Encouraging exercise

[MadRabbit]

I was wondering how do you encourage your rabbits to exercise?  Currently, Cinnamon and Pepper are in their cage/x-pen.  In the past, we’ve open the pen while we are around, but they don’t come out.  On the rare occasion that they do come out, all they do is hop around and find a nice cozy spot to chill.  We’ve noticed recently Pepper is jumping on to the second level of his cage and we will probably find ways to encourage that.  Cinnamon is not so active. 

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

It’s quite possible they are active when your not around/sleeping. Rabbits are very active late at night (around 12-3) and early am (6-9) or so…Also, are they spay/neutered? Altered buns tend to be calmer as they don’t have raging horomones to deal with ( a GOOD thing ).

Rabbits love to explore and practice running around. Rearrange things in their cage/pen and the area of the house they are allowed out into. If it’s different they’ll HAVE to check it all out and run around. This keeps them interested and active.

Offer different toys twice a week. You don’t need to break the bank, there are many toys you can find around the house or make yourself! Check the ‘toy test’ forum section on this site for ideas. To name a few-phone books and diggy boxes!!

Do you rabbits have ‘rationed pellets’ (ie. they aren’t free fed)? If they get excited about pellets you can scatter them all over the cage/pen so they have to move around and forage for their pellets rather then sitting and eating them.

You can also try playing a radio or Tv for them to offer more stimulation.

Hope these suggestions help and I’m sure other members will have more for you!

[Beka27]

i have the maze that is available on this site. they can jump to the next level up if you make a two-story, also you can rearrange the partitions to change it up so they can explore a new area… i have mine outside of the xpen, so if they want to play in it, which they LOVE to do, they must leave the comfort of their xpen to get to it… sometimes i think we can make their cages so comfortable for them that they are totally content never leaving… also, i feed two bowls of salad, one is inside the pen, one i put outside of the xpen so they will venture out to eat. i don’t scatter the lettuce (they end up doing it themselves).

[Sage Cat]

If they like to rip and chew paper, you can put some treats – hay, a raisin or some herbs – in a little paper bag roll the bag up and tie it with some natural raffia.
Give them a bag like this every day about the same time. Because they start to expect the bag – they start to look for it.
Then start hiding the bag someplace easy to find, then someplace harder to find, then put it up where they might have to jump to get it.

[Sarita]

I think SageCat’s idea is great.

Also how old are your rabbits? Seems like my old timers sleep more – some of my rabbits are more active but for the most part my rabbits are lazy – all my rabbits are over 6 years old.

[skunklionshow]

I worry about the same thing.  I guess I just thought that once the cage door is open, they would come running out and binky all over the place.  I would like to get the maze, I’m waiting for Christmas.  Sometimes I will pull Chunky Monkey Jessica out into the hallway to force her to run.  She usually enjoys running up/down the hall and stairs.  But I do have to force it on her sometimes.

I recently got a rubber lattice ball toy for dogs.  I stuff it w/ hay and a few papaya bits.  Leo loves ripping the hay out and throwing it all over the cage.  I think it promotes his exercise.  Unfortunately, I do feel that they spend more time in their condo than running around the house or hall.  I guess they prefer their own home rather than sharing w/ the cats.

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