Like ice cream
New Kit
I rehomed a rabbit yesterday. She's in a play house with a hutch inside as a place to retreat to for warmth and security. The main door to the hutch is kept open and the solid one to sleeping area is closed. The hutch is on legs to keep it warmer and to allow her underneath so she has extra room. It's only about a foot off the floor. In my experience rabbits are happy to jump in and out of something like this, but she just doesn't seem to realise she can. I had a ramp to help her get up there but she won't venture onto it. So I got a tunnel instead (there is a tunnel flat on the floor she likes running through) but she won't venture into that either. I tried lifting her into the hutch but she didn't seem to realise she could come out. Maybe she's been trained not jump out of an open hutch. She also seemed to feel unable to get round a wooden toy in her hutch that wasn't really an obstacle. She moved around in the hutch but wouldn't go past the toy or even stick her head out of the open door.
I think she's lacked space and opportunities to explore in her life so far so maybe that's part of the problem, but she has explored under the hutch and like I said she seems to love the tunnel that's flat on the floor. But without being able to go into the hutch she loses space and a warmer place to sleep. I was also planning to add a sort of mezzanine to give her extra space, and I expected her to jump on top of the hutch too. It's only been a couple of days so maybe she just needs time, but if anyone has any advice to coax her into realising she has these options I'd appreciate it.
I think she's lacked space and opportunities to explore in her life so far so maybe that's part of the problem, but she has explored under the hutch and like I said she seems to love the tunnel that's flat on the floor. But without being able to go into the hutch she loses space and a warmer place to sleep. I was also planning to add a sort of mezzanine to give her extra space, and I expected her to jump on top of the hutch too. It's only been a couple of days so maybe she just needs time, but if anyone has any advice to coax her into realising she has these options I'd appreciate it.