Elmer wont leave his hide box!!

[JOz1319]

So our bunny Elmer is 14 weeks old. We got him for Christmas so he’s been with us for about 5 weeks. We’ve slowly but surely been upgrading his living quarters. It started with just a cage and a small(dinky) 2 ft playpen, then we bought storage cubes and made him a 4ft x 5ft pen attached to his cage for him to roam about as he pleased. Once we did that it was binkies all day. We recently decided to let him have free range of our entire living room. Again once we did that instead of binkies all day, he would just bolt back and forth into his cage out of his cage into his cage out of his cage. He’s one crazy guy. 

Anyways now that the back story is out of the way, I recently added a box turned upside down with two entryways cut out for him to go in and out of this box and I added some towels for him to dig at instead of the carpet. The past three days now ALL he does is sit in the box, if he comes out its to got eat and get some water. When we first added the hidebox he would go in it but would still wander around and check things out, maybe go flop along side the fencing we have up for him. but now like I said he barely comes out. We try enticing him with treats to come out and he does but he will either snatch it out of our hands or eat it and then dart back inside his box. I don’t want to have to resort to taking the box away because I know he probably feels extra safe in there, but I am worried that he isn’t getting enough excercise, especially as much as he has gotten before.

Any advice? Is this normal behavior or is he being a rebellious toddler? We also have been starting to wonder if maybe he isnt actually a boy…

[Azerane]

At 14 weeks of age you’re bound to see some behavioural changes as hormones start to kick in and mix things up, he’s more of a teenager than a toddler Some bunnies can become bolder and other more shy. I’m not sure what to suggest in terms of the box, it’s clear he loves it. It might seem weird, but I wonder whether adding more hiding boxes could be helpful. Then he could leave his box and run to the next one. That way he’s still exploring, even if it’s just going from box to box.

[JOz1319]

Well to update he’s finally come out, an decided the other morning to hop over his fence and cause trouble while we were sleeping (knocking over and chewing movies and books) we decided to move his cage and only block things off that we didn’t want him to chew. He’s been more active since that but he’s been one hell of a “teenager”. I tried to stop him from chewing the ramp we have attached to his cage and he snarled and nipped at me. It’s clear that he’s due for a fixin. I can’t handle this stage ahhhh.

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