Bunny suddenly acting crazy!

[Oreo-George]

Hi,

I was given a bunny to look after for a while by a friend and unfortunately she is too unwell to take him back. I’ve had him for about 3 weeks and he’s been fine – eating out of my hand etc but seems to hate being petted.

Two days ago he suddenly started thumping in the night and since then he runs round his pen really fast in circles stamping his feet.

He’s about a year I think and he isn’t neutered but doesnt spray or anything…

Help! Thanks x

[Mikey]

Thats usually a sign that a bunny is scared or overly excited. Do you let him out to play at all, or is he stuck in the cage 24/7? If hes not allowed out to play, this could be a big reason why, hes bored and wants out to burn energy. Has anything changed: smell, sight, ect in the last few days? If so, this could be scaring him

[Oreo-George]

Thanks for the response! He’s not shut in his cage unless I have to go out (I work from home). He hasn’t got the run of the house but he has his cage and a pen – in total probably 4ft by 5ft.

I’d like to let him out but when he escaped he ate the wifi and if I’m honest I’m nervous about having to catch him if I need to! I hate the thought that I’m stressing him out!

[tobyluv]

You do have to “bunny proof” any rooms that a rabbit is loose in. They will chew on just about anything. The BUNNY INFO link at the top of the page has a lot of good information on all the basics of rabbit care, including bunny proofing.

Since this first happened at night, I wonder if a mouse could have entered his cage. Did you ask your friend if he ever had this behavior at her house?

Most rabbits don’t like to be picked up, and they can even injure themselves if they struggle too hard, but if you let him out into a room, you can try luring him back into his cage with a favorite treat.  Maybe something that you would only give him at that time when he goes back in and not at other times.

[vanessa]

It isn’t alway seasy to figure ut what is stressing the bun. My Lancelot used to thump under my bed at night. Annoying. So I built a “wall” that he couldn’t get under there anymore. No more thumping. Sometimes, Avalon and Morgana thump at night, and I haven’t figured out why yet. I always check on them when they thump. Sometimes it is because one of the birds got restless and caused night fright for the other birds. Their thumping makes the night fright worse for the birds. So I go in, turn on the lights, and calm everyone down. Mosts of the time, I just can’t figure out why they are thumping. Calm sleepy birds, plenty of food and water (Lancelot will thump if his food bowl is empty), I don’t know. These two do have a lot of energy and I wish I could let them have more space to run, but they are destructo-bunnies, and I wouldn’t trust them unsupervised. Once I have all hardwood floors – I will give it a try. But not while I still have some carpet. So… it could be many things… not always easy to figure out.

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