rabbits stopped exploring out of their cage

[lunavenus]

Hey guys, 

My bunnies won’t come out of their cage anymore even when I have an extended playpen set up for them. Maybe they come out while I’m taking naps during the day/night or something…. but majority of the time when I’m awake they don’t come out anymore and I’m awake pretty early in the morning till pretty late at night. Note that I said ANYMORE. They used to come out and run around and stuff but not anymore… they just chill in their cage which isn’t that small (quite roomy diy cage I made them), but of course I’d love for them to come out and play in their playpen and get some exercise……. It also gives me a chance to bond with them more. They love pets and fall asleep whenever I pet them but it’s literally me crouching down petting them through the cage door, which is honestly uncomfortable even though my bunnies are so cute and fluffy. They really don’t like being picked up so whenever I need to get them out of the cage like for vet trips, I put a blanket over them to catch them without them panicking, pick them up the right way, give them a lil head rub to calm them down, and then put them in my carrier. I don’t get why the stopped coming out of their cage. I leave it open whenever I’m home :/ I only hear them making a racket inside the cage, rarely outside anymore…. I miss watching them play in their extended playpen. They are healthy. Their poops are round pellet like, they eat LOTS of hay constantly, I always have water for them, and they pee in their litter box everyday. Do you guys have any idea why they may have stopped coming out?? 

[Love4Bunny]

Try feeding them outside the cage (greens, pellets, etc). That always motivates my rabbits to come outside the pen.

If there is slippery flooring outside the cage, that can also make them nervous about stepping outside.

It’s possible they do play when you’re not watching them. My bunnies can sometimes be active during the day, which is not very rabbit-like! But lately my rabbits have lounged a tad more in the evening hours.

[Bam]

How old are they?

[lunavenus]

Maybe it’s because the outside is pretty slippery. I have coroplast set up so they don’t poop on the carpet (which can blend in with the poop and make it difficult for me to clean up after them) and I don’t want them peeing on my uni housing room carpet either (they are litter trained but sometimes still pee on soft surfaces) since I’d have to pay a lot of extra money… I’ll try the food method. The vet gave me the okay to start introducing greens. I just haven’t gotten the chance to get any since its Finals week and I’m extra stressed trying to cram. I do spend lots of time with the bunnies by lounging around in their extended playpen and giving them occasional head pets while I’m on my study breaks.

They are like 2.5 months old. I’ve had them for about 2 weeks. Still having trouble bonding with them but i’m trying to be patient.

[Mikey]

Ive read a lot of your posts so im going to comment with your past posts in mind. I dont mean any offense 

They could be shying away because you hit one. That could easily startle them into not coming out for a few days, weeks, or a handful of months until they forget and/or realize you arnt a threat. Keep petting them and reassuring them that you are not dangerous. Bribe them with pets, food, and those treats when they are shipped in. Dont force them out of their cage unless they need to be forced out for reasons such as vet visits. I also want to mention that you might be trying to bond with them too much, causing them to stress out. I would quit the extra bonding for a day and “ignore” them. Keep an eye on them, of course, and pet them if they come near you, but dont sit in their pen. They might feel like the pen is yours more so than theirs/everyones, also causing them to not want to come out as often as before

Coroplast shouldnt be an issue unless youve seen them slide around a lot when they are/were out. You can always buy fleece to cover the flooring as well to help protect it and stop them from sliding around

Ive also learned that rabbits can pretty easily feed off of our emotions. So if you are overly stressed about school, its possible they are picking up on that and stressing a bit along with you

[lunavenus]

As I’ve stated before, even though I accidentally hit Luna, she still comes up to me and sniffs me. She isn’t scared of me, but of course she doesn’t like it when I try to pick her up because bunnies don’t like being handled too much.

I also don’t try to over bond with them. Since you’ve been reading my posts, I’ve stated that I was in the ER because of medical issues. Ever since then I haven’t been able to properly sit on hard surfaces like in their play pen and hence spend a lot of time on my bed, watching them play. It’s not like I forcibly pull them out of their cage and be like PLAY WITH ME DAMMIT. I only go over to them once in a while to give them nice head rubs and talk to them a little bit so they get used to me. The main reason why I was concerned about them not coming out is because they usually come out wether or not I’m in or out of their playpen but most of the time they come out when I’m chilling on my bed. However, lately regardless of me sitting in their playpen or not, they don’t really come out. So the behavior change sort of make me go “hmm something seems off.”

