Behaviour Modification

 My bunny came first. I brought her home 5 yrs ago and she lived with me and my roommate's cats and later when I moved home she lived with my mom's and siser's cats. My bunny is not the problem. I need help in training Oliver to keep his bugger paws out of the pen. I keep my bunny in this :

The black eavestrough net going around and the red fabric are extra protection from Oliver. I took that into account when building it. The small gaps in the black plastic net thing are just what Oliver has learned about. He pounces up on the cage, he sticks his paws in and he has even learned to jump in through the top "window" which I have to keep closed and also on top (I don't want him on top bc I don't think it can supprt his weight. I have it modded so I can flip the entire middle section for cleaning). Currently there are 3 extra peices just laid on top so if he jumps up they will fall down and scare him. - it worked once. 

  Of all the cats I lived with previously, only my sister's cat Illusion was intrerested in the bunnies. They had open top pens then and Illusion would jump in and have naps with them My late bunny Akina built him a fur nest once!! <3 

  So, I need help in modifying Oliver's interest in killing my bunny!! I can hold him so he cannot use his paws and the 2 will sniff. He only once opened his mouth to bite. But other than that, I wanted to have mats out so my bunny can come out and free roam the apartment. That's what I had planned when we moved. I knew taking in a cat would require some training but I'm really getting frustrated with this. 

   I cannot sleep in on my days off bc Oliver is poking in at the bunny and she stomps her feet over and over. Then while I'm up, I cannot sit still without looking back and making sure Oliver is not poking at her. While we're home (bc he doesn't care about her when we're out) I have a water bottle. When I spray him I hiss loudly so he knows what's coming and I spray him as close to his face as I can (bc he don't mind water hitting him anywhere else). With the hissig I'm trying to use classical conditioning, so he will associate the hissing with water and then bugger off but it's not working. It only seems to make him MORE interested in being bad. 

   Does anyone have any suggestions? Anything involving money is OUT of the question. I am literally broke until my student loan in Jan. Thanks !!!

She's a dwarf mix. About 5 lbs now I'd say or close abouts. She knows how to teach cats their place, as I said she's no stranger to them. I had a mat on the floor and left the door open every day for a couple days and sat across the room to let them have it out but Oliver would try to walk into her pen, which is a big no-no (I know he wants to explore it but I do NOT want him thinking he can go in whenever he wants. It's not his and I don't want him going in to lie down) or he would lay on the mat outside the door [after sufficient water dousing] and stretch his paws towards her. Acacia (my bunn) would stomp and stay still until I intervened. She's after boxing him out of her cage bc she's not that shy! 

  We wanted to trim his nails but he's such a drama queen and does not stay still. It takes the two of us to have to try and so far we've gotten like 2 nails clipped. I'm far from confident in cutting cat nails to be honest. They're softer than bunny nails and he just sqiurms so I cannot see the quick. I've been cutting bunny nails for 5 years but I cannot find the confidnce to do the cat's :(  We'll get it though. Have to keep trying. I'll feel a bit better when he's trimmed and perhaps I'll open her pen again. But Oliver does use his mouth for chomping, he's savage! It might take some time..

  I would like to have Acacia and Oliver like this: