rabbit advice

[littleshinyone]

hi everyone. after some advice about our lovely 2 rabbits.

they're reasonably new to us, and are getting used to us.... the male (barney) is less shy than the female (jasmine), and will let us stroke and pet him as long as he can see an easy escape, and Jas is starting to relax with us.

they have a palacial (spelling?) hutch that my husband who's a cabinet maker made for them, with a big run they can access all the time and a massive area of garden they are let into most of the day, so we're pleased they're not just going a bit feral!!

the upstairs section of their hutch has 2 seperate areas, one has their litter tray.

every time we change the litter tray though, Barney goes a bit loopy. He grabs the litter tray and tries to stop us taking it out, pulls the lining newspaper out, nips at clothing to try and fling our arms away!!

after we've closed the side door, it takes him a while to settle down, and he sometimes tips the tray upside down...

I don't quite understand the psychology!! I read somewhere that they like to have their own smell around, so we never totally clean all the poos out, and sometimes they don't wee in the tray so there's plenty of scent around....

any ideas. I don't want to end up with a biter... and its just such as specific situation...

what would You do?

Very cute bunnies! Sounds like they've got a great set up. I wouldn't worry about the litter tray thing. He's probably just being a bit territorial. It's his house and you just waltz in and remove his tray, empty it and replace everything, then put it back smelling clean. Just carry on as you are and he'll get used to it. My boy likes to be very involved in cleaning his cage out, still, after 6 years! You could always do it quickly when he's wandering elsewhere in his empire.

Barney is not biting you, just pulling at your clothes. He won't be a biter, don't worry.

Bunnies are quite territorial and don't like it when you mess with their stuff. I'd shut him out, so he can't get stressed by you cleaning. Daft rabbit

aha! that sounds reassuring and sensible!! thanks guys...!

Mine love to "help" when I'm doing their hutch, when I'm pulling out the newspaper, they tug some out too... if I pile up the sticks, they move them to the side...

I always put a bit of paper down somewhere they don't like paper just so they have a job in moving it.

I'd try distraction techniques or let him assist!

Our male bunny also likes to help by rearranging everything if we dont put it back exactly how he likes it. Just ensure you spend plenty of time with them, sitting on the floor so that they can hop up to you/on to you, and you can groom them, and they will probably start grooming you back which is lovely.