How high can rabbits jump?

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Critterfan87

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Approx high high do the smaller breeds of rabbits typically jump?
 
My Netherland Dwarf can jump up to 1 meter. But he will struggle around that height. But he’s weighing 700 grams so he’s a lot smaller, often mistaken for a kit. A little bit overweight for his size, but count on that larger rabbits than him can jump higher.

When he was in form, he had no problem jumping 1,1 m up onto furniture.

My holland lop can jump higher than that.
 
I thought I had read somewhere that a world record rabbit jump was around 39." Just bear in mind that those are with running starts (like SableSteel's video). A rabbit inside an ex-pen isn't going to get that running start. I've never had a rabbit escape over a 30" tall pen.

Smaller breeds (again, so I've read) can jump higher than the larger breeds. The giant breeds have too much weight, perhaps.
 
I've never had a rabbit escape over a 30" tall pen.
Well, that makes one of us.

Back when I lived in San Antonio, I had a 2x3x6 grid (w/l/h) condo connected to a permanent run made of two 48'' high x-pens that took up my whole living room. One day, I came out of my bedroom to find Nala on the wrong side of the pen! Naturally, I assumed she had snuck out past me earlier when I opened one of the "door" panels to go in and out of their pen for whatever reason. I played a less-than-fun game of "hide and go screw yourself"(the condo and one wall of the pen were mere inches from a built-in entertainment center and couldn't be moved - she just ran back and forth thwarting me as I repeatedly went around through the kitchen to get to the far side) before finally catching her and locking her back up.

The next night, I'm going to the kitchen... and AGAIN, she is on the WRONG SIDE of the x-pen!! This time, I know it wasn't human error. I was stumped! Another long chase scene and she was back in the pen. I couldn't figure out how on earth she was getting out, so I made a post here asking for help that resulted in an entire page of speculation, lol.

The next night, I finally left my room at *exactly* the right time to catch her right in the middle of a third escape. This little 4.5 month old lionhead was climbing the corner where the x-pen met the NIC grid condo! She was 3/4 of the way to freedom, but her surprise at getting caught caused her to slide back down into the pen. The solution turned out to be zip-tying a piece of poster board to the top of the x-pen on the one panel where she was able to climb. That way, she'd get halfway up and have no more footholds on one side. After that, she never managed to climb out again.

If you're worried about jumping specifically, I've had Nala jump out of a 28'' pen (actually, it was made with NIC grids and was 2 grids high) but above about 30-32'' you're usually safe as long as there's no toys or boxes to climb on and you don't have a true Houdini bunny.

Smaller breeds (again, so I've read) can jump higher than the larger breeds. The giant breeds have too much weight, perhaps.
I have also always heard this and in my experience, it seems to be true. Smaller bunns are more agile than the large or giant ones.
 
Well, that makes one of us.

I was actually thinking of your "Case of the Climbing Rabbit" when I was writing. Lol! There are always the exceptions. ;)

Reminds me of our Newfoundland mix (brown one in pic). He discovered how to climb extension ladders! Followed my hubby right up the ladder to the roof of the house once. I came out to see him (the dog) at the top of the ladder. No way could I pull him down so he ended up on the roof.
upload_2019-5-16_9-49-40.png
 
We had to get him to the porch roof. Then we drove our clunker car partway under the porch so the car roof was close to the edge of the porch roof. Then we placed a 12" x 10' plank from the porch roof to the car roof.

Once he made it down to the car roof, he slid down the front windshield (breaking our wipers :eek:), denting the hood. Lol! Thankfully it was a clunker already loaded with dents and scratches.

[posting a sideview of him since hubby said the other photo looked distorted.]
 

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The next night, I finally left my room at *exactly* the right time to catch her right in the middle of a third escape. This little 4.5 month old lionhead was climbing the corner where the x-pen met the NIC grid condo!

I have a climber and it sure is a game changer! Nothing is safe for her. She can't climb the particular type of x-pens that I have now but I keep her cage inside the x-pen and she can climb that and then scoot over the x-pen. They are supervised full time now because they're just babies and I'm trying to learn their tricks but one day I'll have to take the plunge and trust her with whatever set up I have by then. I didn't even know rabbits could climb before I watched her go right up and over the pen one day.
 
I had a Mini Rex that could clear 3 feet and a larger, 10 pounder that could get up even higher. We had 3 that were climbers--looked like a spider going up the side of the playpen. One was a Netherland, one was a Netherland mix at twice the size of the first one, and one was a 12 pound lop. I use a baby gate at the door and only one ever jumped over, but it was only once--the others all could but never did.
 

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