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Rabbit won't use runaround tunnels

rchaste

New Kit
Hi Everyone, was hoping for some advice. We have had our rabbit for about a year now and have tried to build him a little runaround system with a tunnel connecting his extended run. The problem is, he just does not go into the tunnel. We have tried leaving bits of food in there to entice him, but he pays no attention to it at all - not really sure he knows its there. Has anyone else had this problem? before we got him, we think he was not let out of a pretty small hutch so much, so guess he has not done this kind of thing before and maybe has lost a little of his exploratory nature. He is almost 6 now. Really want him to have constant access though, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks so much!
 
Hi Everyone, was hoping for some advice. We have had our rabbit for about a year now and have tried to build him a little runaround system with a tunnel connecting his extended run. The problem is, he just does not go into the tunnel. We have tried leaving bits of food in there to entice him, but he pays no attention to it at all - not really sure he knows its there. Has anyone else had this problem? before we got him, we think he was not let out of a pretty small hutch so much, so guess he has not done this kind of thing before and maybe has lost a little of his exploratory nature. He is almost 6 now. Really want him to have constant access though, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks so much!
One of my rabbits is blind/has extremely limited sight, she didn't know it was there I don't think til I put her in the end, then she just followed it through to the other side [emoji38] once she'd gone back and forth a few times she got really good at it and was absolutely fine using it :)

Have you tried placing him with his nose into the tunnel? (obviously not actually forcing him)
 
One of my rabbits is blind/has extremely limited sight, she didn't know it was there I don't think til I put her in the end, then she just followed it through to the other side [emoji38] once she'd gone back and forth a few times she got really good at it and was absolutely fine using it :)

Have you tried placing him with his nose into the tunnel? (obviously not actually forcing him)

thanks so much for the reply Graciee, really appreciate it. No not tried that - he does not like being picked up at all and shakes when you do, so we try to just let him get on with it and didn't want to as did not want to distress him, but perhaps we need to. Its also slightly tricky as its in the hutch, but could perhaps do that from an open end instead. And sorry to hear your rabbit has limited site, but sounds like you do an amazing job looking after her :)
 
thanks so much for the reply Graciee, really appreciate it. No not tried that - he does not like being picked up at all and shakes when you do, so we try to just let him get on with it and didn't want to as did not want to distress him, but perhaps we need to. Its also slightly tricky as its in the hutch, but could perhaps do that from an open end instead. And sorry to hear your rabbit has limited site, but sounds like you do an amazing job looking after her :)

Ah that's tricky! When you clean the hutch out, where does he go? Just thinking maybe he could go in the run with the doors shut on the runaround then when you're done, you could open them back up and he might be eager to get "home" so might investigate more? Mine are always ready to find their way back to the hutch after they've been shut out for a bit for cleaning.

Maybe just try some things, tbh I didn't know what to do at first, because one of mine was straight through it and the other didn't seem to know where her sister had gone [emoji38] once she'd got the hang of it though there was no stopping her.

Thanks, she does really well tbh so it's okay, she uses her sister a lot when she's unsure but she's a very happy bun considering :)
 
Just noticed this is posted in the wrong section, so I'll move it to the housing section, that way you might get some more replies/ideas from others :)
 
Just noticed this is posted in the wrong section, so I'll move it to the housing section, that way you might get some more replies/ideas from others :)

thanks so much again. Well we just let him run around the garden when we clean it, and he loves being out, so more hard to get him to come back! Just tried kind of holding him up to it and he was not a happy bunny! you are totally right - will just keep trying things! thanks again :)

and thanks for moving the post to the correct place too! sorry about that!
 
I had quite a bit of runaround stuff for my two bridge bunnies, one would happily zoom up and down the tunnels from their shed to an enclosure. The other one wouldn't, she went once into a tunnel then sat and thumped in the middle, it took me ages to get her out. After that I had to carry her to the enclosure :roll: hope you do better with yours.
 
Way back when I used to have outdoor bunnies, one pair wouldn’t try the tunnel at first. I managed to get them into their run by coaxing them into a carrier. And they went home through the tunnel, never looked back after that :thumb:
 
Thanks so much for the replies guys. Carrier case is a really good idea - will try that! Sounds like yours didn't like it at all Pets Mum - yes defo don't want to upset him! may just try to build a little wooden tunnel with meshing to connect the two if he does not get the hang of it! thanks again!
 
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