Will my bunny forgive me for scaring her?

[kouta]

I recently got Judy (VERY recently – 2 days ago) and today I scared her by trying to pick her up even as she was scrabbling away. I don’t know what I was thinking. I immediately put her down and she stood still for a moment, which made me more scared than her trying to flee. I’m afraid she won’t trust me anymore as I am a first-time rabbit owner and she is only four months old. I couldn’t live with myself if I ruined our relationship this early on, since I know bunnies are very timid. Please help!

[Bam]

You have not ruined your relationship. Bunnies as a rule hate being picked up, but it’s something we all must do now and then – to clip nails, to check the butt, to brush and groom.

You can often bribe yourself back into a bunny’s favor with a small treat or just a few hand-fed food-pellets.

The best way to get your bun to trust you is that you let her come to you. You can just sit on the floor and read a book or sth and let her explore. Don’t try to grab her or pet her – actually try not to even look at her directly (very hard, I know, they are so cute!). Her curiosity will sooner or later get the better of her. It is a wonderful thing when your bunny starts to learn to trust you, but it can be a slow process – and that’s perfectly normal for bunnies.

I moved your question to the Q&A section, the bonding-section is more about bonding a bun to another bun.

[LBJ10]

I scare Leopold all the time. But it isn’t hard to do since he’s so easy to sneak up on.

I agree with Bam. I don’t think your relationship is ruined forever. She is young and eager. I’m sure some bribery will go a long way in making amends. Bam made a good suggestion about sitting on the floor and ignoring her. Do several sessions of this until she is comfortable. Then move onto petting. You can work on picking up once she trusts you better. And even then, she isn’t going to like it. But hopefully she won’t be as freaked out.

[Sparky04]

My experience is bunnies are sensitive but they forgive pretty easily too. When we first got Ava, the focus was on getting her healthy, which meant we had to do things she didn’t like.

Sitting or laying down on the floor with her (try both, some bunnies seem to find laying down more interesting while Ava found a sitting person more interesting). Give her food or treats. If she won’t take it out of your hand, place the treat close to you instead. If she’s hesitant about coming up to you, stay still and let her come and investigate you.

[DorothyTheMiniSatinBun]

Aww, I think if this was a regular occurence she might start to become afraid of you, but I agree with the other posters here that bunnies tend to forgive and forget quickly! Just don’t make a habit out of doing things that scare her, so she won’t associate you with anything bad or scary, but sometimes you have to cross the line to know where it is, right? I think she will be fine!

[flemishwhite]

Our previous rabbit, Bunny, was pretty forgiving of being picked up.  She would make a groaning sound when being picked up, and that was about it.  Setting her down, she was non-plussed and no follow up problems.  My two Flemish sisters don’t like to be picked up.  The more outgoing rabbit will become friendly in maybe two or three days afterwards,  the sister rabbit will be spooked for quite some time.  The Flemish sisters are now only one year old.  My previous bunny was 11 1/2 years old.  I think it takes some time for them to accept being handled. Being picked up is a traumatic experience for a rabbit. With age they will be relaxed being picked up. 

[Author]

Messages