I need advice with a new boy

[treasuresandstuff]

Carlito (seen below) is a former meat pen rabbit.

Any ideas on how to get him to come out of his cage? It is my understanding that in order to avoid broken backs from leaping out of high up hutches they got thunked on the nose if they came to the door.

What would you do to get a rabbit who had been trained that leaving the cage was bad, to come out and play? I tried leaving the door open for 35 minutes, he did put his nose to the empty space but did not try to hop out. Then I took the entire top off his temp cage and he still did not try to come out. I know this is only his second day here, am I just rushing things?

He let our foster kitten come in his cage and lay with him, it was so cute!

 

[Runestonez]

Rabbits are naturally curious creatures...thumped on the nose or not eventually his curiousity will take over.

You could try to bribe him a bit wih some treats.
He will have to oversome his fear...and that will take time and alot of adjustment.
He'll be horribly cautious for a while!

Patience is best...lots of patience!
Once he figures out he can get out and move around! Watch out!
He'll have to build up his muscles a bit...but...

The binkies should be stunning!:biggrin2:

Danielle

 

[treasuresandstuff]

He's actually got pretty good muscle, they were kept in a very large hutch. It was about 8 foot wide and 3 feet deep. About 3 feet high on the inside too. Though at this point he was one of the oldest in the hutch and the littler ones had it a little over crowded. I wish I had had more room to take a couple more at the time.

I'll try treats. For a bun that had never had hay or anything other than pellets he took to salad like a duck to water. Loves his hay too.

 

[Happi Bun]

Aw, poor guy. He is very gorgeous. I'm sure with time and TLC he will come around and let go of that negative association with leaving any type of enclosure. I'm glad he is taking to his new diet well; hurray for variety!

 

[treasuresandstuff]

Thank you, I can see he is curious, he just has this notion in his head that leaving a cage is bad. They had so ingrained I got some good scratches getting him from the hutch to the travel cage. He was frantic to get back into an enclosure. Kinda makes you wonder a bit huh?

 

[Nancy McClelland]

time will probably be the biggest factor. We have a dark brown mini rex named Bambi that will jump back into her hutch if her door is left open--guess she feels safer. When we first got her, she was very shy and would get bug eyed if we even came near. Now she is a major pest and wants attention all the time when she is out and we are in the room.

 

[treasuresandstuff]

Yeah, time. He sure likes our foster kitten, Boo, though. I am glad he has made a friend.