She won’t come out of her cage

[Olivethelion]

Hello! I am a new rabbit owner and rescued a lionhead/California mix bunny. I got her when she was just a couple weeks old and she adjusted nicely! She is well mannered and loves to roam around rather than be in her cage. However, there have been a couple days where I feel like I have to push her out of her cage. We will go through our morning routine and I open her cage door for her to get some run time. An hour will have passed and she is still in her cage and doesn’t look like herself. I will close the cage up and try again a few hours later. Same thing! Looks at me like I’m crazy for wanting her out of her cage. She just turned 7 months so she is always pretty active. Again, this has happened a few times and I’m not sure if it’s something I should be worried about! Doesn’t nip if I pet her while she’s in her cage. She actually welcomes the head scratches! Just don’t know if it’s her age or something is wrong! Any advice would be much appreciated ?

[Yellow Pro. 74]

Maybe there is something that she doesn’t like outside her cage? Their hutches are the safest places for them so it could be that she is scared, or possibly just tired. Maybe you should change the running time to earlier or later.

[joea64]

Rabbits are crepuscular, so it might be that she’d rather doze than play if you’re trying to get her to come out fairly late in the morning. My own two buns like to sack out in the hidey boxes on the upper deck of their bunny condo during the main daylight hours, or sun themselves under the window (blinds drawn to protect them from excessive direct light) – in fact Panda is bunloafing in the afternoon sunlight right now; they get active in the late afternoon as suppertime and evening playtime approach.

[Azerane]

As mentioned it could just be that she’s not particularly interested in coming out of her cage at that time. If you are worried that she is unwell, one of the easiest tests is a treat test. Offer a small piece of favourite food or treat and if she eats it then she just wasn’t interested in coming out. If she refuses to eat it, she may not be well.

My pair are very active early morning and late evening (crepuscular as mentioned). When I get home from work and I open the cage door, if it’s the middle of the day or early afternoon, they won’t come out. They’re just happy relaxing. The same as if I’m home all day. On my days off I’ll let them out first thing in the morning and they’ll come out almost straight away to run around and have a play, but as soon as it reaches about 10am, they head upstairs in their cage and just lounge around inside for hours and hours, even though the door is open they prefer to sleep the day away in their condo. But once evening starts to hit they’ll be out and about again.

If you have a regular routine for letting your bun out for a bit before work for a short bit they can sometimes get used to that, but most often it just boils down to natural activity patterns.

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