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Agrophobic Mouse

joey&boo

Wise Old Thumper
A second post from me today where I would value RU's opinion in how to approach this. I've put it in behaviour as it seems the best fit.
Now all of downstairs has its floors laid I really want my bunnies to make use of more space. My rabbits all have hugely different personalities, Boo investigates every corner of the house, Mouse confines herself to half of the lounge which isn't big in the first place, Joey is somewhere inbetween.

So how do I bring out the explorer in Mouse. It took a year in our previous rented house before she would join the others in other rooms & that house was carpeted throughout. Mouse seems to have huge anxieties about leaving familiar spaces & also hates unfamiliar flooring. I expect she might have issues relating to her horrible past.

At night I put a quilt on the floor (it makes Joey binky) as a more fun play surface so this is familiar to & enjoyed by Mouse. Do you think putting this quilt in the hall & then locking all bunnies in there to get familiarised with a new space might help. Later open the door to the kitchen so she can see whats going on in there? (not much :lol:) A friend suggested I leave her to it, that she will explore if she want to. I don't think she will without help. If I leave her to her preferred option she risks missing out on the other bunnies company & not getting enough exercise. When she finally got brave in the other house she was very happy with herself

Should I force the issue? (gently of course)
 
Yes, I think I would gently force the issue, by encouragement with floor surfaces and shutting doors.

I was always totally amazed that I could leave the rabbit shed door wide open for a long time and not one of the Rexes ever attempted to leave the shed :)
 
I have to agree, a bit of gentle persuasion would help. And you'll be able to tell if she's terrified. Without it she'll just be comfortable in her own little space and we all know change can be good! I think she's very British (doesn't like change, happy in her own little ways etc.) XD
 
Thank You both. They are fairly relaxed in the hall

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but everytime I leave the lounge door open Mouse makes a run for it :lol:

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So it looks like familiarity trumps company & floor coverings. It was heartening to see her comfy moving on the lino, up to now she has been telling me she scared of it & negociating the lounge via a series of rugs I've had to resort to putting down again. So if she can get used to lino maybe she'll get used to other stuff. When she had the chance she also ran from the far end of the longe to the hall a few times. She is eating hay, pooing & snuggling in the hall so I'm going to be cruel to be kind & leave her there longer
 
Hi! We had a rabbit (Cassie) who would not cross door ways but was fine once we moved her into the next room. She would literally wait for us to move her. Bizarre I know. Not exactly free roaming. Now we have to rely on small cheap rubber backed door mats over our kitchen wooden floor (laid last year at great expense!!!!) as neither rabbit will try crossing the kitchen without them. Looks awful/comical but at least they can be confident. Boogie in particular is really skittish and at high risk of hurting herself if she suddenly skidded.

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Hi! We had a rabbit (Cassie) who would not cross door ways but was fine once we moved her into the next room. She would literally wait for us to move her. Bizarre I know. Not exactly free roaming. Now we have to rely on small cheap rubber backed door mats over our kitchen wooden floor (laid last year at great expense!!!!) as neither rabbit will try crossing the kitchen without them. Looks awful/comical but at least they can be confident. Boogie in particular is really skittish and at high risk of hurting herself if she suddenly skidded.

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Bizarre but not unfamiliar. In our last house Mouse hated crossing thresholds, maybe they are waiting for their husbuns to carry them over :lol:
 
My experience: we got Charlie, our second rabbit from a farm where he had been kept in a hutch all his life. After we took him home and introduced him to his new environment - a hutch with a large run attached - he was completely petrified for a week. He would not move, just sat in the same place with terror in his eyes. We actually had to feed him his vegetables by posting them through the wires on the side of the hutch, otherwise he would not take them. I must admit I thought he would never venture out and the whole rescue plan of giving him more space and a better life had gone to pot. Then about a week later he suddenly decided to go down to the run and look around. Within minutes he was grazing; another week and he was roaming around in the garden. So change is possible.

Having said that, I also help out with horses on a farm and one of them still won't allow me to touch him after ten years of seeing me every week. What he had been through I don't know but I don't think he will ever be different.
 
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