Rabbit jumped to top of exercise pen

[Love4Bunny]

My ex-pen is 36 inches tall. Crysta used her little hidey house to launch herself upwards and managed to get her front paws over the top of the ex-pen, hanging there like Spiderbunny. I was watching her and up she went, like a shot!She landed safely and hid under Thor – I guess she spooked herself. I attached a towel over the corner to stop her from jumping. I have seen her clear 24 inches, so I’m thinking that’s the highest she can clear minus the hidey house.

If anyone has a “Jumper” (not the sweater kind!), how do you prevent your bunnies from jumping up, short of buying a grated lid?

I frequent the cage a lot (and my bunnies don’t mind it), so it would be difficult to continuously put a heavy lid on top of the cage after I refill the hay bag, sweep the floor, and chuck out the poops twice daily.

[Sr. Melangell]

Olly used to jump, well he still does Binkies, he used to jump over the laptop onto my knee, I got him the X-pen for Christmas, but I gave it him before Christmas day to get exercise because he did have GSI before Christmas, he has stopped jumping apart from jumping on his cage attached to his x_Pen to remind me of something and look at the clock if its feeding time, or look at my pills, there are nets you can buy, they are cheap, but if your bunny is a chewer then she will eat it, if she isn’t a chewer then a thin old bed sheet might do the trick, you might find one at a second hand shop or charity shop or a few pence. (Not sure where you are from, might cost just a few coins.)

[Love4Bunny]

Hmm, that’s definitely an option. Crysta is The Munchkin-ator. She will chew ANYTHING, so I can’t even put nice stuff in there. But she let’s me cuddle with her (lap time), so that’s the trade-off, I suppose!

[Q8bunny]

I wonder if you can use pipe cleaners to create a fake inwards “curve” at the top of the x-pen – the kind maximum-security prisons have in movies? To dissuade climbers trying to get out? Maybe the buns will see it and think twice about jumping?? I know it sounds silly, but I’m quite serious.

[Love4Bunny]

I can picture it… It might give her more incentive to jump as she likes to cling to things (smh). I suppose it’s like the grid idea. Hmm… I just remembered a pic I saw of tightly woven mesh attached to a square pipe frame. It was used to cover outdoor ex-pens so predators wouldn’t get in. I wonder if that would even fit in the room, haha. I can’t lay anything that I don’t want chewed on the ground cos of Crysta. Thankyou for the input!

[Q8bunny]

Ok… so how about building a light frame from thin plastic tubing or wood trim, and stretching a net (or something that’ll let in light) across it, and then using it as a lid that’s super easy/light to lift? Like a giant kite.

[Love4Bunny]

Yes, I was thinking along that line. I could also store it behind the ex-pen when I’m cleaning the cage (sliding between wall and pen) if the tubing is thin enough.

[Azerane]

Bandit easily cleared 25 inches on several occasions (when the x-pen was out on the lawn and he had good traction). He has also jumped from a tiled floor directly on top of the x-pen when set up to 41 inches… he was however scared by something so I think adrenaline may have played some part in that one. As a general rule though, he was never really inclined to jump over things. 25 inches easily kept him out of places, and while he loved jumping high up onto the couches, wasn’t one for jumping over things.

[jerseygirl]

Depending on how big the pen is, you might be able to use a single bed fitted sheet. (The kind with the elastic).

I attached a towel over the corner to stop her from jumping.

I did something like that once. A sheet covering half the pen. I came out later to find my rabbit sitting in the sheet like a hammock.
I mainly had issues with “jumpers” when they were still young and lean. Eventually, as they matured. they couldn’t clear the heights they used to.

I think I zip-tied a pen panel as a lid to one half of the pen, then attached a piece of corflute board to that which covered the rest. I could flip the corflute up when I needed access to pen. Worked ok for the short term.

[Love4Bunny]

Thank you for the feedback and suggestions, Azerane and Jerseygirl.

Oh my gosh, Jerseygirl, I can’t believe one of your rabbits landed IN the sheet. That’s crazy!

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