Fear of slick floors (hardwood/linoleum)

Question
QUESTION: Hi there -

My husband and I have two house rabbits, both are fixed, one is male and one is female. We've owned them for about three years now and they each came from separate households before we adopted them. We allow our rabbits to move freely about the house(they are litter trained) and up until now we haven't had any problems with them roaming around.
We recently moved from a place that was carpeted to a studio with hardwood floors and linoleum only. Our larger lionhead male rabbit has quickly adapted to the new, slicker floors and has been bopping around the house as usual. Our usually more outgoing female netherland dwarf however has been staying in her cage and refusing to leave, she has an intense fear of the new flooring and hasn't figured out how to manage moving around on it.
I worry about her lack of exercise, before moving she was always out of the cage and exploring, now when we place her outside of the cage on a small rug we situated at the opening (so they wouldn't hop out directly onto the hardwood) she frantically tries to get back in and if we close the cage door she'll hop on top of the cage and not come down.
 We've been putting her for the past two weeks on an "island" of a larger space rug with a litter box and food to see if she'd feel curious to get off it and explore the house more or go visit the other rabbit, but to no avail. She won't hop off of it to get to her cage either. We've also tried enticing her onto the flooring with treats and she'd have none of it. When we have put her directly on the hardwood floor she'll scramble over to a book, towel, clothing, anything to stand on instead and won't budge.
How do we get her over the fear of the flooring? We could make pathways with small rugs just for her all over the place but that seems a little overboard, and the larger rabbit has figured it out so we know she'll be capable of walking on it but she just panics. At the moment she seems perfectly content sitting in her cage forever!
Thank you for your time, my husband and I are excited to hear your ideas! :)

ANSWER: Hi

I am not sure I can be much help but I have a suggestion.

If you have a dollar general store near you they sell the small carpet pieces really cheap.  We use them with one of our rabbits that has a broken leg.  I am going to give you the link to her cage:

http://www.photoshop.com/accounts/5087d5d2dcf64509b4c7889f5ebb5644/px-assets/793

I think you can see the carpets in the photo.  This is also an option for a larger cage.  This gives them room to move around and get exercise but keeps them off the hardwood floor.  I am going to attach a few more photos of how we have worked out some exercise runs for our bunnies:

http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa160/pb505/?action=view%26current=cageidea1.

we use the above run for our non jumpers

http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa160/pb505/?action=view%26current=cageidea2.

we use the above cages for rabbits that we know will jump out.

The panel cages are a bit on the pricey side but you can connect them together to make bigger runs.  We also use these when we let the bunnies outside with observation of course.

You can use carpet panels underneath but we also put a fleece type blanket underneath the carpet panels to prevent slipping.  You could also leave a panel open so that her bunny friend can still play with her and maybe she will adventure out.

Of course it is not an ideal situation but if your bunny is afraid your bunny is not getting enough exercise it will hope.  Hopefully in time she will learn to accept the flooring.  I would continue to to attempt to let her walk on the floor daily and hope that she gets used to it eventually.  When a bunny moves to a new home it can take time for them to get used to it.  Also make sure her nails are clipped to prevent slipping.  

I would ask Ms. Dana Krempels or Mr. Lee Meyer if they have any other suggestions.  They have a lot more experience with house bunnies.

Again I am sorry I couldn't be much help.   I do hope your precious bunny gets over her issues.

Sincerely,

Pam





---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Alright, thank you :) I will check into the first cage you showed me that might work best! I have looked for that type of cage before and was unsuccessful do you have any suggestions on where I could find that type of fencing for the cage?

Answer
Do you have a Tractor Supply Company near you?  Even if they don't have them they can order them for you.  If you type in your zip code on the following link it should give you stores near you:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Home_10551_10001?cm_mmc=S

I am honestly not sure where else you can get them but I would imagine at any store that sells farm supplies or dog supplies.  They are such sturdy cages.  I just love them.  I wouldn't keep my bunnies in anything else.

Pam