I feel like my bunny is unhappy and unsatisfied

[Amber]

We adopted a spayed bunny in January and she just turned 1 year old in April. I have a cage for her where I put her food and water, and it has a closed in hutch for her to hide in. We leave the cage open and have a fenced in area for her to run around in. She has toys that we rotate out regularly, lots of things to chew, and a dig box full of hay. We try to play with her but she always just seemed so bored. She would pull at the cage and make a ton of noise, or just lay around and eat. She was really reactive to sound, and we were afraid of she had more room, she would hurt herself. When we would go into her caged area, she would do little binkies and come over and cuddle with us and we’d pet her, but she never really wanted to play with anything, and we tried a lot. I looked up how to play with a bunny, but nothing we tried really seemed to entertain her. When we weren’t in there with her, she would just lay around and eat. We really felt the only way to make her happy was to open up the entire room.

We finally bunny proofed the room she’s in and opened up the entire room for her. It’s connected to the living room and we have the doorway blocked by her fence. For a couple days she seemed really happy but wouldn’t let us pet her anymore, and would run away if we tried to approach her. We stopped trying to approach her and instead let her come to us. It sort of worked, she’ll sometimes come to us and sometimes let us pet her, but a lot less than before. She still doesn’t seem to want to play with us, and she still doesn’t play with her toys. It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve opened the room up and she still behaves this way.

She also has a lot of very destructive behaviors, we’ve found. She loves to chew on wires and wire coverings, so we’ve covered them in ivory soap, and that seems to have worked for now. She has plenty of good things to chew on, but she still chews on the bars of the cage blocking the entrance to the living room. I covered that in ivory soap and she actually seems to be wiping it off with her paws before biting at it.

She’s also escaped at night twice, which she has never done until we gave her more room. She’s chewed up some very expensive wires in the living room which was really irritating, but we know it’s our fault. We should have anticipated she might escape, but she’s never done it before so it never really occurred to us.

We thought maybe she didn’t like all the extra room, so we closed her back in her caged in area, but she kept pulling and tugging at the bars. She seemed really angry about it, so we opened it back up again.

At this point, I’m kind of at a loss. I don’t know how to make sure she’s not bored or how to play with her. I don’t really know what she wants. She has an entire large room to run around in. We sit there with her, either on the floor or at the table in the room, but she still pulls at the bars blocking the doorway.

She’s very different from my old bunny. I love her but I feel terrible because I was not prepared for such a different personality. She’s very different from what the people at the adoption agency described her as, which was laid back, calm, and not minding her cage. I figured she would change a little as she got older and got used to life outside the agency but I didn’t think she would go through this big of a change, meaning completely the opposite of what they said.

Does anyone have any advice or ideas on what I should do? I want her to have a happy life, but I feel like I’m doing a bad job.

[HipHopBunny]

You are giving her a good life, don’t feel as though she is unhappy! I think the reason you aren’t seeing her zooming around in the day, is because rabbits are most active in the dusk and dawn hours, so she could just be getting out her binkies then, and sleeping during the day.

As for chewing on the bars of the living room – to her it is frustrating, there is more territory out there, why can’t she reach it? To solve this, I would put a sheet, or towel covering the spot where she would be able to see the other room. Not too heavy though that it cuts off her airflow.

You are doing great with taking care of her, she is living the spoiled life, don’t think it is a bad one!

One thing I like to do to relax rabbits is playing some soft piano, and they immediately calm down. I’m sure you will form a bond with her, but all good and memorable bonds take time. 🙂 Wishing you luck and appreciative buns!

[Amber]

Thank you for your reply, it made my boyfriend and I feel much better! We did notice she likes piano music, I’ll try keeping it on through the day. I’m also going to put up a blanket on the fence into the living room right now, so hopefully that works.

[HipHopBunny]

Keep us posted, hope to hear of more progress soon! 🙂

[DanaNM]

Even though it seems like you’ve had her a long time, some bunnies take a long time to open up. Forum leader Bam’s bunny Bam took about a year to decide he wanted to explore, after that was just the most amazing rabbit. And especially with the recent change in her home environment, she sounds like she’s still adjusting. Every bun really has a different personality, and it can take some time to find out how to bond with each particular bun. Having a good routine also helps. Feeding meals inside the pen or cage (even if you don’t close it) can also help the bun associate their pen/cage as their home burrow and feel better about being in it.

Is the room she is in very high-traffic? Most bunnies do best in a room with a good amount of activity. So if she’s in a bedroom that you’re only in briefly, then she is prob lonely and bored. A living room or a kitchen, or someplace else that you spend most of your waking hours in would be better. Buns are most active morning and evening, so spending time with her when she’s awake will be best for building a relationship with her. Hang out on the floor and let her come to you (having some treats on hand helps too!). It sounds like she likes cuddles, so that is a great foundation for your relationship.

