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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum BEHAVIOR Bunny hasn’t come out of cage ever since I got him?

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    • Debby
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        So I got my bunny from someone almost a month ago now, she doesn’t recommend neutering him because he’s a cryptorchid, so he had to live 2 years alone in a hutch before I got him. Now he lives inside in a cage in my room, so I am around the cage most of the time, but the unfortunate aspect is he is always in his hiding spot (realistically, 80-95% of the time). I think he should be accustomed to most of the sounds in this house by now, but he hasn’t ever come out of his cage, because I wanted him to feel safe and all…I always get down on the floor outside the cage every day and he has got used to my voice, but still runs into the hiding spot whenever I stand up…my main issue is I feel like I have no idea how much longer I will have to wait until he comes out and I can even touch him..when I went to pick him up, the owner put him in my carrier, and I opened the carrier when he came home and put him into the cage without touching him, I didn’t want to frighten him….he still seems a little scared of me sometimes I guess, but I have taught him to use a litter box and eat from a hay rack and drink from a bottle, which I am happy about, but I haven’t been able to actually connect with him because he just doesn’t want to come out. 

        Most people say they eventually will come out on their own time, but whenever my bunny looks outside of the cage for the most part, he just runs back into his hiding spot (I have the Living World Deluxe Habitat, X- Large) I know it isn’t the biggest cage, but he is supposed to have free roam of my room and mainly a cage just for eating/sleeping/when I am not around, just to be safe. I feel pretty sad, as most people are able to bond with their bunnies on the first day, sometimes a few days, or a few weeks, and if I even try to pet my bunny he’d run away…I really didn’t expect having a bunny to be like this but believe me, I have done lots of research, it is just that most research I have done regarding bonding didn’t lead me to think it could take months…

        So I was searching the internet and came to some results on this forum of people suggesting ways to bond with their bunnies, and I noticed a few people on here said they just took their bunnies out so they could see that it’s safe…should I do that with mine since he hasn’t come out at all yet? After all, I need to be able to groom him (brush him so he doesn’t ingest too much fur, trim his nails, possibly clean anal glands but he doesn’t seem very smelly after a month), clean out his hiding spot (he peed and pooped in there a lot when I first got him and I still haven’t been able to clean it out so he has pee stained feet) and make sure he gets his daily exercise. 

        I kinda feel like I have no other option but to take him out but I don’t want to scare him, but I have tried what feels like everything to get him to come out and nothing has worked (like making a trail of treats that lead outside of the cage…he will just stop there, and trying to move my hand further back with a treat in it will just make him stop trying to get the treat, I also leave the cage door open when I am in my room.) but in the last week he has sort of made a little progress in sticking his head out a bit more of the cage when I hand feed him treats, but he won’t even always take treats from my hand, like sometimes when I reach to get another he even gets a little scared…) I just don’t know what to do,


        I know this is long but I wanted to give a lot of background info….so knowing all this, what do you think I should do? I was thinking of removing the hiding spot and using a see through one with a blanket draped over that part of the cage temporarily, but remembered that the way my cage is, it’d be hard to remove the hiding spot, (and the food bowl is connected to it)  and since he is always under it, he would get scared when it would just stop being his cover/protecting him, because any unusual sounds make him run straight there, so he would likely get extremely scared if I even tried to remove the hiding spot…


      • LBJ10
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          What is the flooring like in the room?

          Off topic – How do they know he’s cryptorchid? I just want to make sure he isn’t really a she.


        • Robert
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            i would get him/her out so i could clean that spot, having urin where he/she stays all the time could lead to sickness just due to cleanliness. my new netherland dwarf is very skiddish, will run and hide from me when i reach in his cage, but i take the little roof away he sits under and he lets me pet him and grinds his teeth


          • Debby
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              It’s carpeted outside of the cage, the whole floor. The person who I got my bunny from seemed pretty well versed on cryptorchidism and sent me a link that talks about it occurring in animals, and said one of his testicles never descended. He has never really been angry or tempermental like an unspayed female bunny would be.


            • Megabunny
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                Yup, at this point I vote you take him out and show him he’ll survive time out. And as LBJ says, it could be the flooring. If it’s linoleum he is probably afraid of slipping. Some people get their rabbits to come out immediately by putting some carpeting in front.


