Suddenly acting scared

[SillyAnneh]

I've had my bunny for a few weeks now, and everything has been fine. Sure, she'll get a little peeved when I clean her pen (one or two foot stomps, but she likes to "backseat drive" as I clean, moving my hand where she wants me to put things, its quite cute :nod)

But today I was at school for most of the day (8am-7pm) and when i got home, I let her out as usual, she played with my feet, and frolicked for a bit as she normally does, and then suddenly...

...she hides under the bookcase. Which in itself isn't unusual, she likes to pull papers and cardboard bits under there and chew. But she stomped her foot a few times then sat completely still under there. My usual coaxing got no response. She was under there for maybe 15 minutes, completely still. Then she bolted out, eyes bulging, and stomped her foot a few more times and zoomed into her cardboard house and has been silent in there since. The times I motioned at her as she went by, she flinched away.
:what
It was so sudden, I've just been at the computer studying the entire time, I can't seem to pinpoint the cause. I'm still really new to rabbits, is this just something they do from time to time? The only thing I can think of is my roommate was cooking something in the microwave and it was beeping, but that was a good 20 minutes ago and it's been silent since. Nothing out of the ordinary that I can pinpoint.

She's about 4-6 months old, spayed :help

 

[SillyAnneh]

Update: She just came out of the box after I put down a dish of veggies, but is still really skiddish. If I move, doesn't even have to be towards her, she stomps her foot and runs back inside:huh

 

[nelgamel]

Oh no! It sounds like somethings spooked her!

 

[LakeCondo]

If your roommate was cooking & then eating meat, that could have been the problem.

 

[SillyAnneh]

Meat? Out of curiosity, why that specifically? I'm not sure what she made, possibly a TV dinner

 

[Ape337]

Well, I confess...
One of my 3 buns (Humma) is terrified of my cooking! Oven, microwave, doesn't matter. If I start cooking he runs into his cardboard boxes and doesn't come out for quite some time. I learned to close his bedroom door when I cook now so as not to scare him. My rotti was terrified of my cooking too. He would hide in my bedroom. I'm a vegetarian so mine were not reacting to meat, just me setting off the smoke detectors once. They remember well.

I'm really not THAT bad of a cook! :embarrassed:

 

[SillyAnneh]

Haha oh wow, that's interesting. I can't imagine that's what scared her, she's never had a reaction to it before, I cook just about every day. That was just the only other activity going on in the apartment at the time. It's strange, when I vacuum she always has to be right up on it and watch. Sounds never seemed to scare her before. And I eat meat around her all the time, it seems odd that it would suddenly offend her?

 

[golfdiva]

Hershey freaks out when a toilet flushes!

Probably something spooked your rabbit. Maybe a one time thing, or something like the toilet flushing, cooking, a vaccuum, etc. Time will tell.

 

[SillyAnneh]

I'm getting a little concerned. It's been about two days now and the behavior has persisted. Not as extreme, but she's constantly hiding and fleeing from anything that moves. It appears she's eating and pooping normally though, I don't know what it could be.

 

[JBun]

Could she have gotten hurt somehow? That's really strange that she still won't settle down. Keep a close eye on her and make sure that she is still eating and pooping, as a stressed rabbit will sometimes go off it's food and could get sick if it does. Would it help her if you spent some time holding and comforting her? Some rabbits that will help calm them, and some just freak out more.

 

[BlakeandBraxton]

Like everyone else said, I would definitely keep an eye on her eating/"potty"-ing habits, is your school schedule still different? My boys get emotional with change! When my one boy Blake went to get neutered, his brother (even they are not bonded and have no contact other than living in the same room) freaked. He hid under my dresser while I cleaned and had a bad pooping day. As soon as Blake came home that night, all better. They both also tend to have bad pooping days when my schedule changes, I am a student, recently back to school after winter break and I have had to cut my boys back on their normal amount of pellets and put them on limited pellets (about half their normal amount) because they don't poop well when our schedule changes... They get "out of whack" for a few days whenever we go back to the school schedule or if something else changes, so maybe she is just stressed over the change. The boys normally relax after a few days, hopefully your bun is not so scared now!

 

[PaGal]

Is there possibly a new smell in your home? Maybe you recently started using an air freshener? They can spook at smells. Anything out of the ordinary going on outside? Something like construction work being done nearby? Thumper once thumped out of the blue and acted frightened. I noticed nothing out of the ordinary. A short time later I went outside and could hear an owl hooting. I did not hear it while inside but figured Thumper probably did. I shut the window in his room that was open and after that he calmed down. Although you may not hear a sound your bun might.

 

[emgagnon06]

The same thing is happening to my rabbit and I don’t know why!