r/rabbitry • u/Ok_Pollution2415 • 2h ago
Question/Help Bunnie’s first day at home , what should I do and not do ?
Yesterday I brought a rabbit home from a zoo where she had been kept in a small cage surrounded by parrots, so the environment was pretty stressful and loud. I brought her home in a carrier which I set up with a dog pad and hay. At home I set up a cage with hay, water, toys, and a bed, and opened the carrier right in front of it, but she didn’t go inside; instead she stayed in the carrier for about an hour and then began exploring the living room. She ate a tiny bit of hay and water I placed near her, had a few accidents on the floor, and eventually started hiding in our dark guest toilet, coming out only occasionally to sniff around. I moved her poop and pee into the litter box and placed the box in the corner she seemed to choose. At 10pm yesterday she stayed in the toilet, and in the morning she was still hiding there; she peed once on the floor in the living room over night but may have used the litter box too. In the morning I brought hay and water to the doorway but she hasn’t touched it yet . I’m trying to understand whether this hiding, not eating much, and avoiding her cage is normal for a rabbit adjusting to a new home, especially after coming from a stressful environment, and whether there’s anything I should be doing differently to help her settle in. She doesn’t seem too stressed , she is not shaking and wherever she would come out yesterday she would play and run around a little and she was pretty close to us also , maybe Luke a meter away .
Btw the hay and litter is the one that she has been eating at the zoo too .