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My Rabbit won’t come out of his cage...

Dinolauren

New Kit
Hey all!

I recently successfully bonded my Boy Thumper with my new girl Mercy. They get on great. Whilst we were renovating a room upstairs for them, they stayed downstairs in their cage with run access.

We have recently installed laminate floor into the pet room and 2 days ago we put them in the room and they now have free roam in the whole room. It’s all theirs. However, Mercy is the only one coming out into the room. Thumper spends most of the day sitting in the corner of his cage and just doesn’t even attempt to leave the cage. Can anyone suggest what might be going on here and how I can resolve this? I would have thought he’d have followed Mercy out by now.

Thanks!
 
Hey! My best guess is Thumper doesn't like walking on laminate - i've had a fair few house bunnies over the years & about half won't budge without additional floor coverings. Try popping some old bedding, fleece, blanket (whatever you have) to see if that tempts him out. Good luck
 
Hey! My best guess is Thumper doesn't like walking on laminate - i've had a fair few house bunnies over the years & about half won't budge without additional floor coverings. Try popping some old bedding, fleece, blanket (whatever you have) to see if that tempts him out. Good luck

As above, also give him more time. Some bunnies are like Thumper. I hope they enjoy their new room when they get accustomed to it, perhaps new smells?
 
Hey! My best guess is Thumper doesn't like walking on laminate - i've had a fair few house bunnies over the years & about half won't budge without additional floor coverings. Try popping some old bedding, fleece, blanket (whatever you have) to see if that tempts him out. Good luck

I agree as well. A lot of bunnies don't like new things. I've gotten a new bunny a couple of weeks ago and she had never been outside a hutch before (she's 5 y o). The floor was slipping too much for her, especially since she's too fat and her muscles are appallingly under-developped (her nails were also super long and she had fleas, which didn't help... :roll:). She was super scared and stood on the same spot on the little rug I had put in the room for a whole day (yes, peeing and pooping on it too ^^'). I then put a canvas tarp on the floor to help her. She wouldn't try it on her own so I just put her on it to show her it wasn't slippery. She stayed on the tarp for two weeks but she is beginning to make small incursions outside of it. Sometimes, you have to push the rabbit a little bit to make them try things (I had to put her inside the litterbox as well, as she didn't seem to know how to get in... she's not the most graceful, but she's getting in and out alright now). I wouldn't insist too much, but I would try to put some kind of rug / blanket on the floor in front of the cage and then put your rabbit on it, maybe with some food he likes.
 
Hi :wave: Welcome to the forum :)

Yeah, these buns can be funny little things :). A couple of years ago we moved three of ours to larger accommodation and whilst two of them were fine, our Bluebell was not at all happy and took ages to settle in.

It's still early days, so I bet they'll be running around in no time!

If the laminate remains an issue you could try some rag rugs. We had them recommended on here. They are quite cheap and if the rabbits have a little go at them then you can usually tuck the threads back in.

x
 
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