Liza Beth812
New Member
Hello,
I’m new here. We recently adopted a bonded male mini-Rex and female mini-lop about a month ago. We got them from our local rabbit society house shelter: They’re both about 2 years old. I didn’t know anything about rabbits but have completely fallen in love with “my babies”, especially my little guy and have emmersed myself into learning as much about rabbits as possible.
I do have some questions;
He has a habit of escaping his pen. He is neutered and the pen is sufficient size for 2 rabbits. The shelter came by and did a check before we were allowed to adopt them and said the pen was more than fine.
We’re in the process of probably just going to give them the entire room once we get some things out of there. There isn’t anything that could harm him but I’m concerned that he leaves her in the pen by herself, especially since she is very skittish. Is that common behavior of bonded rabbits to leave their mate by themselves in the pen consistently? He’s also quite bold with it. We will herd him back in and he will escape about 5 minutes later. What could be the reasoning for this?
Also, Will rabbits refuse to use their litter box and trash their pen when frustrated or upset? Last night, we brushed them and they were not happy about it. We gave them plenty of enrichment time to get their energy level out. I came in this morning to find him out of the pen, poop everywhere and the litter box dumped. (This also happened when my boyfriend went out of town. He works from home and they are used to him being there during the day.)
Also, she is quite skittish. She hides and will barely let us pet her. However, the shelter said she was the more friendly rabbit. He on the other hand, is very loving, binkies all over the place and will demand attention. However, we were told he was the more reserved rabbit. Is that common for rabbits to “flip” personalities when they go to new homes?
Sorry for the long post but any feedback as to why some of this is occurring and how to be a better bunny parent is appreciated!
I’m new here. We recently adopted a bonded male mini-Rex and female mini-lop about a month ago. We got them from our local rabbit society house shelter: They’re both about 2 years old. I didn’t know anything about rabbits but have completely fallen in love with “my babies”, especially my little guy and have emmersed myself into learning as much about rabbits as possible.
I do have some questions;
He has a habit of escaping his pen. He is neutered and the pen is sufficient size for 2 rabbits. The shelter came by and did a check before we were allowed to adopt them and said the pen was more than fine.
We’re in the process of probably just going to give them the entire room once we get some things out of there. There isn’t anything that could harm him but I’m concerned that he leaves her in the pen by herself, especially since she is very skittish. Is that common behavior of bonded rabbits to leave their mate by themselves in the pen consistently? He’s also quite bold with it. We will herd him back in and he will escape about 5 minutes later. What could be the reasoning for this?
Also, Will rabbits refuse to use their litter box and trash their pen when frustrated or upset? Last night, we brushed them and they were not happy about it. We gave them plenty of enrichment time to get their energy level out. I came in this morning to find him out of the pen, poop everywhere and the litter box dumped. (This also happened when my boyfriend went out of town. He works from home and they are used to him being there during the day.)
Also, she is quite skittish. She hides and will barely let us pet her. However, the shelter said she was the more friendly rabbit. He on the other hand, is very loving, binkies all over the place and will demand attention. However, we were told he was the more reserved rabbit. Is that common for rabbits to “flip” personalities when they go to new homes?
Sorry for the long post but any feedback as to why some of this is occurring and how to be a better bunny parent is appreciated!