My mini-rex has been in an X-pen since I first brought him home in January. The pen was on the first floor of my townhome where the front and back doors opened into a tiled area with floor to ceiling windows with a view of the front garden. The room was once used as an office and is also the location of the utility closet (water heater, AC, furnace). The placement of the X-pen made it necessary to reorganize the pen each time I needed to get into the utility closet, upsetting the bunneh’s world. In addition, a hiccup in the AC caused a puddle in the pen while I was at work. As a result of that and noticing that my little rex loves hiding under the ottoman and in covered areas, I decided to make him a mobile (on a platform on casters) NIC rabbitat with mutliple carpeted platforms to hide under or hop about on top of.
He cautiously explored the environment last night while he periodically ate his greens (he would have one or two leaves, then, ears-forward, approach the opening to the rabbitat, hop in, explore the first level, sniff everywhere, hop out, hide behind me while he periscoped, then eat a few more leaves and repeat the exploration). He seemed to have figured out the first level, that the new litter-box in the rabbitat was where his litter should go, and all was OKish…then, when it was time for bed, he ran upstairs to the living room, under his ottoman, and was a terror to get out. Eventually, I coaxed him into the rabbitat for the night and closed the door.
This morning, first thing, I went downstairs to find out how he was doing. I opened the door and he hopped out with a few hoots and thumps (not his usual morning greeting). He had made it to the top platform in the rabbitat (I had placed treats on each level as incentive to explore) and it looked like the fleece blanket in the corner on that level had been slept on. When I gave him his morning rabbit-crack, I felt him to check for any issues that may have happened during the night (if he missed a platform or had any injury-producing encounters that could have caused the hoots and thumps) and didn’t find anything. He went back into the rabbitat when I placed new hay in his litter-box. When I came down with his morning greens about 40 minutes later, he was out of the rabbitat, but went in when the greens were placed in there.
How do I tell if he is OK with the new rabbitat? I know it is a huge change and he, like most rabbits, hates change. How long should it take to be OK with the new home? Should I place his X-pen outside the open rabbitat door and let him have penned-space as well as his rabbitat until he gets used to it or should I try to confine him to the rabbitat when I am not home or in bed (he is always let out to run wherever when I am home and not sleeping)?