Rabbit out at night - rats/ mice?

[SpotAGuillemot]

I popped out to take bins out at 11ish last night and one of my buns was in his run. I have 2 boys who have 2 big cages joined together so they can always get away from each other if need be. They have a little pipe going out of one of the hutches to a large run on the grass. Bun was sat on grass with ears flat back, not munching grass, looking quite frightened.

I've noticed that their food has been going down a lot more quickly than usual - often 2 whole bowls a day. They usually get through about half of two bowls in a couple of days.

Now I'm wondering if maybe there's rats/ mice around, attracted by the food? Would they eat rabbit food? I think it probably wasn't a fox as that would surely make rabbit dart into inside but rather than the run. Would rabbits be frightened of mice/ rats?

Tia

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

We've had the odd fieldmouse in our guinea-pig house they can get through the tiniest gaps.
They do eat the piggies food.

I will look up the name but there's a virus that mice can pass on (to guineas anyway not sure about rabbits).
We lost our big young boar a couple of years back to the worst bout of loose stools (and when I contacted the Rescue they'd had a similar piggie death literally just liquid pooh )

With rats it would be easier to block their entry with heavy duty small gauge wire mesh.

Are there droppings in the food bowl that don't belong to your rabbits? That's what I noticed first, tiny mouse droppings, then saw the mouse perched on the door

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Might be bacterial rather than viral - our boar didn't survive long enough to test , I only found out about this months later .

[silkpyjamasallday]

We used to get mice coming into our rabbits hutch and run to eat their food, and they didn't like it at all, maybe that's why your bunny had gone further away from his hutch? Ours had free run of the garden during the day so we had humane traps for the mice and eventually got rid of them but new ones did come from time to time. If your bunnys don't leave the run then you could put snap traps down where you think they will be entering from. Make sure the bunnies are up to date on their vaccines because mice do carry disease, we never had any problems but the vet told us it was possible.

[SpotAGuillemot]

Thank you. Sounds like it might be nice then. I've seen the odd sparrow hopping through the gaps and hoped it might just be that, but can't think why else bun would be put in its run in the pitch dark. I've not seen any dropping in their bowls but I'll have a proper look from now on.

[blackandred]

Rats are attracted by rabbit food. Unlikely to be foxes, they are more interested in eating the rabbits than the food so you need to keep them locked in securely at night

[SpotAGuillemot]

We definitely get foxes sniffing round the cage - I've caught them a few times in broad daylight! They can't get at them though and rabbits have always hidden in their bedrooms when foxes are around, rather than out on the grass.

We've recently got chickens so that could've attracted the rat too. They've got a supposedly rat proof feeder but they make such a mess getting it all over the floor that there's still enough for rats to get. Can rats get through tiny gaps like mice can? The mesh on the hutches is quite small, it's bigger on the run though so maybe they get into the run and then go down the pipe to get to the food in the hutch.

Looks like I'll have to get some traps and see what they find.

[Bimbop5]

I have this problem in the spring/summer with my bunnies food being eaten even in broad daylight. So basically I only have hay in with them 24/7. They get veggies such as kale, lettuce, cilantro, parsley, etc, things that already are growing in our garden.

Then every evening when I let them out for their run I give them their pellets. Pellets really are supposed to be considered a side dish anyways as hay is the mian part if their diet, with veggies right behind that. After 1/2 hour to an hour the bunnies go back in their pen and all pellets are taken away if any are left. They are used to this routine now.

But now that they are back inside their outbuilding they have access to their pellets without me having to supervise. But I still only give them a little and at the same time of day.

It's a pain in the butt but having me out their with the food while they are eating keeps rats and mice away. ☺

[Bimbop5]

Good lord I meant out "there" NOT their. So embarassing.