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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

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    • Samicles
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        Her name is Nimmy (short for Nimbus, like the cloud in DB), my first female pet ever. She’s so adorable and full of energy. The only thing is, she’s absolutely terrified of just about anything. I’m being patient with her, always sure to not make big sudden noises and such but I’d like her to be more comfortable around me. Nimmy also pees sometimes if she’s super scared, which can be annoying… She always seems more scared when she’s in her cage rather than when she’s out and about. But when she is outside of her cage she poops and pees very carelessly. She doesn’t know any better and it’s difficult to train her when she gets scared all the time. I’m not sure which issue to tackle first.. 

        I’ve been sitting with her when she’s inside of the cage and when she’s out. It’s incredible how friendly she can be! Whenever she’s out she’s more than happy to walk up to me, lick my fingers or try and hop onto my lap. Then of course she binkies away. But when she’s in the cage it’s the total opposite.

        As of right now I’ve been hand-feeding her while she’s in the cage, I never reach in to pick her up or anything like that. So she knows the cage is a safe place. But she’s so timid and runs into the corner or into her hut when she gets scared. I’ve only had her for two days now, and we’re making progress. But I’ve never had such a scared little bunny before! And whenever she poops I scoop it up then put it back into her cage. And I try to catch her when she pees, like pick her up then put her back in the cage. 

        Any advice would be greatly appreciated, on both having her calm down as well as the whole litter training issue. I’m afraid to be too stern with her cause she gets so scared.


      • NewBunnyOwner123
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          Awe only 2 days. Trust me she will come out of shell soon once she gets used to what’s normal. Best advice is don’t walk around on egg shells while she is adjusting. Do dishes. Vacuum. Make your NORMAL daily noises you do because she will need to get used to the normal daily sounds she will have to live with. If you’re walking on egg shells and she gets comfortable she will still get afraid when you finally do make noise from everyday life.

          Do you plan on spaying her? Females can be quite territorial of their home. Causing them to mark everywhere. Usually spaying completely fixes this behavior because she won’t be driven by hormones. Also the chance of reproductive cancers is quite high. 80% high.


        • NewBunnyOwner123
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            Also what’s in the flooring of her cage? For the sake of litter training you need to only have bedding in the litter box. Bare bottom the rest of the cage so you can easily pick up accidents and place in the litter box. Placing hay in the box is amgoodmtip too as bunnies like to munch and go at the same time


          • Samicles
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              I think she’s a little young to be spayed at the moment, I think she’s no more than 3 months old. I’ll be taking her to the vet soon to find out for sure. And then I’ll most likely get her spayed when she’s of age, I read online that it’d be around 6 months.

              The flooring of her cage is all bedding.


            • NewBunnyOwner123
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                Oh yeah a little young. Most places wait until 6 months remove the bedding from her cage. Only put it in her litter box. When she is litter trained you can put like a rug or fleece blanket in there but some buns just can’t help but pee and poop on something so soft! But the bedding everywhere could be quite confusing. When i first got my Sally she wasn’t litter trained. I had bedding in the entire cage. I kid you not as soon as all the bedding was removed she took straight to the litter pan!


              • Samicles
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                  Ohhhh okay, I’ll try that out now. I just let her out of the cage and she peed on the carpet, so I put her back in the cage and now she’s itching to get out again.


                • NewBunnyOwner123
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                    Keep her freedom limited. Don’t want to start out big. You start out small and then as she proves herself slowly expand her area.


                  • Samicles
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                      I know about the whole freedom thing. And I don’t think she’s understanding the whole litter box concept. I’m using an old Tupperware container for a litter box until I can go to the store in the morning. I also put some of her poo in there and after cleaning up some of her pee I dabbed it on the bedding to put the scent there. So she knows that’s where it belongs. But she hasn’t gone there. I just now moved the litter box to where she went, hopefully that will work.


                    • NewBunnyOwner123
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                        Ok yeah patience it’ll get there they naturally like to go in a corner. Have you removed the bedding in her cage? Just bare bottom cage with bedding/litter in her litter box.


                      • Peony
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                          I recommend getting a big kitty litterbox, not those small bunny litterboxes, your Tupperware container actually may be perfect.

                          My bunny seems to loves corners too.