              • Megabunny
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                  sorry I don’t know if our postings crossed. Didn’t mean to repeat the carpeting thing. I’d give in and pick him up and see what happens. Enough’s enough, right? I do recall someone else saying that’s what they did and the rabbit was fine. They are all so different


                • Nimo
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                    Well I read at one place and also tried successful that some times bunnies have to be handled once to give them confidence. Gently take him out and groom him and surely he will get to know what he’s missing


                  • TheBunBinx
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                      Hi Debby! I am a new bun caretaker myself so I am still learning new things each day but just wanted to say I understand how you feel. I have a sweet little netherland dwarf who can be timid and shy at times. He is 5 months old and luckily his curiosity gets the better of him so he must explore! However, the first day he wouldn’t come out of the bathroom even with the door wide open. I ended up purchasing the Oxbow play yard pet habitat (large) that same day he came home. It was on sale from $189 down to approximately $100 at PetSmart. It has a fairly wide open play yard (for a dwarf bunbun) with a gate attached to it that creates a nice sized xpen. It is just under 4ft wide, 6ft long (with the xpen), and just over 2ft high. If your bunny doesn’t want to come out I don’t think he will jump over it at this point. I set up his litter box in the corner of the xpen with blankets down, chew toys, sprinkles of pellets and tip cups to make it inviting. He really has taken ownership of it and seems to enjoy that the whole space is his. I do not intrude unless I’m cleaning or he’s being cheeky and wants to play! Maybe putting his litter box in a larger gated area may help coax him outside the primary gate but still in his cage if you don’t want to take him outside of his comfort zone? Does he like to hang out in the box? I have two – one to sleep (in the primary cage area by his hidey home) since he loves care fresh and one to toilet in the corner of the xpen. 

                      It’s been a week and half and although he loves his nascar 500’s and binky’s gone wild he is not comfortable with me petting him and definitely not picking him up! The first few days with him he would thump at my shadow or when I walked by him…still does sometimes when he gets spooked. It’s so darn cute but I feel bad I’m frightening him when I really just love this little buddy! I’m relieved by his happy behavior and knowing he’s comfortable is all that I need. I know it will take time (and I’m thinking at least a few months) to get him comfortable enough to receive some pets. In the meantime – just learning. Wishing you the very best for your bun!


                    • Debby
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                        Sorry about the delayed update, but I decided to try and remove the hiding spot and it was actually easy to remove despite looking like it was attached to the cage! I have temporarily put a towel over one side of the cage to give him some secureness though, so now he will either be in that side of the cage or his litterbox (other side of the cage) to feel secure. I actually pet him for the first time ever today which is kind of sad, lol! He seems okay with me petting him, so I may try and take him out of the cage later today or tomorrow! Should I just leave him alone when I take him out, or groom him, or try and pet him/give him treats or what? He still eats out of my hand, fortunately, so I don’t think he is mad at me for removing the hiding spot or petting him.


                      • Megabunny
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                          Even my tame “booby head” as the vet calls him, is often reluctant to eat when I’m holding him. But certainly treats are a good thing to bribe bunnies with. You’ll know what to do . You sound very compassionate!


                        • LBJ10
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                            So he has one visible testicle? My Wooly was missing one. The weird thing is, we didn’t know it until we had him neutered because it looked like they were both there. The vet found one testicle and one fatty deposit. LOL The undescended one was found in his body cavity. Sure had the vet fooled for a minute though. o_O So that’s why I was curious because we saw something there. One of them was a “stand in” though.

                            I think it would be alright to, uh, coax him out gently. If you can just get him out onto the floor so he can see there is nothing to fear and offer him treats, I think that would be alright. If he runs around in the cage when you’re trying to get him out, I would avoid chasing him. That will just scare him further.


                          • Debby
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                              I believe so, but I haven’t been able to get a good look at his testicles yet because I haven’t really handled him much. I tried to get him to come out and tried calming him with petting but like you said, it seemed like he was running from me when I tried picking him up in his cage….what should I do in this instance then? I need to groom him. I’m noticing his nails getting long, and I just have to do the typical brushing/simple checkup on his health/check his anal glands and clean his feet.


                            • LBJ10
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                                He takes treats from your hand, right? Could you lure him over to you with treats?