I actually saw them come out late LATE last night while I pulled an all nighter and they seemed just fine running around and eating their hay. They don’t seem stressed at all. They flop down like normal very content bunnies do. As I stated, they have nice round poop pellets, eat tons of hay, and do what bunnies do. Whenever I go up to the opening of their cage to clean out their litter boxes every afternoon, they come up to me and sniff me. Sometimes Luna or Venus will nudge my hand slightly and I’d give them some head rubs. They fall asleep at the entrance of their cage if I head rub them long enough.

Although yes I am stressed, I was ALOT more stressed during the weekend and beginning of this week. They still came out and ran around though so it’s like why don’t they come out anymore? I remember hearing them run around the cage and playpen, waking me up from my much needed nap. But it’s like why did they suddenly not want to come out when I rarely bother them too much anymore.

[LBJ10]

It doesn’t sound to me like you are trying to bond with your buns “too much”. And, as you said, they are refusing to come out whether you are there or not. My thought — probably hormones and even just growing up a bit. Perhaps they are just going through a phase where they feel they need to stick close to their “den”. It isn’t unusual for bunnies to feel attached to their cage or home base. It doesn’t sound like this has been going on for a very long time, so it could pass and they go back to wanting to explore.

Leopold and Wooly are both turning 6 this year. They are free roam in their room. If I take the baby gate down, they will hop out into the living room. They never stay out for very long though. They want to go back to their room and that’s exactly what they do.

[lunavenus]

Today, I really wanted to give them some exercise so throughout the day I tried different ways to get them to come out….. I tried to burrito bunny them to see if anything is wrong with them, but they check out fine. Then, I put them in their playpen, but they just hop straight back into their cage :/ I tried coaxing them out with treats… Venus came out for like 30 seconds to receive the treats, looked around and went back in…… I tried to coax them out with little nudges, but they are adamant not to come out… I tried head petting them, they only stay in their cage and receive head pets. Don’t want to come out… I tried covering the coroplast flooring with fleece blankets so they won’t slip buuuuut they just looked at it (poked their head out of the entrance) then went back into their cage.
Looks like they just aren’t interested in coming out. Slow onset of hormones and growing up sounds plausible explanation.

I wish they’d come out more though since I’d love to interact with them. Unfortunately, I have to go on vacation for spring break with family (and for medical reasons) so I had ask my friend to be a bunny sitter for them. She has a rabbit too so she understands how to take care of them. Kind of sad that I’d be leaving them for a week and they haven’t really played in their extended playpen as I hoped they would. Venus just came out and played a lil bit just now but Luna seems like she isn’t interested in playing, which is a little bit concerning still to me. The vet a couple days ago said she’s fine and stuff, so I’m just going to assume she has more of the lazy laid back personality compared to the more outgoing Venus.

[Mikey]

Try not to see the week away as a bad thing. It sounds like they do like you, so when you come back after your break, they might come out more to say hi and see you again!

If they dont come out, they could be bored too. I dont remember reading about toys in any of your past posts. Do they have a lot of toys in their play pen? Boxes? Diggie boxes? Treat balls?

[lunavenus]

I do have toys for them everywhere…. Literally EVERYWHERE. I made a cutout box for them last week and put some nice fleece blanket in it so they can use it as a hidey house. I have a cute cat bed that used to have a lil ball attached to it with a string… but they chewed the string and now the ball rolls around in the bed lol.
I have a bunch of nice fleece blanket all over for them. I attached those chewable toy stuff to their cage. I always give them lil chewable apple orchard(?) sticks I got from the pet store (checked if they were bunny safe and internet said they were). I have wooden blocks and salt blocks for them to chew and lick. I have lil round cat toys that jingle for them to throw around…. and a bunch of other wooden toys that I sometimes see them playing with.
Maybe I should find more things to entertain them. They started biting on their cage so I feel like it’s boredom….

[Author]

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