                        • JackRabbit
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                            If memory serves me, you got Ceasar sometime back in February. By March, you were annoyed that he was jumping on your bed waking you up. Within a couple of weeks, you called him vengeful for peeing and pooping right outside his cage. By the middle of April you said you didn’t even care to have him anymore and “Overall he just doesn’t feel like a companion anymore, he’s just a fluffy thing that I clean up after . And the whole point of having a pet is for a companion, if I just wanted to clean up after something I’d get a fish. When I first got him a few months ago he only pooped/peed in the cage, but the past month or so as soon as I let him out he’ll start going! It’s infuriating! I’m hardly letting him out of his cage lately cause I’m so tired of it.” At the end of April, Ceasar bled out from a broken toenail. And (on 5/3) you said you had decided against getting another rabbit.

                            I remember all of this because it all upset me terribly. I felt so sorry for the poor little unwanted bunny. After reading that he bled all night long while you went to bed, I cried on and off for a week thinking about him.

                            Now, two weeks after Ceasar’s passing, and *less* than two weeks after deciding not to get another bunny, you have Nimmy. And once again you are annoyed about pooping and peeing. When she pees because she’s scared, she’s doing exactly what rabbits do – when they are scared, they empty their bladders to make them lighter so they can escape faster. It’s instinct. As to pooping, rabbits can be trained to poop (and pee) in the litterbox, but you’re still going to have marking poops and sometimes poops that just seem to “fall out”. Bunnies are not vengeful, and you cannot punish a bunny by locking it in its cage and not letting it out – the bunny will not understand. Female vs male will not make a difference on litterbox habits or “attitude” toward you, although females tend to be more territorial particularly when those big hormones kick in. As to your relationship with a bunny, that’s all on *you*.

                            Maybe I’ve missed something and you have matured and your life has completely changed in the past two weeks and now is the perfect time for you to have a new bunny. If so, please heed the advice offered by the many wonderful and knowledgeable people on this forum. They will not let you down. And please, if there’s ever any question whatsoever no matter what time of day or night, take the bunny to the vet.


                          • Samicles
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                              Okay I really don’t care about your opinion on something you don’t even know the half of. I, like a lot of other people on this site, use the forums to learn more about bad bunny habits and trying to fix them, just like nearly all the other posts in “Behavior.” Never had I viewed Caesar as being an “unwanted bunny,” all my postings were to help me. And I’d have to disagree with you, I think some bunnies can be vengeful, especially because of some of the posts that I’ve read on here. 

                              And yeah I decided against getting another bunny for the time being after Caesar’s passing. But the two weeks between Caesar and Nimmy were very rough for me. I couldn’t stand not having a pet to come home to, or to surprise with treats on occasion. The silence was the worst part. I planned on getting a couple gerbils, because I still felt I wasn’t emotionally ready for another bunny. But my boyfriend (against my wishes) took me to the same pet store I got Caesar from, and after seeing Nimmy I fell in love with her. Though I was very, very hesitant to actually take her home, ever since I did, I haven’t regretted my decision. I’m extremely happy with Nimmy.

                              I find it amusing that you only decided to talk about certain parts, leaving out certain context so I feel like a bad person. The last night with Caesar I sat with him for three hours, trying various methods to stop the bleeding. I had assistance, my mother (she’s a nurse), boyfriend and brother were there to help throughout the three hours. After being repeatedly told by everyone that he’d be fine, I waited until the bleeding was down to a trickle before going to bed. I would’ve stayed up longer but I had an important day of work in the morning (which I ended up calling out of anyway). I checked on Caesar a couple times in the middle of the night, and in the morning I decided to take him to the vet. But the only rabbit-savvy emergency vet that I know of (and I was googleing for quite some time) was 45 minutes away. The vet that I’ve taken Caesar to before was 10 minutes away. The only problem was, they weren’t open until 8. Since it was already around 7:40, I decided to just wait to take him to his normal vet, since it’d be faster anyways. But he was gone before I even got in the car. 


                            • NewBunnyOwner123
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                                You don’t need to explain yourself. Sorry you felt the need. We all I’m sure as owners have been extremely frustrated with our bunnies. They can be quite a handful at times! You just had a moment of frustration but info remember in the thread that things started looking up and you were planning on neutering and such. I know I’ve had y doubts with mine when they were up in age. Sorry to hear your bunny bled so much. Usually when a nail is cut too short it never bleeds very long. Not enough to become fatal so I can see how you’d think he would be fine. But in the future try and use corn starch or something. If the bleeding is still going for that long it would he wise to get to a vet immediately.

