Anti-Laminate Rabbit?

[Morgan Bun]

Poor Meezer….. he’s been here about a month, and just recently started venturing out of his cage. But once out of his cage, he takes a few steps to the right, right into his box. He sleeps in there, he digs and chews in there, and he only comes out to eat/drink, then back to the cage to poop/pee. This has been his schedule for a week or so. His cage door is open all day long, only closing it while we are sleeping.

I was concerned maybe he was depressed….he perks up when we approach him and puts his head out like he wants us to pet him, but he moved very little.

Today I put down a blanket on the floor outside his cage, and he came out to inspect it and has been more active in the past few hours than he has the entire month he’s been here. I feel terrible! I think he just didn’t like the flooring. He picks the blanket up in his teeth and digs at it with his front feet, but he hasn’t done any real chewing on it. If he continues to enjoy the “new” flooring, I may get a remnant or something from home depot for “his” corner.

Anyone else have a rabbit that won’t walk on laminate flooring?

Here he is in his box, with Meatball “upstairs” from him. He LOVES his kitty friends……

[kinggoblin]

My rabbit’s pen is on laminate flooring and he walks on it but he prefers carpet so I have a few carpets in there because when he gets excited he just runs in one place, lol.

But when I first got him he wouldn’t come out of his cage until I put carpet and newspaper down, maybe yours will get use to it eventually too.

He is really cute!

[Sarita]

Oh, he’s perfectly adorable! I find that these larger buns do not have good traction on laminate or smooth floors like the little ones. So carpeting is essential for them. The little ones seem to scamper fine on the smooth or laminate floors though.

[Morgan Bun]

Thanks, Kinggoblin & Sarita. Yes, I’ve seen a definite personality change just in the short time I put the blanket on the floor for him. Going to have to get some lowpile carpet squares and put them down for him. I feel bad it took me a month to figure it out. Kinda his fault….he shoulda just said somethin. 😀

He has since decided that his whole cage is his litterbox, so I’m filling it with litter and letting him use it as one big litterbox. Hoping we can get back to potty training basics after his neuter (this weekend).

[Elrohwen]

Otto will not walk on hardwood or laminates unless the place he’s trying to get to is less than 6″ away (so he can basically take one hop and by on a safe spot). Hannah doesn’t mind it generally, but she definitely prefers the carpet.

Their feet are so furry on the bottom that they don’t really have pads to grip slippery flooring, so many are afraid and never learn to walk on it.

[Hokankai]

My first set of foster bunnies would NOT walk on the hardwood floor, which worked perfectly because it meant I could leave the door to the rabbit room open and I didn’t have to worry about them leaving the carpeted room. 

However, my last foster rabbit was fearless and no floors could stop her. She left the room without a wink…made me laugh because I wasn’t expecting it, 

[Deleted User]

Love the picture!

We have tile flooring here, but we give our buns a little bit more traction with bedsheets (supplied from thrift stores).

[Deleted User]

Missy pretty much refuses to walk on laminate/tile/hardwood floors. She’s gotten where she’ll hop onto my bathroom floor but thats only because the bath rugs are only a few steps away. As soon as she walks on a slick floor her little feet shoot out in all different directions, lol. We don’t have to worry though because my mom’s house and my apartment is mainly carpet. And it keeps her from venturing out of my room because the dining room in my apt is right by my bedroom lol.

[Morgan Bun]

We’ve evolved from sheets on the floor (which he absolutely LOOOOOOVED to poop on) to carpet squares, and he likes’em for traction, and isn’t usin’em to poop on, so I think we found our Meez-floor. He’s officially cage free, with a NIC “pen” that I put up around him while we’re sleeping. He’s such a good bun!

[bunnyfriend]

Awhhhh he is so cute!

I definitely agree about the larger buns having less traction, Totoro can handle wooden floors but not nearly as well as Wilbur does. Carpet seems to be the best. I forget that rabbits have only fur on their feet unlike cats or dogs who have pads.

[Huckleberry]

How funny! Good thing you got it figured out.
Huckles enjoys the laminate floor well enough, but she prefers carpet. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt matters that the fridge is on the laminate and she has figured out that that is where the tasty food it 😉

[bmt87]

Lola is a 4-month old Holland Lop and HATES (hates, hates, hates) any kind of hard surface.

It’s awesome because when I am working on my thesis I can lay a small blanket on our hard-surface desk and she will lay on it and fall asleep because she is petrified to walk on the desk (writing that makes it sound mean…but seriously…she is going through puberty and needs to just SIT STILL for an hour or two every once in awhile…!)… It also keeps her out of our laminate tile kitchen. She will wait at the edge of the carpet and watch as I open the doors to get her food. Crazy rabbit.

[Morgan Bun]

Glad to hear my Meezy isn’t the only one that prefers a grippy floor rather than spinning his wheels on laminate/wood flooring…. He has been doing a lot of flopping lately on a new rug I got him for his corner. I think he likes it! He has started venturing over to the guinea pig cage when I’m giving g’pig treats after his foot treatments. So he WILL walk on the slicky floor if there’s a treat in it for him. Just gotta make it worth his while, I suppose.

I am so sad Morgan has been adopted. I’m glad for him, sad for me. Much as I adored that boy, he never really “fit in” here….our household was a great foster home for him, safety, food, attention….but we weren’t a good permanent situation for him. Meez being here has made Morgan’s leaving a little easier.

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