Best way to cut bunnies nails alone?

[Bambam]

I live alone and pebbles and flin are in desperate need of a manicure :p how can I do this buy myself? I tried the bunny burrito but they hate it and its hard to do alone!
Any suggestions?

[Beka27]

I cut bunny nails by myself. My lop is a scaredy bun, so he just freezes up. My mini rex is not as scared, but this method still works for her. I don’t do any bunny burritos or trancing. I can cut both buns’ nails in less than 10 minutes start to finish.

I catch a bunny and take him or her into the bathroom and close the door. I already have a hand towel on the counter, along with the nail clippers. I lift the bunny with my left (non-dominant) hand and hold him under the arm pits with hind end “dangling” and supported by my right hand. With my left elbow, I snug him into my side and then my right hand is free to pick up the nail clippers. I clip whatever nails I can reach with my right hand: all of the toes, the 4 “fingers” on the right paw and the left dew claw. I switch the bun to the other side, again supported under the arms and snugged into my side, and with my left hand I clip the 4 “fingers” on the left paw and the right dew claw.

As I said, Max is a scaredy bun, so he just hangs out, very still. Meadow is a little bit more ornery, but as I hold her under the arms, I can take my finger and gently move her face away from me. This protects me from any sudden bites or lunges.

I’ve been doing it this way for a long time. I used to take them to the vet for trims, but that gets expensive every month with two bunnies, so I had to “man up” and learn to do it myself.

[LBJ10]

I can do Leopold’s by myself. I put him in my lap, tuck my hand around his chest, and then roll him back on his rear so his hind feet are sticking up. He usually just sits there. I can just clip clip clip.

Wooly is a different story. LOL

[BinkyBuster]

Man.. you all make it sound so simple. I have to take Buster to the vet.
He FREAKS out! Kicks like crazy (I can’t even hold him because he’s so uncontrollable) and I’m afraid I’m going to hurt him. I always take him to the vet just to be safe. I’d suggest going to your vet at least once, and they can show you a technique on how to do it.

[Beka27]

Even living alone, if you have a friend/neighbor/family member over for coffee or dinner sometime and they’re comfortable around animals, ask them to hold the bunny up for you and then you can focus on clipping the nails. Nail trims only need to be done about once a month and it only takes a few minutes, so you don’t need someone living with you full-time to get that accomplished if you do need a second pair of hands.

[Celeste]

I think the best way is to get your rabbit onto a counter and with one arm, hold under their chest like you would when you pick them up, and hold them against your side or the front of you. You can try to use the hand that is holding the rabbit to free their fingers and toes. A tip I use to make sure I do not clip the quick is to hold around the nail, using my fingers as a guide to cover the quick to make sure I don’t clip past my fingers and into the quick.

[Azerane]

It really depends on the rabbit. Some can be held with one hand and clipped with another, some people let their rabbit sit on a solid surface and then just extend the leg that they need. Apollo and Luna are extremely well behaved with clipping, I put them onto a table so that they can’t really go anywhere and then just hold whichever foot I need at the time. I find that not holding them actually makes them more relaxed, if I’m only holding a foot and not trying to restrain them.

I actually made a video recently on clipping my bunnies’ nails. Not a how-to but just showing how I do it which may or may not be of help to you (skip to 2 minutes for the start of the actual cutting and description): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXwwTw4tKM0
There’s also another technique here by SkinnyPigs1 who has a grumpy bunny that she has to secure while clipping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6eS1BdhCJs&t=1s
And this video by howcast has some really handy hints: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9KemnaTGIs

The YouTuber Stormy Rabbits has a similar technique to mine, but she uses a very small table so that he bunnies’ paws sit right on the edge of the table, meaning the nails overhang the edge a little so she can just clip the nails that way rather than picking up the paw. I’ve also seen suggested somewhere that you can offer your rabbit a treat through the bars of a cage, making them stand up against the cage to reach up, so that their front toes stick through the bars and while they’re nibbling from the treat you can clip a few nails. I’m not sure how effective it would be in practice, but worth a shot perhaps. I don’t think there’s any one method that works for all rabbits, you just have to find something that works for you and your rabbit

ETA: I just wanted to add that you shouldn’t worry if you can’t get them all clipped in one sitting. If you can only get one paw clipped at a time, just clip that one paw. Bandit was pretty restless when it came to clipping so I had to clip in several sessions. Because of this I couldn’t always finish a whole paw so I used to draw up a paw chart, and on that chart cross of the nails that I had already done so I remembered which ones to clip during our next session.

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