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question on over-zealous jumping and hay

allyandtobey

Alpha Buck
this is slightly long winded but i get to the point eventually...

i'm currently sharing residence with a 12 week old male lionhead, and i've come into some serious worries about his over adventurous behavior! He resides in my lounge, which i've converted just for him, and i observed him over the last week and removed or altered anything that posed a danger to him as i discovered it but there's one thing i can't do anything about, he sometimes "periscopes" for ages around the edges of the room, just staring up at the walls, and then eventually gets right up to the wall, and then jumps suddenly and swiftly into the air and i get the impression he thinks he can jump over the walls of the room! The thing that worries me is the landings, they sound hard and obviously look worrying! but he normally justs rights himself and carries on as normal, but i'm worried if he keeps doing this he'll really injure himself. i've tried putting cushions everywhere to soften the fall but i've run out and can't put them everywhere.. has anyone got any advice or opinions on this? or reassurance that this is normal and he wont hurt himself *fingers crossed* :lol:

Sorry that was so long winded, but here's the second question which is simple and short: is it possible to change the hay he eats to another hay in one sitting or does it have to be gradually introduced just like pelleted food? :?:

any input would be appreciated,
thanks,
Ally.
 
hi

I caught Zinniea doing this the other day in the shed - she fell really hard and didn't bother trying again - Watching my rabbits I really don't think they see that well - they rely on smell I think, so jumping up the walls is worth a try until they know better I guess.

With hay I never thought about that aspect of it at all - just changed it mainly becuase I couldn't find any decent hay - it didn't seem to matter.
 
I too have seen Bramble do this with the walls of his playhouse, like you say its worrying when they fall hard but its a hard one to solve really, sorry I can't offer any advice.

As to the hay Im sure its fine to swap it over as the contents mainly the same ... Grass.... it just comes in better quality.
 
Hay can have different nutritional values but usually the fibre is high enough changing doesn't seem to cause a problem.

He's only 12 weeks though so more sensitive so if you can mix it then it doesn't hurt.

Does he have anything he can jump on top of? Perhaps his own box to sit on would stop him trying to climb the walls?

Tam
 
he has boxes and things all over but mainly he likes to jump on the sofa, and jump off the highest part of it possible! also he's taking to using the whole sofa as a litter tray so it's covered in newspaper right now, as placing one litter tray there didn't suffice :lol: i will try putting the boxes nearer to the walls so he can have a better look without having to give me a heart attack and see if that makes a difference. he usually stops doing something i don't want him to do when i give a couple of quick loud claps, but he just ignores me when i do it when i notice him trying to jump up the wall! thanks for the hay advice, the hay i buy now contains so much dust and very short and small pieces, all through the bag not just at the end and its making him sneeze so i need to change it. :eek:
 
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