Spontaneous behavior change

[lburleigh]

Hey guys,

My bunny, Moo, has been more skittish and freaking out easier lately. Over the past few days, she gets nervous and hides over simple noises that she never worried about before.

She has also been thumping more often at what seems like nothing. I can't find a common factor for when/why she starts thumping and freaking out.
Yesterday, she was thumping so we tried to calm her down and when she wouldn't, we opened the cage to give her some room (this works sometimes) but she started flipping out instead and running around and kicking up hay and poops. She got into a space near Cal's (my other bun) cage. We were able to hold her and she was incredibly still and didn't kick. We pet her to calm her down for a while then put her in her litter box and kept the cage open to allow her space but she never came out again. She was ok but seemed scared.

I'm incredibly worried that something is going wrong. Does anyone have any thoughts? She has been eating, drinking, and pooping normally. I can't find any signs of medical illness or concern.

Sorry for such a long post but thanks in advance!!

 

[JBun]

Check for any changes in her environment. It could be a new smell in the house, a new scented lotion, the scent of a dog or cat on you, a new sound indoors or out, something in her cage/pen that has been changed, something that has been moved out of place in the room that she is in, or as simple as a new object placed somewhere within her view.

If you can't find an environmental cause to her change of behavior you need consider it might be a health problem. Health problems are a common cause for a sudden behavior change with rabbits. It could be she is in pain and so is reacting with nervousness. It could be her sight or hearing is being affected somehow and this is causing the reaction. So if you can't pinpoint it to an environmental cause, I would have her checked out by an experienced rabbit vet, making sure that a full check up is done, including eyes, ears, mouth, and temp. checked.