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Letting my house bunnies out of their pen and into the house for the first time!

tammybunny

Young Bun
After having my bunnies Bambi and Ronan for just over 6 days I've decided to let them out of the pen and let them loose around my living room (so far so good, only a few rogue poos and minimal chewing). Bambi my mini rex has been busy exploring the room for the past 2 hours but my mini lop Ronan is refusing to budge out of the pen. The door is wide open but he insists on sitting in his litter tray or having a snooze on his blanket. Ronan has been digging in his litter tray the past couple of days and I was convinced this was because he wanted to 'escape' for a bit of exercise but he just isn't interested in leaving the pen even though I'm sure he misses his girl bun. They are just over 2 years old, is my mini lop lazy or do some buns just prefer being in their 'home'?
 
Aww, he might just be a bit nervous still, I expect he'll explore eventually :)
 
Aww, he might just be a bit nervous still, I expect he'll explore eventually :)

I've picked him up and carried him out a couple of times, and he just hopped straight back into the pen. He came out about half an hour later to find his girlbun (stayed within 50cm distance from his pen) but she was too busy exploring so he hopped back in and into his litter tray. I just find it weird that he's not interested in leaving at all.
 
Ronan sounds just like my male Buck, when we got him back in August. Fast forward 2 months and he spends most of his time outside of his cage now. It has taken time and for the first week or three it was a lot of timid sniffing and scenting around his cage and from there he built up his courage to now owning the living room.
 
You could try a tunnel too, so he could get further into the room but still feels like he's got somewhere to run back to quick :)
 
Ronan sounds just like my male Buck, when we got him back in August. Fast forward 2 months and he spends most of his time outside of his cage now. It has taken time and for the first week or three it was a lot of timid sniffing and scenting around his cage and from there he built up his courage to now owning the living room.

I've figured it out, he's a very fluffy mini lop. He isn't coping well with my laminate flooring (he keeps sliding around) so I have put down a fleece blanket for him. He just refuses to walk off the fleece blanket. Does anyone else have rabbits that get stressed out about the laminate floor? He has non slip lino in his pen.
 
Aww, bless that's the downside of the cute flufffy feets :lol: Again he still might get braver, they tend to dislike slippy floors but it's tough to make a quick get away. Otherwise I see rugs in your future :lol:
 
Aww, bless that's the downside of the cute flufffy feets :lol: Again he still might get braver, they tend to dislike slippy floors but it's tough to make a quick get away. Otherwise I see rugs in your future :lol:

Thanks Tamsin, hoping he gets braver - he reminds me of me at an ice rink - poor little man. Do you have any suggestions for the type of rug? They are not really chewers but they do like to nibble carpet and groom it. Do I need to worry about blockages?
 
My Boots didn't like laminate at first , but he soon got used to it :thumb: your bunnies may be ok with a woven rug without a pile. If they chew/eat it you do need to be very careful about blockages.
 
Lucy used to stay under the chair and only came out to eat or poo. We realised it was cos her nails were slightly to long for the laminate flooring. We cut them she stil refused to walk on it so we got a rug and she was happy walking along that!


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