Pansy is a scaredybun

[Dorcas]

(x-posted)

Hey,
We adopted Pansy from the city shelter a couple days ago and moved her into a NIC 4 level home.  the first day she seemed ok with moving from level to level but last night she spent the whole night on one level, with nothing but a towel and a very small amount of hay.  When I moved her veggie bowl to that level she devoured it.  she also pooped and peed there and we had to clean the carpet.  She has a huge litter box, all the neccessary amnenities for a spoiled bun live (chew sticks, toys, pellets, water, lots of hay, daily fresh veggies) and as far as I can tell we’re doing everything right by rabbit.org standards.  I know she’s adjusting, but it seems to me she doesn’t mind going UP her levels but hates going DOWN.  anything we can do to ease the transition?  worst case scenario we take apart her cage and make it just one or two levels, but the way we have it is pretty space efficient now.  (it’s 1x2x3 NIC squares.)  And just so you know, she’s a 4.3 lb 1 year old random bunnymutt.  She’s eating whatever is on her level and her bowels look normal to me.  Any suggestions?  Do you think she’ll get over it in time?  the shelter we rescued her from is actually the New York City pound, so she was quite crowded with very loud barking dogs day and night.  All they knew about her is she’s a stray.  She’s been with us since Monday. 

thanks for your help!

PS: we got our Sweet Meadow Farm hay today, and though it’s got more brown in it than her Oxbow hay she likes it a lot more.  We thought she was eating the Oxbow hay but oh boy does she like the SMF hay!  We got it in two days, too.  We’re pretty pleased.  It looks to me like they mix first and second cut in their normal Timothy hay. 

[bunnytowne]

Awe  poor little bunny.  She must be so relieved not to hear those dogs day n and day out. 

Is there a way to get a ramp for her to get down easier.  Some bunnies just don’t have a lot of confidence with jumping up or down. Seems like a ramp would help hopefully.

[jerseygirl]

Thanks for adopting! Had she had a vet check at the pound? You may want to get her eye sight checked out. Rabbits do have a challenge with depth perception because of the way their eyes work. They don’t see directly in front of their nose but can see all the rest of the way round. I think also, the vision from each eye overlaps somehow (??) Anyway, you’ll often see them up on a level peering down continously until they get a feel for the depth and then they’ll jump. Pansy may still be adjusting but do keep in mind possible vision problems. Do you use ramps or does she just jump up to levels?

[bunnytowne]

Well Ruby has a ramp in her giant cage. I mean a shelf.  She is not a good jumper.  Hubby had found a little ladder with a small space between rungs.  I am glad I kept it. 

I put it in Ruby’s house today attaching it to the shelf.  Then I put her on it and she climbed up to the shelf.

I checked on her a little later and she got down. She is very noisy when she jumps down I don’t know it she used the ladder cause I haven’t heard her thump as she got down. I hope she did.

It is like a little bird ladder but it doens’t have the hooks on it.  Maybe try something like that without the hooks. Or a ramp and attach carpet to it.

[bunnytowne]

You know I wish we could order things like that.  Either one comes with the cage when you buy it or you dont’ get anything like that with the cage. And there is no other way to buy one you got to make one.

[KatnipCrzy]

What is allowing her to get from level to level?  ramps? and open jump area?

[bunnytowne]

You  mean Ruby ?  she could jump to the shelf but is too scared  I put it as low as it would go which is like 8 inches from the bottom  of the cage. She prefers to hide under it I think   for I haven’t seen her up there again.  

[Dorcas]

Pansy has open jump areas. we’re considering putting in ramps but we weren’t sure how that would decrease free movement in the cage. We’ll take a look at the bird ladders. We’re also considering taking apart the cage and making it wider with only two levels, instead of the four level narrow one she has now.

[bunnytowne]

Yeah I am going to take the ladder out.  Ruby hasn’t used it and I would like her to have more room in there. So I can put her a toy to occupy herself with.  Hope u find somethign that works.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

That might work as well (making it wider) we made ramps out of metal shelving material, and then carpeted them. Once the buns got real used to the ramps we just took them out and they preferred it that way. But off the bat, i don’t think they would have hopped the levels, they needed the ramps at first for sure.

Congrats on adopting and welcome here!

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