Dangerous Thumping & Running

[HonyBny]

I recently (2 weeks ago) rescued two bunnies from a local lady that can no longer afford them. I have them in my home office since it is somewhere I spend a sigificant amount of time but it is also small and private (quite). They were doing fine until the other day when I let them out for play time the lop will run around at full speed and head first into things. I have cubbies zip tied together for a large play pen (it takes up 2/3 of the room). After he crashes into something he will run around stop and thump, he will run into the cage and thump in there too. He has even gotten on top of the other bunny and stopped on him. 

The other rabbit is very calm and shy, actually he won’t come out of the cage unless I turn my back and pretend to do something else. I have seperated them for now because I am afraid that the lop will hurt the little guy. I am also afraid that the lop is going to hurt himself so I have made the play area for him much smaller so he can’t get so much speed up. They are both fixed.

Not sure what to do. Any advice out there?

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Have you had a vet check them over?

[LBJ10]

You should have a vet look at them first to make sure nothing is wrong. Maybe he has problems with his sight?

[Jackie237]

There could be something wrong with his sight…if not, I think you should try and put him in a different area. If this consists, then it’s probably something only the vet will know. If he stops, it could just be the area he is in, somehow he doesn’t feel comfortable.

[BinkyBunny]

I also wonder if it is not his sight.  Rabbits can adapt well to being blind  and If he was used to his surroundings where he lived and it may have went unnoticed if he became blind or she had him from birth. So now, this move may be much too confusing and making him panic. So it is good that you shrunk his space a bit to prevent him from hurting himself.

I triple ditto though that you have him checked out asap to find out what is going on  To make sure he isn’t any pain and just freaking out.  Otherwise, is he eating and pooing okay?  

 

 

[HonyBny]

They have been checked out by a vet and everything is good. They eat and poop great. I think he might have some sight issues. I experiemented by holding my hand in front of him and slightly over his head and he doesn’t even move his head or look at it. But if I have lettuce or other food in my hand he goes for it right away. Is it that my hand is boring? or can he smell the food but not see it? He goes in the litter box and finds his waterbottle, could he be doing that by scent too?

He has not had another freak out since that day so maybe he is getting used to the new place, also the shy bunny comes out almost right away for play time and likes to sit next to me to be petted.

I have put them back together in the same large dog kennel and they are very happy together.

[BinkyBunny]

When he was checked out by the vet, was this issue brought up or was it just a regular check up? Deaf or blind bunnies may not be overtly obvious unless the vets attention has brought to it. If you move something in front a blind bunny can be noticable to a bunny’s scent or hearing. Animals can also locate water by smell too…even though water scent is not obvious to us.

[Deleted User]

Also, because of the position of rabbits’ eyes, they may not be able to see directly in front of them as well. (Because rabbits are prey animals, rabbits’ eyes are on the side to help them see better, particularly behind them.)

[HonyBny]

Just reporting that he has not freaked out since and is becoming very very sweet with me. he will come up to me during playtime and nose me to groom him. No more thumping, no more running around like mad.

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