good jumpers

[panacrent]

just how good are they? do they have an innate sense of hieight? will my rabbit know when a jump down is too far to make?

 

[m.e.]

Rabbits are not always able to accurately judge asafe jumping distance, so never allow your rabbit to be up too high.Falls can result in broken bones and even paralysis.

~M

 

[pamnock]

I think you'll enjoy this articlehttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0326_0328_bunnyhop.html

Rabbits may become frightened and injure themselves in a fall off of aheight such as a table. I know rabbits occasionally injurethemselves falling off show tables at a height of approx. 45 inches (wehad a Holland Lop fall right on his face and cut his lip -- many havebroken their teeth in falls).

Although many rabbitscan jump at heights of up to 3 feet,they can easily injure themselves in a fall and are unable to rightthemselves in the air like a cat can.

Pam

 

[BunnyMommy]

Hey, Dr. Pam!

I was surprised by this type of misinformation by someone in Mr. Carr's position :

Glen Carr, secretary of theAmerican Rabbit Breeders Association, is skeptical about the sport ofrabbit hopping, saying that rabbits do not need exercise, as pet dogsdo, and are simply not built to hop on cue. "A lot of people have amisconception that [rabbits] need a lot of exercise," he said. "That isnot true. They can stay in a small, enclosed area for most of theirlife and be just fine."

The rest of the article though was very good.

 

[Rowan]

I once saw a sight I'll never forget of rabbitssunning themselves on the top branches of an old leaning tree.Apparently they often climbed it. Wish I'd had my camera it was justsurreal! In my very new bunny experience the badlittlecreatures are very good at getting up high by a mixture of climbing andjumping but not so clever at coming down. Guess the most importantthing I've tried not to do is startle them into falling. So far they'venot jumped when they obviously felt it was too far for them but eitherfound an easier route down or waited to be rescued. I hope that bunnysense continues!

 

[pamnock]

BunnyMommy,

I do very respectfully disagree with Glen's statement.(Havespent many hours on the phoneseeking Glen's support andadvice in dealing with club issues. Glen has always beenextremely helpful and supportive.)

"Rabbit Production" (the rabbit breeders bible), advisesseveral hours of excercise each morning and evening (8th edition, pg.384) for pet rabbits.

Although most production animals do spend most of their life in thesame small cage, this does not mean it is the optimal environment for apet rabbit.



Pam

 

[MyBunnyLovesMe]

Megan is a good jumper. Which, is a bad thing.lol. She can jump about 4 feet, but if whatever she's trying to getover is still too high some how she knows to jump up, get her frontpaws on the top and she pulls the rest of her up and then leaps off theother side with her back feet. She's such a little monkey. We finallygave up trying to block her in, now we just close the doors.