why is my rabbit trying to get out?

Question

Please, serious answers..
He doesn't do it all the time but I have seen him at the corner of his cage scratching like hell and biting around the bottom and corner. I looked up rabbit.org and although it didn't specifically have this issue it had some similar and I would be only guessing it's sexual frustration?? He puts his head in the air and rubs parts of his cage with the underside of his face. Something else he does, happens frequently, he thumps hard with his back feet, usually when he's out of his cage. What does this mean?

Answer 1

When in doubt ask the professional. I have been raising rabbits for 24 years.

When he rubs his chin around the pen he is marking his territory. Rabbits have scent glands under their chin and this is how they mark their territory. Many other animals do the same thing.

Regarding the scratching, do you have a solid floor cage? If so, that is part of the reason. Rabbits won't so much with a wire floored cage. If you have a sheet of any kind in the bottom of the cage such as newspaper this would help explain the biting at the bottom of the cage and corner. Rabbits like to bite and pull at sheets if they are in a cage. Scratching helps keep their claws short and sharp. Biting on stuff helps wear their teeth down and keep them sharp. Rabbit teeth grow 1/2" per month, so they need worn down to keep them at their proper size. It's good to keep a small block of non-treated pine wood in the cage for them to chew on.

Rabbits usually thump their feet for one of four reasons. They're happy, they're scared, they're mad, or they just had sex. I'd say your rabbit is happy when you let it out and thumping its feet is just a way of showing that. If the rabbit was scared you could tell by how erect the ears are, wide open eyes, and it looking around for what is scaring it. Normally only the males thump their feet after sex. You can tell if they are mad by them making a grunting noise, coming at you, and them having their mouth slightly open ready to bite.

Answer 2

I am not sure what kind of cage you have, but I read a lot of the other answers asking if you can let your rabbit out, I had a really cool cage for a guinea pig I had once, the top opened completely up and then snapped into the bottom. ANyhow the top was detachable from the bottom, this allowed me to take the bottom off from the cage on nice summer days and bring my little guinea piggy outside and just set the top over him, it was like giving him a natural cage. Maybe you could get one at petco and use it once in a while for your bunny? Just don't leave him alone un supervised very long, after all they dig burrows in the wild.... ha ha :-)

Answer 3

He is in the right mating age and he wants to mate!!
Chinning: Claiming possessions is done by chinning. Rabbits use their chin (as cats used their foreheads) to mark objects with a scent that we humans are not able to detect. In addition to all of my furniture, rabbits have claimed my arms, face and shoes!! Male rabbits also spray, they pee on coutches, and other things. When rabbits are in this state of maturity

Spraying: Males who are not neutered will mark female rabbits in this manner, as well as their territory. Females may also spray.

Thumping: "Thumper" of cartoon fame thumps many times in rapid succession before taking off for safety. That's not the way real rabbits thump. Rabbits stand on all four feet, in a somewhat tip-toe position, with their ears alert, then lift their rear feet and thump! to warn everyone in the warren (including humans) that there is "danger," in the rabbit's opinion. They may remain in the thumping posture until convinced that the danger is gone. The length of time between thumps can vary from a few seconds to a couple of minutes and may last an extended period of time (even an hour or more). This "danger" could be a furnace, refrigerator or other electrical appliance turning on or a lit cigarette when they are not used to the smoke. "Danger" could be the shadow of a bird flying across the moon or a cat walking on the window sill chasing a shadow on the floor. Thumping can occur day or night and is the rabbit's attempt to save everyone from a terrible fate.

Answer 4

First off, your rabbit probably isn't trying to "get out", the scratching and biting around his cage is most likely his sense of burrowing (something that is second nature to them). If you put some sort of toy in there, like a small fleece blanket or a small cardboard box filled with bedding or paper scraps he may become more interested in this (or take his burrowing fury out on it).

When you see him rubbing his face on things this is called "chinning". Rabbits have a gland in their chin that they use to mark their territory to find their way back home in nature (or in your rabbits case just to mark his home). The gland produces a hormone that is sightless and scentless to humans, so there is no harm with it, it is just natural for them.

Lastly, the thumping of his feet could mean a few things. This could either be him just trying to get you to pay attention to him, otherwise it is a way for them to scare away preditors. So if you did something to anger him or there was something he heard that was unrecognizable and a bit scary this was just his way of protecting himself. Not to mention if he is not neutered they are known to be very hormonal at times and he may just feel someone (or thing) is too close to "his" territory.

Answer 5

When he thumps his foot he is either grumpy or he is trying to get out. The thing with his chin is him marking his territory with his scent glands. If he is not fixed getting him neutered will really help these behaviors. He also might be bored in his cage. You can give him paper towel tubes, hard plastic baby keys, hard plastic jingle balls, untreated wicker baskets and dried apple branches for him to play with. You can also get him a spayed female friend. Please read the House Rabbit Handbook and go to these websites.

Answer 6

Rabbits do that, all of that. He rubs his chin against things to mark them as his own. He thumps most likely because he's been startled or something has put him on his guard. Rabbits dig by nature, it's instinctual. Chances are that he wants out just because he wants to be out of the cage. He wants to be able to stretch, run, move freely as he chooses.

Answer 7

The rubbing is just neurotic behavior. The thumping is sexual. Bunnies always act like they want to be out of the cage. Then if you let them out, then they want to be out of the house, then if you let them out of the house, they run in the street and get hit by a car or ripped to shreds by a doggy. Don't let him out!

Answer 8

Give him something hard to chew on (like a piece of wood or something). THey have to grind down their teeth, or else they will be so long that they won't be able to close their mouth. They have to do this with their nails, too. Is there any way you can let your rabbit out every now and then to just romp on the grounds, even cement?

Answer 9

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Answer 10

He's just digging... or trying to dig. It's natural for rabbits to do. And he's rubbing things with his chin to mark them as his, if he's ever done it to you, you should feel special, it means that he feels like you belong to him. And he's thumping because something scared him. It's what rabbits do to warn other rabbits of danger. If he does it, try petting him to calm him down.