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Using a ramp

kayjay

Warren Veteran
Any tips on how to get MJ and Pippa to use the ramp in their new hutch? They just won't use it. I've tried putting food to tempt them but MJ reaches up, pulls down what he can get hold of, and then gives up. Pippa won't go near the ramp. I've put them in the hutch, MJ slithered down but won't go up again and Pippa dug her claws in and refused to go near it, backing off rapidly

At the moment they're living in the run but once the weather turns again they need the hutch for shelter! And I don't want to have spent money on a hutch when all I needed was a run :roll:

HELP!!!!!
 
I think the key here is just perseverence I'm afraid. Keep putting food and treats for them....I would put them in the hutch and tempt them into the run if they are already in the run....and they will get the hang of it. It just takes a bit of time. Fore the first week or so that I got mine, Bob used to live on one level, with me coming out daily to chase him up and don the ladder until he got used to it! :roll:

Now they love using all the different levels.
 
Have you tried to make the ramp less steep? I put it on top of a log roll tunnel. Only works if your bunnies are not too large, because it makes the opening smaller. Penny did only go up the ramp on the first day, then on the second day she dared to go down, as well.
Also, the HH ramp is quite slippery and has only very few "stoppers", maybe you can add some more stoppers or carpet.
 
I had the same problem with mine.
I put hay on the ramp so it didn,t feel funny under their feet.
Within a few hours they were zooming up and down :D
 
it took mine about a day to work out they could go both ways on the ramp - they seemed to forget the world at the bottom, when they were up and the world at the top when they were down!!!!
 
It took Scarlett ages to go down the ramp, she would go up if I put her in the run. What I did was put some bricks under the bottom of the ramp so it wasnt so steep. About 2 minutes after I put the bricks there she was running up and down the run :D
 
Liam and Mishka were nervous of their ramp at first and it took them a few days to get down, my OH put some little steps on to see if that helped and some old carpet. Whether it was this that did the trick i don't know, but they would keep backing up and it did get frustrating to watch but i didn't intervene because i wanted them to find their own way.

Now they don't even use the full length of it to get up and down, they sort of jump off half way down and vice versa, they will get there soon enough.

If there is little steps on the ramp try putting a pellet on each one :)
 
I think Penny is a bit short sighted, she scans a lot. So maybe she wasn't sure what to expect when going down the ramp, she couldn't see it very well. Snoopy went up and down a lot, and he sat at the bottom of the ramp and looked up as if he was saying "come on, you can do it". Was so cute to watch.
 
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