                              • Debby
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                                  You mean out of the cage using treats? I’ve tried, but when I extend my hand a certain length son can try to get him to eventually come out, he stops trying to get the treats from my hand.


                                • Debby
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                                    Posted By TheBunBinx on 12/12/2014 3:29 PM

                                    Hi Debby! I am a new bun caretaker myself so I am still learning new things each day but just wanted to say I understand how you feel. I have a sweet little netherland dwarf who can be timid and shy at times. He is 5 months old and luckily his curiosity gets the better of him so he must explore! However, the first day he wouldn’t come out of the bathroom even with the door wide open. I ended up purchasing the Oxbow play yard pet habitat (large) that same day he came home. It was on sale from $189 down to approximately $100 at PetSmart. It has a fairly wide open play yard (for a dwarf bunbun) with a gate attached to it that creates a nice sized xpen. It is just under 4ft wide, 6ft long (with the xpen), and just over 2ft high. If your bunny doesn’t want to come out I don’t think he will jump over it at this point. I set up his litter box in the corner of the xpen with blankets down, chew toys, sprinkles of pellets and tip cups to make it inviting. He really has taken ownership of it and seems to enjoy that the whole space is his. I do not intrude unless I’m cleaning or he’s being cheeky and wants to play! Maybe putting his litter box in a larger gated area may help coax him outside the primary gate but still in his cage if you don’t want to take him outside of his comfort zone? Does he like to hang out in the box? I have two – one to sleep (in the primary cage area by his hidey home) since he loves care fresh and one to toilet in the corner of the xpen. 

                                    It’s been a week and half and although he loves his nascar 500’s and binky’s gone wild he is not comfortable with me petting him and definitely not picking him up! The first few days with him he would thump at my shadow or when I walked by him…still does sometimes when he gets spooked. It’s so darn cute but I feel bad I’m frightening him when I really just love this little buddy! I’m relieved by his happy behavior and knowing he’s comfortable is all that I need. I know it will take time (and I’m thinking at least a few months) to get him comfortable enough to receive some pets. In the meantime – just learning. Wishing you the very best for your bun!

                                    Yeah, he does like hanging in his litterbox since taking his hiding spot away, I guess he finds it comfortable and his new safe spot. If I can get an X pen I think something like this would be a good idea to try, though my room really isn’t that large lol. Thanks for the suggestions by the way!


                                  • Debby
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                                      I felt mean removing his hiding spot and put it back, but as soon as I did, he has gone back to his old ways of staying in there practically all the time, so should I just stop using his hiding spot permanently? (the one that comes with the living world deluxe habitat cage)


                                    • Robert
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                                        Any update on how your bun is doing?


                                      • Tedster
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                                          Hey, I’m no bunny expert as I still need help with some of my issues with my bunny, but I hope my experience will help you if your bunny still doesn’t want to leave the cage yet.

                                          When I first got Teddy, he was in his cage for the whole day so he can adjust to it. The second day, I opened his cage and left it open. He was very small so he couldn’t jump out of the cage to explore so I placed a pillow next to the cage so he can jump on the pillow first. I then realized that my floor is hardwood floor, so I bought some fleece blankets and put it on the floor. I laid down on the floor and I was just playing on my laptop for about 3 hours and then he finally took a step out. Don’t make any movement when he is out though because he will run back inside. He would take little step by step until he’s comfortable with binkying around the fleece blankets. But act like you aren’t paying attention to him and just let him do his own thing. Soon he’ll be curious and will go check up on you.

                                          If that doesn’t work, try leaving the cage open and walk outside and stay behind the door and peep at him. Sometimes, bunnies like to do things when we are not there because they still don’t trust us or they are just really scared. Once he’s used to getting out when you are not there, get in there but do stay far away from him and let him do his own thing. Even though your presence is there, he’s probably not going to resist freedom for long so just sit there and read a book or something. Eventually you will be able to scoot closer and closer. I heard this method from a friend of mine who had this issue as well. I’ve never tried it with Teddy since he’s a very curious rabbit so I didn’t have this problem, but I hope one of these methods will help you. Good luck!


                                        • scubahood
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                                            can you put the hiding spot close to but outside of his cage? that way he can still use it but at least coming out is a step in the right direction?

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                                        Forum BEHAVIOR Bunny hasn’t come out of cage ever since I got him?