How do I teach my bunny to use her ramp?

[Katmais_mommy]

I have my girl, Gopher in a hutch. Every day, I let her, her parents, and her uncle, all out to play in their seperate pens. It's set up so that each hutch leads into a 4'x7' pen. Normally, I let their ramps down and they just hop out.

This is Gopher's first real hutch experience. I let down her ramp door and she didn't know what to do. I waited but she didnt even notice that it was open.

Today, instead of teaching her, I just picked her up and put her on the ground in her pen. I wanted her to have enough play time since it's getting dark soon.

I tried to "show" her the ramp just a few minutes ago and now I have a bloody cut on my hand.

My question is, How do I teach her without stressing her out and leading her to maul my hand again? She's a sweet girl and I'll never girve up but I was just wondering how I go about this . Thanks!

 

[goneforbaroque]

Food trail

 

[Nela]

Yep, I always use food to entice them myself. I had to do that recently with Rolo.

 

[Katmais_mommy]

Thanks. Gopher loves food. I guess she gets it from Kody, her bunny Mama

 

[goneforbaroque]

Let us know how it works!

 

[Katmais_mommy]

Well, it was successful! She didn't like that I teased her but she eventually hopped down the ramp where I placed her food. She was a happy girl! I left her in her pen for most of the day. From inside my house, I could see that she hopped back and forth from her hutch and her pen using the ramp. Thanks, everyone!