                                How’s she doing with her litter habits?


                              • Samicles
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                                  I had tried using flour, as well as a cold compress to stop it.

                                  Anyways, she wound up flipping over the tupperware container I had in her cage to serve as a litter box. After that I just layered the cage with bedding, I’ll probably get a better one tomorrow. But as far as I can tell she’s stopped peeing outside of the cage. Which is awesome, that was my biggest concern. As she’s getting more comfortable in the home, I can tell she’s getting better with the litter habits. Not as many turds on the ground today.

                                  Nimmy is the strangest rabbit, I tried to give her a carrot and she didn’t want it. So then I tried some celery, she didn’t want that either. Then I tried a blueberry, she took one nibble and that was all. And she’s sooooo affectionate! She’s always licking me or my boyfriend, Johnny. She actually followed Johnny so she could lick his toes as he walked. I’m starting to think she likes the taste of humans O.o


                                • JackRabbit
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                                    You are right, I’m sure I don’t know the half of it, but I can only go by what you posted. When your posts consistently said “frustrated”, “annoyed”, “vengeful”, and particularly when you said that you didn’t care to have him anymore, that sent up red flags of a bunny and bunny parent in a really bad place. I, by my nature, will always take the side of the bunny because I don’t believe that bunnies are vengeful nor do I believe that they have bad habits – I believe their “habits” are instinct and that those instincts don’t always fit with the way we humans prefer things. I believe we can do the best we can to train them to conform to our way of life and what we can’t train them to do, we make the effort to accept as instinct and to love them for the buns that they are. This may mean cleaning a whole lot more than I had planned and not getting all the bunny cuddles that I had hoped for, but that’s OK because they can lift my spirits by just being cute.

                                    I don’t wish you any ill will and truly hope everything goes well for you and Nimmy and that Nimmy is happy and loved the way she deserves to be. You say you are here to learn. As fellow BBers and in the true positive spirit of learning, I ask that you read some of the posts of other BBers – RetroSquid (his recent journeys with Shush and with Link) and Sonn (Enki) come to mind – the selflessness and sincere compassion of these two in particular touches my heart. Then, go back and read the threads you initiated about Ceasar (you can find them easily by clicking on “My Topics” while logged in) – try to read them as if you weren’t the one who wrote them. If you are willing to do this with an open mind, I believe you will understand why I felt and posted what I did.


                                  • NewBunnyOwner123
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                                      It took Sally quite awhile to try her first veggies. I think close to 6 months she FINALLY tried some and I had to trick her! You know how I did it? I made a small salad of romaine lettuce and sprinkled some pellets over the salad. While she was digging for the pellets she must’ve accidentally bit into a leaf and realized this stuff was pretty tasty!

                                      Keep in mind carrots are sugary and should only be fed in small amounts. Celery hs long fibers so if you give it to her give it to her in tiny bits cut up. I think a good starter veggies is romaine. So start off with that and after a few days-week you can add her second veggies and then third fourth and so on. You want to add only one veggies at a time to pinpoint if they have any sensitivities to particular veggies. I’m sure she will take to veggies in no time. And also spaying will really help with marking. Although she is young right now so her hormones haven’t kicked in yet. One day you may wake up toms whole different bunny. Sally one day became very territorial over her cage. As in I couldn’t out my hand in there without her growling and lunging at me. But out of the cage she was sweet as sugar. Spaying fixed that right up though so keep that in mind.


                                    • Peony
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                                        I started with my rabbit being two years old so I would not know about the troubles of getting them to eat leafy greens or if it is ok now to give them treats like bananas/carrots.

                                        If it is ok, you try a banana? mine goes nuts for it and the only food I eat that she “attacks me” for


                                      • LBJ10
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                                          Everyone gets frustrated with their bunnies sometimes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in disbelief over something crazy that Leopold has done (he’s definitely the trouble-maker of my pair). So I certainly don’t blame you for coming here feeling frustrated. I think you deserve some credit because you came here looking for help and you took our advice. You had planned on having him neutered, which I think would have helped with his behavior a lot. What happened to him was tragic and I don’t think you should be blamed for it. Like NBO said, how would you have known? A bleeding nail is not normally fatal.

