Sad behavior

So I had my bunny in my room. Right now she has a cage that's too small for her and its sitting on a shelf in my room. I'm getting all the supplies to build her a big nice cage on Friday, problem is it won't fit in my room and I want to have it on the ground so she can hop out freely.

So yesterday I moved her current cage to the living room so she could get used to it. Instantly started being sad so o took her out for a little run outside and she was so happy. The moment I put her back, sad again..

Left her down there overnight then my boyfriend tells me this morning I should bring her back up because she looked so sad, wasn't excites for her little flavored hay treats that she LOVES..

So I brought her back up, instantly so happy. I'm just curious why she was so sad down there, I mean I have roommates so she's almost never alone whereas in my room my boyfriend and I have fulltime jobs so we are gone a lot of the day and she's alone (besides my cat coming to visit and sleep on her cage, they're friendly towards another)

I'm just curious why because I was hoping to have her new cage down there but if she's this sad I don't think I can. But that means I have to rearrange my room and possibly put some stuff in the living room just so her new cage will fit.
Any suggestions?

What are you calling 'sad'? It's dubious the problem comes from her liking being in a small cage she can't go out of on her own better. She probably is just cautious or stressed out because you keep on moving her and that this new cage isn't familiar yet, especially if there are other people around. Rabbits aren't dogs, they generally don't like to have people they don't know / barely know around especially if they aren't used to it and mostly, they don't like change. Decide where you are putting the new cage, put the rabbit in it and leave her alone to adjust to her new environment just opening the door to let her go out on her own for her playtime.

Rabbits don't like change.

I haven't built the new cage I said I moved her small cage downstairs so she could get used to being down there. I said I'm getting the supplies for the new cage on Friday.
Also she knows my roommates well its not like she's new to them she seen and been pet by them many many times.

What Aki and edwin are saying is that you can't assume your rabbit doesn't like it downstairs. All rabbits require time to adjust when moved to a new location. Wait until your new cage is built and is in place before trying to move her. Trying to do it in stages doesn't help. It is just more stressful for her.

Do just one move, one time, after the new cage is set up. The cage itself will take some getting used to also. So let that all happen at one time.

:yeahthat:

Also, even if she has been petted by your roommates before it's not the same than being locked in a cage in a strange place with people who aren't her owner moving around. Rabbits are easily unsettled (just this morning, there was a demonstration on the square behind my house with people talking in microphones - it lasted until maybe 11 am, my windows were closed, it's now 9 pm and my rabbits are both still only getting out of their cardboard house when there is no one in the room and fleeing when they hear me come close... I closed their room's door after giving lots of hay and I'll just leave them alone until tomorrow:rollseyes)

It just seems weird to me because when I brought her home to a new environment with a new cage and everything she adjusted quite quickly and quite well. I'm hoping she'll be excited enough about her new cage that the stress will kind of die down on its own.

She'll be just fine. Just keep being your usual self with her and relax. From what I've been able to tell, rabbits can be extremely in tune with their owners. If you're concerned, she could be picking up on that plus trying to get used to the new environment. Once she's in the new cage, she should be happily exploring it when you're not looking, and when you give her the usual attention and your friends do the same, she'll settle just fine. My rabbit had two changes in environment within the first week I got her. She was ready to come home before my cage had arrived - I had ordered it online. So she was set up in a little emergency cage until the proper one arrived a few days later. She seemed lost in that big cage for the first day, but after that, she adjusted to it and was still getting to know me. Now, this cage is definitely her happy home, and she loves the heck out of me, and laps up any attention she gets from family and friends. Even within the first month of her arrival, she was lying flopped out on my lap while I watched TV or visited with family/friends in the front room. She rushes to meet me in the mornings, and licks the heck out of my hands/arms and will readily check anyone else out who wants to pet her. And she even sat up and gave a neighbour the puppy dog eyes when the neighbour had to stop paying attention to her and be on her way.

I'm sure she will be just fine. Especially if the new cage is larger. She'll probably be a little uncertain at first, but it's no different from any other creature adjusting to a new environment - including ourselves. She'll start playing around and having a good time before you know it.

Capri said:

From what I've been able to tell, rabbits can be extremely in tune with their owners.

Click to expand...

They can? Sometimes I think I could be lying there, writhing in agonizing pain while bleeding to death, and I guess my bunnies would just think something along the lines "Gosh, wierd show, but now give me food. Now. Food. ME!"

Lol Well, I didn't say all rabbits. Just speaking from my experience and some others I've read about. My Dutch rabbit used to lick the tears off my face when I cried, and he was especially loving when I wasn't feeling well. My lionhead is extremely loving too, but she seems to be a little tense around me when I'm hopping mad about something. But yeah, there are some animals that seem perceptive and others that are totally oblivious. *Grin*

Yeah... if I'm upset or angry, none of the rabbits are comfortable being around me until I'm no longer upset. They're like, "if you're sad, we're sad!" And hop away. Lol

Hehe! Oh yeah, the angry thing, animals seem keen to pick up on that. Probably part of the survival instinct. But their varying reactions to other types of upset, I once had a sugar glider that was normally amazingly affectionate and laid back, but she was even more so when I was really sick with a bad cold and ear/nose/throat infection. Our dogs used to follow and just lay near me or whoever was sick in our house, and they'd growl at any disturbance from other humans or pets. And the Dutch rabbit - he was always lucky, so I never thought it possible for him to amp that up until I was sent to the hospital for stitches. When I came back home, the dog was extremely careful around me, and the rabbit went for a licking world record. My new rabbit is shaping up the same way. And I've had rabbits in pet stores clamber to lick my hands too. Usually it's just one at a time, but there was this time when the baby bunnies in this particular cage were uber friendly, and they all four or five thronged about my hand, some trying to climb on my arm and kissing the daylights out of me. Lol! They find out it's more than okay to give kisses, and they go to town. Adorable.