You’ve got yourself an anxious critter. That little rabbit’s always hopping in place. It’s your job as their companion to help them turn away from that sad, anxious bunny faze and make them happy once more. There are a couple ways you can help sort this problem out: Changing the environment that’s causing your rabbit to struggle or teaching him the coping mechanisms he needs to be braver. The ultimate goal being leaving a rabbit that’s comfortable with his surroundings and building up your little bunny’s self-confidence.
1. Classical conditioning
This technique is common place at animal shelters and it’s one I learned while volunteering there. There’s nothing to it except going over your bunny’s habitat a few times during the day and leaving a treat for them. With rabbits, it’s important that they’re aware of who left the treat. They can’t connect that a certain person did it as easily as other animals. Always leave without being any nuisance or entertainment to the rabbit. Let them come out to take the treat when they feel like it.
The rabbit will begin to understand that humans will bring them joy and good things if they have them around. It lets them know that attention that scares them won’t be granted. It also tells them that they must come out of hiding to get the treat. Your rabbit’s enclosure will begin to feel like a safe place for them to live. They’ll start to gain more confidence around humans, and it will become better each time they come out of hiding to get that rewarded treat.
It’s important for you to understand what’s safe and healthy for your rabbit.
2. Have a slow introduction of sounds for your rabbit.
A loud or especially a sound that is sudden can really scare a rabbit. Your rabbit will be on high alert afterwards, especially if they’re of an anxious nature. Make sure your rabbit’s environment is as calm and quiet as possible if you have one that’s easily startled. It’s important to introduce new sounds slowly so that your rabbit may get used to them.
When you begin to hang out with your anxious little bunny, keep yourself as quiet as possible and try not to make quick movements that might scare the bunny away. As your rabbit begins to see you as a source of comfort and not contempt, start a conversation in a gentle vocal tone. You’ll start to notice your rabbit’s confidence rising. It’s important to introduce other types of sounds at this point. They should be soft and slowly progress into more overtime. Your rabbit will begin to feel much safer and calmer in their surroundings. It won’t matter if there’s some noise in the room anymore.
3. Increase the amount of crawling space little by little
Make sure your rabbit’s enclosure is large enough to be comfortable. Their physical health is optimized by larger spaces. Always start out small and increase overtime. Too much space that isn’t familiar can make a rabbit wonder where they are and get startled. When they have access to the whole house, they may choose to just hide, especially if there are other pets at home.
It’s always in the rabbit’s best interest to start out small. Keep them in one room at a time so they have time to familiarize.
Feeding your rabbit the greens
Feeding your rabbit on a strict schedule every day gets them put on a routine.
4. Keep a daily feeding routine
Rabbits typically do better when they have a daily routine in place. Anything unexpected puts them on high alert. It can make them just as anxious as they are scared. A routine offers them the perfect amount of predictability and allows them to understand what’s expected from their human. They start to feel safer through daily strife, and their behavior becomes more consistent.
Giving them a consistent feeding schedule helps set up a daily routine that’s suitable for the person and animal. Buy rabbit food in bulk to ensure that you don’t run out of food. Make sure your rabbit’s leafy greens, hay and pellets are kept at an adequate level every day. Having a treat schedule isn’t a bad idea either. Rabbits need an exercise time and that’s when you place them more out in the open. This should be given at the same time daily to get them used to their life. You should even make rabbit-hangout times around the same time every day.
5. Make sure your rabbit has their enclosure, but can come out of hiding every once in a while.
It’s important to give your rabbit its hiding places, they need those little comfort houses as a place of shelter to go to when they feel scared. It can be something more elaborate like a wooden small animal house to something as simple as a cardboard box. Some rabbits find comfort hiding behind chairs or stools with blankets draped over them. It’s important to give your rabbit that safe place to stay to get rid of unwanted human attention if they simply don’t feel like it that day.
It’s never okay to force your rabbit to come out of hiding. You always want them to come out on their own. Your rabbit’s emotional health will change dramatically if all of these steps are taken. A rabbit that’s forced out of hiding might feel fear and distrust his human companions. A rabbit that willingly comes out will gain that bit of self confidence needed and learn that the world’s an okay place to be.
Try to encourage your rabbit to come out in place by putting small pieces of treats near the entrance of their enclosure. Make an adorable little trail of treats for where you want your rabbit to be.