This is a question that concerns many rabbit owners, because again and again situations occur in which rabbits jump on elevations. We as owners are then unsure whether a jump back into the depths our little jumping wonders survive well. We give you a few practical examples and tell you where it can be dangerous for rabbits to estimate the height.

In general, a rabbit has an excellent ability to judge height, but there are situations when a rabbit enters a dangerous situation that it cannot control itself.

Rabbit height estimate, when it becomes dangerous?

The danger for a rabbit is not to estimate the height correctly or incorrectly, but that the rabbit does not see how high the place is where it is. Here are a few examples that may clarify how a rabbit can estimate height.

Rabbit on the run

If a fox is after a rabbit, you can assume that a rabbit does not care about height at first. This, by the way, in both directions when jumping up and when jumping down. Because here it is about his life and accordingly the risk is maximized to survive. So here it can happen that by a fall into the depth, the height is wrongly estimated.

Rabbits jump on a ledge

A typical situation of rabbits kept on a balcony, for example. They perceive their surroundings as just boring, but the flower box hanging on the balcony railing looks damn interesting. Here, one of 80 to 90 cm is normal and a full-grown rabbit, which is curious, manages this height without any problems. So hopped up and inspected the flower box.

So far everything is fine, that rabbit has fun with the flowers and jumps down again on the right side. However, what has already happened is that a rabbit jumped with too much momentum towards the flower box and tragically crashed on the other side. A rabbit does not assume that if there is an obstacle, there is an abyss behind it. There is a great danger for your rabbit and you should secure your balcony accordingly.

Jump over the barrier of the rabbit enclosure

The barriers of most rabbit enclosures are designed so that the rabbit can see what is on the other side. If you see something interesting there, then even rabbits that have not overcome this height for years can suddenly become true jumpers. So we know the story, of a nine-year-old rabbit that has never jumped.

But after nine years the gentleman thought he had to try this out and since then he regularly jumps over an approx. 80 cm high barrier to explore the rest of the apartment on his own.

Substrate is misjudged by the rabbit

Especially rabbits that are kept in an apartment always have injuries to the musculoskeletal system. This usually happens because the rabbits, for example, only jump from a 40 cm high sofa and then slip on the parquet. Here the rabbits often get a muscle strain, which is painful but usually heals quickly and well.

A slippery parquet, can also cause a skittish rabbit running fast to slip and also injure the muscular apparatus. Fortunately, this rarely happens and the rabbits quickly get used to the smooth surface.

Rabbits can estimate the height

As you can see in our examples, rabbits can estimate height very well. However, there are situations that can be dangerous for the rabbits. This happens, for example, because they panic or are unable to assess a situation due to a lack of visual clues. Here you have to protect your animals as a rabbit owner.

This is done through different security options, such as on the balcony that the perimeter is raised. This creates individual spaces for your rabbit to live safely in your environment.