My rabbit won’t leave her cage ?

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

allyxoxo

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2019
Messages
19
Reaction score
1
Location
united states
I have a doe holland lop who is about 8 months old now, we used to keep her in our spare bedroom but since a family member had to move in we now keep her in the living room. She rattles and chews on her cage, which I know is a sign of boredom, so I open the cage for her and leave it open for a while so she can come out but she doesn’t do that. She’ll just pop her head out then go lay down inside the cage. After a while, I shut the cage door and she begins rattling on it again, or she’ll rattle on the cage while it’s open for her. She’s now been stomping her feet randomly and then looks scared.

I’ve also noticed she’s breathing heavy, which I read could be due to the heat, so I put a frozen water bottle in there for her and keep a fan near her or have the AC on but she still breathes heavy even though her temperature is normal and she doesn’t feel hot. She was sick a couple months ago so I’m very overprotective and worrisome about her because I don’t want anything to happen to her and I want to make her as comfortable as she can be.
 
Especially for prey animals, I think having the option of escape and/or going somewhere else is very important. They may not act on it, but knowing it's available is there. Although she may not leave her cage when you do leave the door open, she may feel a sense of security knowing she can if she wants to -- once the door is closed, then she is actually "trapped", and I imagine that can be stressful/boring for a rabbit. There are countless times my rabbit will nudge the closed bedroom door to get in, but once I open it, he doesn't go in -- he just wanted to know the option was available to him.

In terms of her rattling the cage while it's open, I think that sounds more like a preferential thing for her? Maybe if you attach chews or something on the cage, that gives the cage wall a bit more function so rather than being something in her way, it can be something that can provide her with stimulation, like a chew toy or something.

Regarding her stomping, that is generally a sign of fear or a signal of danger. It makes me wonder about what her cage is like? Is it completely covered, or does it have a cozier hiding spot where she can retreat if she needs to? It can be a difficult balance, but a lot of times when rabbits are moved into a new environment, too much freedom can cause anxiety, as well as too little freedom. The stomping, if this is not a frequent occurrence, may also be her hearing something that you cannot perceive -- in which case, there's nothing much you can do since it's unknown what the sound may be. In any case, ensuring she has a space she can retreat to in order to feel secure is important.

Heavy breathing can be due to heat as well as fear/anxiety/stress. It seems like her behavior is indicating she's not 100% relaxed in this new space, which is understandable, so the heavy breathing may be a reflecting that.

Is there anything from the old bedroom that you can transfer to her space now? Maybe a familiar sheet, piece of furniture... it may help her get acclimated to her new space.

And lastly, I imagine a living room is much more noisy and active than a spare bedroom, so she is probably somewhat stressed with higher foot traffic and noise. Does that sound likely?
 
Actually, our living room is very quiet since we’re hardly in there, I know she gets scared of the vacuum so I try to hurry to vacuum up the living room. The other bedroom she was in had nothing in it, just her and my other rabbit’s cage and their toys. I have chewing toys for her in the cage and make sure she has a place to hide into, I keep the living room dark for when we leave for work because I know they like that. We used to have another rabbit, a buck, we got them at the same time but we ended up having to give him away so I’m also concerned this is why she may be acting this way.

She would always run out of her cage the second, and I remember one time I took her into the living room to let her roam around there to get familiar with the house, her breathing became really fast and then I took her into the other room again and she was fine.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top