rabbits hiding in the bushes at bedtime

[rainbowfudgee]

My bunnies go to sleep around 9pm so we try to put them in their hutch just before then... but tonight they have been messing around and running away from me. Our garden is enclosed completely by walls so I know they can't get out. Things that have worked before: sending our friendly cat into the bushes to flush them out, trail of dandelion leaves, throwing a blanket over them, getting down on their level so as not to threaten them... but tonight they will not be caught and now it's getting dark.

I want them to have lots of running around time outside of their run but don't want a battle every evening to get them in the hutch... they are well hidden in the bushes but I do worry about foxes. One of our rabbits was out for a night recently and was fine but it's not ideal. How can I tempt them in your the run tomorrow evening? They are too young for treats and veg.

How young are they? Do they have dinner when they go back into their enclosure? As the nights become warmer, it becomes the best time to play outside and engage in hide and seek!

They can be trained to come back, but you'll need to set up a routine with some pellets in a bowl, or treats as they're older. Mine would come running at the sound of their pellets rattling around the bowl and I'd just shut their run gate behind them.

In the meantime, it might be a good idea to use some wire mesh so they can't get to inaccessible places and under the bushes until they're trained to come back!

Oh this brings Bach memories. Ours had the run of our garden but at nightfall they would go under a large, creeping conifer. Some nights we would have to park the car opposite with full beams on and my husband jumping up and down on the bush to flush them out.
Such happy days.

i agree with training them, call them whenever you give them a little treat and they will start to come to you when you call.

Thanks, great advice here! They are 13 weeks so still little. I will investigate getting some wire fencing and start feeding them later at 9pm when they come in- at the moment it's pellets at 6 pm.

Are they same-sex? At 13-14 weeks they start to become sexually mature so something to keep an eye on. Babies aren't guaranteed to stay bonded.

After a couple of times of sweeping them out with a big broom, our go in on sight of said broom

I also save nuggets for when I want to shut them in, and make "tutt tutt" noises which they seem to understand.

Rabbits are really good with routine so echo others' advice there.

Also amused to see I'm not the only one to have inadvertently trained mine to come in at the mere sight of a broom

For me a combination of routine, plus broom for prodding them out from under bushes plus just following them around until they are so annoyed that they go in to escape, seems to work.

We always bang the broom handle twice on the back step when we go out to shut the rabbits in at night. They've got so used to it now that the noise usually has them hopping straight into the hutch. We do still occasionally have a night of quick-dash-around-the-garden-like-nutters though 🙄

We are now giving them run of the garden during the day then putting them in the run at 7 for pellets, then hutch at 9. Haven't had any camp outs for a couple of weeks!

That's good to hear!