Can Rabbits be scared of the dark?

[buck rogers]

We were wondering if maybe our Ella might be scared of the dark? The other dayI went to have a shower while it was light out. When Icame out it had quickly gotten dark. My Ella looked scared and was sitting in front of the t.v. for light. Do rabbits generally prefer light or dark? And do you think our bun might be scared of the dark?

 

[Marietta]

I wouldn't think that rabbits are afraid of the dark as an element of nature, however, if they hear a noise or sense someone approaching and cannot see what's going on, they may get scared. My bunny gets overly alert sometimes, if I go to his room during night hours, but when I turn the light on, he relaxes again. However, this is only speculating, I can't be certain for what they really feel while in the dark. It is an interesting question, though.

Marietta

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I've been thinking about this and here are the variables I would consider:

1. Is she afraid or was she enjoying the television? Mine love television and seem to watch it more intently when the room is darker.

2. Is she visually impaired? Does she have red or blue eyes?

3. Maybe she thought the light was sunlight. Was she cold?

 

[Little Bay Poo]

Hmmm...my bunnies never have had a problem with the dark, I just assumed since they were animals they could see really well in low light. Billy is scared of EVERYTHING (trust me on this one ) but never the dark. Maybe it was something else that scared your bunny, and it was just a coincidence that it was dark at the time?

Also I have a question about what Bo said because I've been trying to figure this one out for ages now:

Bo B Bunny wrote:

I've been thinking about this and here are the variables I would consider:

2. Is she visually impaired? Does she have red or blue eyes?

I know that red-eyed animals don't see very well, but always wondered if it also applied to blue-eyed rabbits. I read that blue-eyed white cats and dogs have some strange genetic defect that causes potential deafness and blindness. I can't find anything about blue-eyed white rabbits though, so I just assumed the Vienna gene was totally different.

So do blue-eyed rabbits have trouble seeing too? (And if so why are breeders still breeding them).

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Yes, they can. Have you ever read about what albino people say about seeing?

This young lady has a great page about it:

http://www.knowlton.clara.net/family/Albinism/sight.htm

See, blue eyes can be asymptom of albinism - just not as severe as the red eyes.

We have friends who are creamy light red haired and almost lavendar eyes. They just had some tests done because the kids have allergies REAL bad and some other stuff...... sure enough they have albino traits that were found.

Blue and moreso red rabbits from what I have been told - "scan" but brown eyes don't as much. (weaving to get a better "picture")

 

[Little Bay Poo]

That's very interesting Bo, thanks for the info! :biggrin2:

 

[buck rogers]

Thanks for the replies everyone. The idea that she is jsut more alert whan it's dark and not so much scared makes a lot of sense, being that she has already heard me coming by the time I see her.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

I leave a small light on for my bunnies and always have. I guess it's force of habit. When we got Cinnabun some 13 years ago, one of the bunny books said to leave a night light on for the bun so it doesn't get scared. Like others have said, not because they're afraid of the dark itself, but of sounds and things moving around that they can't see because it's dark. I don't know if the light has helped my bunners, but they've never gotten scared and started thumping with it on. If Cinny didn't have a light, he would often start thumping.

Heh, the other night Rory ventured into my dark bedroom where my cockatiels are. They couldn't see each other because of the darkness. The birds heard him moving around and freaked out and started flapping and screaming because they thought he was going to eat them, and Rory freaked out and raced out of the room because he thought they were going to eat him.