A happy rabbit? This is how you can prevent boredom in your rabbits!
Written by Carmen |
Rabbits are social animals that naturally spend a lot of time together. They build their nests and burrows, maintain their territory, and spend a large part of the day foraging for food. Our rabbits, kept as pets, often no longer need to make an effort to find food. As a result, they can quickly become bored, which may lead to problems. But how can you prevent this?
Behaviours that are normal for rabbits can be frustrating for us. These include gnawing on our belongings, trying to dig everywhere, food-related competition or aggression towards people or other rabbits. These behaviours can also contribute to health problems.
Don’t worry, you can help your rabbits meet as many of their natural needs as possible. But how?
Food
Research has shown that rabbits prefer searching for food over receiving it without any effort. You can easily help them by offering their food in a more challenging way.
- Hang hay at different heights. This encourages them to stand on their hind legs, crawl underneath something or climb. Always take your rabbit’s physical abilities into account.
- Vary the flavours of hay or add a flavour to their daily diet that they do not often receive.
- Instead of always serving their pellets in a food bowl, scatter them throughout their enclosure. You can also use different heights and vary the locations within the enclosure. An additional benefit is that all rabbits in the group will always have access to food.
- For variety, you can offer the pellets in a treat ball, refillable toys or a puzzle.
- You can also make your rabbits’ enclosure more interesting by occasionally providing branches from safe tree species, such as willow, birch or apple.
Please note: are your rabbits being introduced to branches or puzzles for the first time? Introduce them gradually. A rabbit’s digestive system is sensitive and needs to adjust very slowly to new food. Start by offering only small pieces of branch. When using puzzles, it is important to guide your rabbits at first so that they learn what they are supposed to do.
