Radio for Rabbits

Do rabbits like a radio on? Which would be better, talk radio or soothing music?

I'd think soothing music. Rabbits are prey animals, and find people scary, if they are used to you that's one thing, but random talking would probably stress them.

We’re in the process of building the shelter for our rabbits and don’t have them yet, but the breeder we are getting them from leaves a radio on NPR (so a mix of talk and varied music types) on in her rabbit barn all the time. She said this was to help desensitize them to noise.

A little Barry White, perhaps?

In nature, rabbits are generally solitary creatures, not herd animals and usually not social with each other in any way.  Some argue that that's not true, as they tend to populate an area and stay within proximity of one another, but others state that they do that only to lower the risk of being the only thing to eat out there when a predator comes along.  Males will remain in the proximity of females (bucks and does), but don't snuggle together in a den at night like a Petter Rabbit story.  Comparative to animals like beavers, cattle, or dogs, they prefer solitude to neighbors.

Even after breeding, the buck basically runs for his life, because the doe will rip his gonads off if he hangs around too long.  No pillow talk.  No cigarette.  No cuddles -- just do your business and let yourself out when you're done.

Doe's only nurse their babies for 5 minutes a day, and do not "sit" on a nest to keep them warm at night like a bird would.  After 3 weeks, baby rabbits are independent and don't hang around to be social with mom or siblings.

They are used to silence and solitude.  So, no, I don't think a radio is a good idea.  It would just stress them out.  They depend upon silence to hear if a predator is coming, so even playing some lovely Handel or Mozart would freak them out as they are working so hard to hear if a coyote is coming.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:A little Barry White, perhaps?

I don't think they need the encouragement.

I like to leave the local classical station on for our Flemish Giant whenever we're not home, or when we're doing other things around the house and want her to loaf on a chair and relax. The intermittent strange people voices barely register as an ear twitch.

I have also played natural soundscapes for her, designed for human relaxation. I didn't notice a difference in her reactions between baroque, classical, romantic, or contemporary chamber and orchestral works and those of most natural forest, woodland, or meadow soundscapes, except for two: when a red-tailed hawk scream played in the meadow soundscape, she bolted upright from a completely stretched-out, flopped-on-her-side relaxed posture; the same happened with a nighttime woodland soundscape, where an owl hoot interrupted the crickets.

So I like to avoid anything that contains triggers to her natural defenses against predation. Some material she likes that others might find surprising is Jimi Hendrix (her favourite album is Are You Experienced) but honestly will loaf to anything psychedaelic with the whole wall of sound treatment, and anything multi-layered and trippy.

Oh, and she thumps when we're not playing the right music. I shit you not.

-CK

I can see why a producer would want to keep music on in the barn- some rabbits are very jumpy and will just be terrified when a person comes in. Music might help. But most rabbits that aren't spending a lot of time with people are going to freak out when a person appears (and shoves their hand in the rabbit's cage). Mine are outside in the yard, and are very attentive to sound. They have a lot to keep them busy, in terms of things to see, hear and smell. If your bunnies are inside without a lot of stimulation, i think they might like music, but I wouldn't expect it to make them super-chill.

This is probably another 'it depends' type of answer.  If it's a house rabbit and used to people and artificial sounds, then radio or TV wouldn't bother it.  Some of them may even enjoy it, it all depends on the rabbit and situation.

We have outside bunnies in a hutch who are pretty happy without a radio.  They get interacted with several times a day and talked to while people are nearby, they don't like things to sneak up on them so talking to them while walking up to the hutch area is appreciated by the them, at least, as far as I can tell.  I would think constant or of long duration artificial sound wouldn't be appreciated by them.

I'd figure their alarm system is a thump with a hind foot and a lot of music has a pretty thump-like beat.  In rabbit speak that may mean a constant low level input of "danger-danger-danger-danger" which can't be restful.