Happy bunny pants?

[Nicola-picola]

Hi, I’ve just stumbled on your site and was wondering if you could help me
I’ve not had a bunny since I was very young and We have adopted a French lop bunny from the mother. She’d had Ebony (my new bunny) and her sister beau for about 6 months before beau started attacking Ebs Naturally my mum separated them but it got to the point where whenever Beau was in the garden, she’d break into Eb’s hutch and attack her in there and Ebony refused to come out even when the other bunny was away. So my partner and I have now moved her in with us. She’s a gorgeous lovely bunny I just wonder if she’s traumatised? She’s happy to be touched and handled again now although she’s still quite nervous and has stopped pulling her fur out thank goodness but she has what looks like severe dandruff down her spine… The vet gave us a mite treatment and told us to go back in a month if its not cleared up. She’s eating normally and drinking. I think maybe I’m being a little over cautious and over protective I just worry that she’s not happy. How can I tell?!
Thank you
Nic

[Beka27]

Welcome to BB!

It can take awhile for a new rabbit to get acclimated… Just give her time.

[Hazel]

Welcome to BB!

Beau’s aggressive behavior towards Ebony sounds very hormonal, are they spayed? If not, they both need to get spayed, unspayed females have an above 80% chance of developing reproductive cancer early in their lives. Also, it sounds like your mother was housing them outside? Are you keeping Ebony inside or outside? It’s best to keep them indoors, they’ll be much happier and saver that way. Maybe that’s something you could suggest to your mom as well.

If she’s eating and drinking she sounds to be doing well, I don’t think she would be premanently traumatized. She might need a little time to build up her convidence. A good way to tell that a rabbit is happy is if they binky.

We would love to see pictures of your pretty girl!

[Elrohwen]

She probably just needs more time to settle in and get used to you guys.

Unspayed female bunnies are typically very territorial, so the behavior you saw is normal. Being unspayed can also impact her friendliness to humans and her long term health. Are you planning to spay her?

[Nicola-picola]

Aw thank you so much you’ve set my mind at ease a little bit there!! She’s not spayed no but it’s something we’re thinking about. Especially if it’ll make her happier and less at risk!!
She’s not inside no. Well not permanently. She does come in every day just to be nosey and to have a cuddle though!

[Hazel]

I’m so glad you’re considering to have her spayed! Don’t forget to tell your mother about the cancer risk too, for Beau’s sake.

I hope you don’t feel like I’m being pushy or rude, but may I ask why you decided to house her outside? You mentioned in your first post that you have to treat her for mites at the moment. She’ll always have parasites if she stays outside, weather it’s mites, fleas, ticks or worms. You’ll never be able to get rid of them unless you constantly treat her (which would get expensive fast). I imagine your yard is fenced in since she’s allowed to run around out there, but there’s always the possibility of an animal like a dog or cat getting in and killing her, birds of prey pose a big danger as well. She could be scared to death by a barking dog, even if he can’t actually get to her. Rabbits can die of fright easily.
So I guess you can tell where I’m going with this. It would be great if you could consider making her an inside bunny, not only will she be safer that way, but her relationship with you will only get better.

[Nicola-picola]

Oh I’m all for it! I’d love to have her inside with me. Especially since we have some friends who had 2 French lops eaten by foxes not too far away from where we’re living now
I’m working on convincing the boyfriend, he doesn’t want her to chew all the cables etc. another fear he has from witnessing our friends bunnies chew their home to bits!! Which is why they ended up being moved outside

[Monkeybun]

Bunny proof! Get those cables covered, and they can’t be chewed on Rabbits that have plenty of toys and things to do aren’t as destructive, so let the bf know that

[MoveDiagonally]

Welcome to BB !

BB has a great article about bunny proofing:
https://www.binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/8/PID/940/Default.aspx

Being inside doesn’t have to mean free roam all the time. My bunnies are only out and about with supervision because they are trouble makers and one of my rabbits climbs things like a little long eared monkey.

There are a lot of indoor housing options. Take a glance at the Habitat Pic page here:
https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/GreatHabitats/tabid/229/Default.aspx

[Nicola-picola]

Thank you all so much he’s working this week so I may just have to sneak move her in while he’s working…

[Bam]

I so hope you can move her indoors! If you have her spayed she’ll be easier to potty-train. I have 2 bunnies indoors and I didn’t think my yellow one could ever be trusted to roam free, but he’s calmed down considerably after his neuter. I’ve covered all cables and keep several litter-boxes around the apartment. Since my bunnies hate each other I’ve put up a gate covered in netting between the living-room and the hallway. It’s been working very well, much better than I dared hope.

You don’t have to let your bunny roam free indoors 24/7, you can start with a supervised hour a day or so. It took my yellow bun about 3 months to become a good 24/7 free roamer. Last week he made an illicit and unexpected expedition out on to the balcony and ate some pelargonium-flowers, though, so make sure all bunny-inappropriate pot-plants are out of your bun’s hungry little reach.

Rabbits tend to get mites when they are under stress. They most often have some mites always but they don’t start to multiply unless the bunny get under stress. Both my bunnies had mites when I found them. It’s easily treated and not really dangerous. You can help your bunny by combing out the dandruffy flakes once the treatment has kicked in and killed off the mites.

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