How can I get my bunny to like sitting in his cat cave/hidey house?

[BlackSunlight]

I bought my bunny a low level cat cave some months ago, he’s never really used it as in sat or laid in it because he didn’t live in my room at that time, he would hang out in my room. When he hung out in my room he would lay down ON the cat cave, but never inside of it. He’s been living in my room free roam for three months now. (He still has access to the rest of upstairs, which is basically the game room. He used to live in an X-pen in the game room.) The cat cave isn’t a complex one, it’s shorter than my night stand. I put it in a cozy corner and put a towel in there, a plushie that my bunny has had for years, as well as a pillow he’s had for years, (I added the pillow recently) but he just doesn’t care ;-; I put treats in there to entice him to go in, but he goes in the cat cave to get a treat and hops right back out. He’s never had a hidey house ever since I adopted him. (December 2020) Early on I would just leave his carrier in the pen as a place for him to hide if he wanted.. but yeah I’m just wondering does anybody else’s rabbit not care for hidey houses?

Often I hear it’s important for a rabbit to have a hidey house. I think it’s my fault for not instilling that within him from the beginning, I’m pretty sure he just prefers laying down out in the open. It just hurts a little because I think it’s so cute and it sorta doubles as storage (I have a toy basket on top of it as well as treats and plushies.)

But yeah other than that, free-roaming in my room has been so lovely and I regret not doing this much sooner, I regret hesitating as much as I did. I didn’t think my bunny could get any lovelier but, he’s proven me wrong. He’s much clingier now, but he still wont lick me LOL

[Bam]

It sounds like he really enjoys being free roam in your room!

As for the cat cave, I dont think you can make him want to hang out in it. But because he is a rabbit, he might one day decide that he does want to hang out in the house, and then he’ll just do that.

Some buns don’t like hidey houses that only have one “door hole”. A wild rabbit’s burrow always has at least one “emergency exit”. Some buns don’t care for hidey houses at all.

Hidey houses are especially important for shy rabbits, a shy rabbit can feel more secure just by knowing that there is a hidey house. Your rabbit seems comfortable and safe lying down out in the open, and that is very good!

 

[BlackSunlight]

I guess that’s true, you can’t make a bunny do anything he doesn’t want to do; mine especially lol.. (He knows what “Come here” means but only listens when he feels like it, meanwhile will never NOT hear me when I say, “Do you want a treat?”)

This is reassuring though, because I didn’t think of it like that, him not feeling shy.. so there’s no reason for him to use the hidey house in his mind! Thank you sm 🙂

[LBJ10]

Yeah, a lot of bunnies want to have a back door to their hideout.

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