hmmm it might be useful to buy a pen of some sort (they make some for small animals that are about 29 inches high and that you can find for around $40) so that you could attach it to his cage and leave his door open more often even when you’re not directly paying attention to him.

You could put a sheet out under it, and this way he’d have more of an option to come out for more of the day, and might get more used to the idea. He’d also feel like he was going into another ‘limited’ space as opposed to into a larger more open and possibly more frightening space.

You could put tempting treats or food around the pen to get him to come out, and could even occasionally sit within the pen yourself to get him used to you.

Every rabbit is different though in terms of how long it takes them to get more comfortable.

I think he might just not be used to things yet. It look my bunny Lago about 2 weeks to get completely comfortable. Before that, she was nervous and ran away from people alot. Now she’s very social and comes over to greet people.

patience is the key. i found the best thing to do is to sit or lie on the floor so you aren’t looming over them, and let them come up and investigate themselves without reaching out to touch them. if you take a hands-off approach they will realise you aren’t going to try and grab them every time they come near you. remember they are prey not predators, so their natural instinct is to run away. you want to build trust with them before you leap into patting, cuddling and picking up.

i won’t lie, it’s totally boring lying on the floor waiting for them to come and inspect you, but once i let my rabbit do this many times without paying her much attention or trying to pat her, she definitely started to open up to me some more. she’s still very shy (after 2 months), but she did come from an abusive family so she’ll probably always be that way.

good luck!

I don’t have experience bonding with a baby bunny, but I think if you want your bunny to be used to you, be as close to him as possible as much as you can. Sit as close to his cage as you can, talk to him all the time, and have him able to see your face close up to his (on his level) – as long as it’s not in a threatening way, and you’ll be able to tell from his body language (like running away!) I swear even though the person I adopted my bunny from was crazy, she handled him and played with him a ton, so much that it seems like he thinks he’s a person. When he’s clearly sleeping you can leave him alone, otherwise try to communicate and play with him, you’ll be surprised! Just be patient!

I agree with the others – be patient and let him come out to you.

Is it easy to get out of his cage? Does it require jumping? I found with my baby bun that he didn’t know how to jump out at first – it was a pet store cage and required jumping about 6-8″ to get out. After a day or two I just picking him up and plopped him outside the cage. He went right back in, but at that moment he realized how the door thing worked. From that day he was hopping in and out on his own.

If your cage door doesn’t open right onto the ground, he might need a little help figuring it out. Some people are very hands off with a new rabbit, but as long as he’s not completely freaked out and sitting in a corner shaking, I think it’s ok to handle him a bit and maybe pick him up and bring him out. Let him go back in if he wants, but set him down right outside the cage so he sees that being out of the cage is ok and even fun. If he’s never left his cage without being picked up first (which he probably hasn’t, since he comes from a breeder, like my boy) he might not understand what he’s supposed to do.

Those pet cage doors can also be tricky because they’re made of wire and small bunny feet can get stuck/fall through. When my bunny was little and lived in his pecto cage (for the first week or so I had him) I used to wrap a small towel around his cage door when it was open, to form a softer ramp that was easier to walk on.

Good point Otti – I also have a piece of fleece wrapped around the wire door part of the cage and I got a little wooden box/crate from a craft store to put under it so that it sits flat, like a step, so Otto can jump up on it and then down into his cage. I’m sure a normal bunny could clear it, but he’s a wuss 😛 I still use my pet store cage with a pen attached because it keeps all of their hay mess contained to an easy to clean space, but the pen is key to give them more space to come out and really move around.