Bunnies have different “toys” they like and might not “play” necessarily, but if she has destructive tendencies, then there should be certain toys she would like.

Is she digging the carpet? or mostly seeking out wires? It’s really important to completely block access to wires. You can also protect them with different kinds of wrapping, but those really only buy you time. My girl Bertha actually sounds kind of like your bun and she was amazing. She didn’t play with toys necessarily in the way you might think, seemed kind of lazy (a zoomie was a rare and exciting occurrence for her) was pretty destructive, but was also the most cuddly wonderful sassy lady. The best toys for her were grass mats, cardboard cat scratchers (they seem to really be good for carpet chewers), and assorted willow twigs. Wicker baskets were also great.

Having hide boxes and tunnels around the room will also help her feel more interested and safe exploring. Rearranging them also helps keep things interesting.

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Amber]

Thank you for your advice!

She is in a room that my boyfriend and I are in frequently, but I’ll make sure to spend more time with her in the morning to see if that helps.

She doesn’t really care about grass mats, but I got her a basket that she likes to chew on. She has a tube tunnel and a couple of other things to hide in and run through, too. I have her a cardboard cat scratcher but she just eats it most of the time. I want sure if she was eating too much cardboard so I took it away for a few days. Her favorite toys seem to be those baby stacking cups and baby key chain. I’ll get a couple more wicker baskets for her too.

 

 

[prince dorian the bun]

I felt a bit like this especially about the playing about my bun too if it helps and I know he’s a pretty content rabbit. He is not very into most toys, and prefers to just snuggle with his stuffed elephant or do some remodeling of his boxes. However he does love to explore, so we do outings to usually off limit areas sporadically and that seems to be pretty exciting for him. And he loves deck time, especially if the crows and jays are out there and he can watch people walk by. He really seems to like watching the dogs which is weird to me, but if he hears one he runs to go see with his ears in happy explorer mode. Anyway rambled on a bit there, none of these things may be interesting to your bun, but maybe they will give you ideas. She might just be a little bored and needs things changed up a bit… just a new box here and moving the tunnel could give her more to explore. She seems pretty smart based on the wiping off soap story, so maybe food puzzle/foraging games would stimulate her. Or maybe she would have fun learning tricks?

As for cables, I would try an option that’s more secure than soap. Maybe some kind of tubing?

Best of luck!!

[Amber]

I think teaching tricks could be really good, she is pretty smart so maybe tricks will help burn off some of her extra energy. Thanks for the idea!

Also, I do have cable covers on the wires. She was nibbling at the wire covers so I rubbed soap on that so she wouldn’t nibble anymore. Definitely no bare wires in the room she’s in!

[DanaNM]

Eating the cardboard scratcher is kinda the point! they will chew at them and reshape them as a project. Unless she is eating a really huge amount I wouldn’t worry.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Amber]

Yeah, I guess I just wasn’t sure how much cardboard was TOO much!

[LBJ10]

There’s no such thing as phone books anymore… but they do make a good bunstruction project.

[DanaNM]

Oooooh yeah phone books are/were the best! They did make quite the mess though!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[LBJ10]

Very messy! And yet, for some reason the act of ripping the pages always seems so satisfying.

[pinkiemarie]

So a few things. For the wires, would you be ok with the room being a little ugly? You can put nic cubes around the room and run the wires behind them. Bunny won’t be able to chew them and it will also keep hey from chewing the baseboards.

 

Is your bunny spayed? If not her behavior should be better if you spay her. You’ll also save her from getting uterine cancer which is very common in rabbits. Have you considered getting her a friend? If she has an entire room, she could have another bunny with her without requiring more space. Rabbits are very social but they do tend to prefer the company of other rabbits. I have three and they’re still all very sweet and interactive with me but they really love each other so much. A bonded pair of rabbits is actually so beautiful to see how much they love each other!

[prince dorian the bun]

Ah I get you on the wire covers, sorry I misunderstood!

I do the NIC grid, but not the prettiest, I saw a pic of someone who made a long box which was painted to match base boards, blended in nicely. If you are crafty that may be an idea.

[Amber]

She is spayed. We had thought about getting a second bunny but we just don’t have the room for them to bond right now.

I actually made the gate I use to block her off with NIC grids, but I’ll definitely take a look to see if I can use them to cover the wires and baseboards.

I’ve been trying to find a phonebook for her for a while now, they are very much a thing of the past though! Lol

Honestly, she already seems so much happier since covering the gate with a blanket, and we both spend time with her in the morning and in the evening. I didn’t think we’d see such a fast change! She’s re-focused on her wooden chews instead of the gate and the wire covers and is digging at her fleeces on the floor before drying a big ol flop.

I really appreciate everyone’s input, you’ve all made me feel a lot better and given me some great ideas!

[DanaNM]

Glad to hear it!

Sometimes bunnies get so obsessed with seemingly strange things!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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