                                          Anyway, I’m glad you were able to open your heart to a new bunny. I’m sure Nimmy already feels loved. She looks pretty little in your avatar. Do you know how old she is? Age could be a factor with litter habits as well. Perhaps she just needs more time.


                                        • BB Administrator
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                                            It is not uncommon for disagreements and frustrations to happen from time to time within a community. It is of the utmost importance though to treat each other with respect even when things feel challenging to do so. JackRabbit, you have voiced your concerns and Samicles, you have responded. Now, for the sake of continued education, and to prevent a decline in this thread, I encourage that we move forward and focus on the here and now, so we can do our best to educate and help Samicles.

                                            Samicles – I think adjusting expectations will help settle things a bit. If you put too much pressure on yourself to make your bunny feel safe right away and get her litter training up to par so soon, you may feel disappointed that either you are not doing it right or that your bunny is doing something wrong or is not happy. So I think just taking a more relaxed approach may help. It’s only been 2 days after all. Your bunny is brand new to a situation, and it’s scary for most bunnies actually. In time she will learn to trust a gentle approach (which it sounds like you are doing). She is also still too young to fully get litter training. Even a litter trained adult neutered/spayed rabbit may mark a new territory for a while until it feels safe. It is something that won’t take just a few days, it will be weeks (and longer with a young unspayed bunny). So just understand that it will take time. You said progress has been made in just the 2 days she’s been with you, and that’s really good. I agree with what everyone is saying — just more time is needed. Litter training will take time and positive reinforcement is the best method when training.

                                            Helloworld!!


                                          • BB Administrator
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                                              I forgot to mention – can you build or create a ramp to the cage entrance? The reaching in tends to feel invasive to rabbits, especially if they know they are going to be picked up. It feels like they are being “caught” — it’s just part of their prey instincts. It’s good that you have something positive in your hand and I do think that will help so good job on that, but I think her fearing picking up/feeling caught is what is the “scary” part for her. But if you can allow her to come out on her own (with ramp), and then when it’s time for her to go back in steer her to the ramp and up, that may also help a nervous bunny.

                                              Helloworld!!


                                            • Samicles
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                                                Nimmy actually wound up eating the carrot slices I had left in the bowl for her, she tossed the piece of celery to the side. And I’m sure she’s no more than 3 months old. Since bunnies are weaned around 6-8 weeks, she must be somewhere between 8-12 weeks old. But I’ll be scheduling a vet appointment for her, so if all goes well she’ll be seeing the vet by next week. And yeah I’m really not looking forward to when her hormones kick in, she’s so beyond friendly right now. Gosh, why can’t every animal stay at the childhood age? So freakin cute.

                                                She’s actually not nearly as scared as she used to be. Like everyone said, as more time goes by, the more Nimmy gets used to her new surroundings and the happier she becomes. So far today there’s been no peeing and only a couple poos outside of the cage (knock on wood) and she’s been out for four hours now. She’s being super ultra friendly, and when I came home from work she seemed happy. She’s only kind of startled by sudden noises (like a lawnmower outside) but it didn’t phase her too much.

                                                Also I never pick Nimmy up while she’s in the cage, cause I want to make sure she knows that’s her safe haven. And I always shake the bag of treats and call her name before giving her one to condition her, so she’ll associate the shaking bag and name with a treat. She actually jumped out of the cage and hopped over to me today when I shook the treat bag for her. She’s pretty smart, and is catching on much faster than I expected.


                                              • LBJ10
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                                                  That’s great! Sounds like you are making good progress and you are also preparing yourself for whats to come. =)


                                                • Samicles
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                                                    Update: Just got the litter pan/box and it’s all set up. I put it in the corner she mostly goes in, and I put a couple poos inside the pan. For right now I’m keeping the bedding in the cage, and I’ve got bunny litter (it came with the litter box) in the litter box, so we’ll see how that combo does. I put a couple poos in there, if she pees on the carpet again I’ll leave the paper towel in the pan so she knows that’s where pee belongs. And I also rearranged the cage, so now there’s something in every corner: food bowl, water bottle and hut. I’ve also got a hay rack which hangs on the bars of the cage, I set that up so it’s with the litter box. And I cleaned out some of the soiled bedding, and also put a new layer down over top.

                                                    I never felt more prepared to tackle the litter training. Bring it on, Nimmy

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