!)...and although we tried to make things work, after many a disturbed night and my HUbby threatening divorce :shock: :lol: ..I decided we had to tackle things.
To cut a long story short, we now have a routine whereby mistletoe comes in to sleep in the bedroom on a Friday andSaturday night so if he disturbs us, then at least it is the weekend and we can set a slower pace to get up in the morning.
Mistletoe knows this routine now, and he really relishes his quality time with us, and tends to behave better as a result.
I am happy too as I still have my darling bunny sharing our home, and my Husband can live with this arrangement :wink:
I think it is easy to get caught up with things and see them as black and white...either the bunny comes inside or not...what about a combination of both, but rememer it is your home too, so you need to find a system that you all feel comfortable with and that works on a practical front too.
Mistletoe likes his outdoor life but is happy to some indoors too...I have a well adjusted bunny as a result...hope this helps a little :?:

Best wishes
adele
 
Adele said:
Hi there Anna, and I am so sorry to hear of your dilema and it struck a personal chord with me ...I had to work through something similar with my House Rabbit Mistletoe who at first had the run of the house and slept on our bed every night. :lol:
adele

My god!!

My OH would leave me even if I even mentioned a bun sleeping on the bed! :lol:

Louise
 
ellepotter said:
[quote="Adele"

My god!!

My OH would leave me even if I even mentioned a bun sleeping on the bed! :lol:

Louise

Oh thats a great pity Louise, your OH truly does not know what he is missing out on :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Hi Anna

This interested me, as I have a similar set up to yourself, but kind of the reverse - Rob goes outside from 8 to 5 during the day, whilst we are at work, and he comes into the house overnight. However, he is an incredibly lazy bunster, and seems to sleep all night (or be very quiet), so we can leave him in one room running about. However, he also doesn't like being carried to and from - he's not so bad when I take him out in the morning, but he can lead Chris quite a merry run around when he goes to get him in at night :wink: :lol: .

How is Tweed when he is either inside or outside - does he seem OK, and it's just the handling bit to get him between these that he doesn't like. Rob is a lone bunny, so I believe he needs a lot of human interaction with us indoors, however, when he is running / binkying about outside in his run I can see how much he enjoys this also, so I am afraid that he just has to put up with the handling to get him in and out. What I do in the morning is move out his bed / toys first, then go back for him - when I do this he probably learns that he is next :wink:, as he dives into his tube to hide Unless I do this he doesn't hide, so it means he interacts with us inbetween without the thought of being moved / handled.

Maybe you could try using something as a warning sign that you are about to 'transport' him, and only lift him after this - he might get used to this. I like the set up of inside / outside bun - kind of the best of both world, so would persevere with this.
 
Have you considered using a petcarier to move him instead of picking him up?

Tam
 
Tamsin said:
Have you considered using a petcarier to move him instead of picking him up?

Tam

Tamsin we find this is an excellent way to move bunnies around the house and garden.
Some bunnies can cope with being cuddled and held whilst you are immobile, but the minute you begin walking around whilst holding them they start to feel very insecure and wriggle to escape.
We use carriers more often than not around the place now, and bunnies soon associate a nice box with a piece of snuggly vet bed as a nice secure thing, and hop in for you when you want to move them.(most of the time anyway :lol: ..some need more coaxing than others).
 
Hi there

Have you tried folding your top over him when your carrying him? I find this settles them down a bit when I`m taking them a long distance by foot.

ps I put shadow on the scales just now and hes just over the 1600 g :) I just put Bugzee on and she comes in at 1500g approx or 1 1/2 kg`s! So Shadow is a bit heavier:)

bronie
 
Thanks everyone for your helpful thoughts. Like Rob, Tweed is a lone bunny and I really stress about his happiness. I have taken on board your ideas and have decided I'm going to encourage him into his sleeping box with a salad (like I used to before) and then carry the whole box out to the shed and he can spend the night in it. I had thought of that previously, but was put off by having to carry the box outside as it's fairly large and cumbersome (handle on top) and our cottage is small and poky and it's a bit of a strain manoevering it through 5 doorways to get outside, 6 counting the shed! And then reverse it in the morning. And I'm a bit old and past it! But I will force hubby to do it, seeing as he secretly loves Tweed. Hehe. I'm not going to pick him up for a while, so that he regains his confidence and then I'm going to just lift him into a little cardboard travel box, as suggested, give him a treat and then lift him out again and slowly train him to accept that. Bronie, I do tuck him under my top or inside my jacket when I carry him, that's how I knew he had fleas!!
 
I guess you're all getting up, while I'm off to bed. By the way, Tuesday has been a nice day! Anyhow, just to say that tonight it was no trouble getting Tweed to pop straight into his box with his salad, hay and toilet. I have used my head and instead of taking him all the way outside, have carried the box into the laundry instead where there is a table just the right size to put his box on for the night. The other animals sleep in the kitchen so they won't bother him. There are 2 doors between him and the bedroom, so hopefully we won't hear him if he decides to thump at 3am!
 
thats a great idea :) I hope you have a good nights sleep :)

Agreed, tuesday has been a great day and sleep is looming up as I can not stop yawning.

Have a good day everyone and sleep well kiwibunny

bronie
 
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