Out of Cage Time

Question
QUESTION: Hi Dana:

I appreciate your advise/opinion on what may be causing change in litter box habits.

Background:
Smokey is a 9 mos old lionhead rabbit
recently spayed (3 months ago)
Feeding 2x per day of fresh greens and timothy & orchard grass hay
1/8 cup of pellets  daily
2-3 hours of out of cage time;

Smokey in general has very good litter-box habits;  Recently she has started to leave pills outside of her litterbox, scattering in the cage;  And she has started to overturn her litter-box.  Could you please advise what is causing this?  Is she unhappy?

Ever since she was young she is used to us reaching in to clean her cage and feed her.  Sometimes she's inside sometimes she's outside of her cage.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Ellen

ANSWER: Dear Ellen,

Even though Smokey was spayed, she's still at the age where her "terrible teens" are kicking in.  Bunnies this age--even spayed or neutered--often go through an adolescent period that sees them become rambunctious, silly, or even aggressive.  It will pass, eventually.  Almost all mammals go through this (including humans!), and I suspect she'll begin to mellow out again in a few months.

But in the meantime, this might be a good time to contact your local rabbit rescuer and see if you can set up some "blind dates" with eligible, neutered bachelor bunnies.  Two rabbits will entertain each other, and I've noticed that in most cases, destructive behavior will be sharply reduced when a bunny has a pal for distraction.

You can find local rabbit rescuers via this link:

www.rabbit.org/chapters

Hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Dana:

Question is around space and out of cage time.

Currently Smokey lives in a cage that is 2'WX3LX2'D.

For her out of cage time, she has an enclosed bunny-proof area that is
4'X7'

Most of the time she is in her cage, currently she gets around 2-3 hours of out of cage time.

Is the out of cage space adequate enough?
Are we giving her enough out of cage time?

Thank you!

Answer
Dear Ellen,

In my opinion, this is nowhere near enough out-of-cage time.  If the larger area is bunny-proofed, why not just leave the cage door open all the time and allow her to come and go at will, using the cage as "home base?"

Our rabbits are never caged, and have full run of our bunny-proofed house.  Once the litterbox habits are fine, this is really the best way for them to live, and much healthier with that much more exercise.

Dana