I WAS doing them monthly-that is getting all prepared and ready, turning them over and opening them up-to find NOTHING there! So now I do them-hmmmm….maybe quarterly They really don’t need them that often in my experience, but I think it’s important to check more frequently And after you’ve done it a few times, it’s not so bad

I have never done this because I never new how. how do you?

Thanks mirbear! so how do you hold them when you clean them mir bear?

I’m a bit new at this also.

Why do scent glands need to be cleaned? What happens if it doesn’t get cleaned?

Chacha’s nails are growing, so I’m thinking of cleaning the glands when I clip the nails.

I must confess I have never done this.

And I just paid a lot to have Sammy get a complete exam, and didn’t notice the vet doing it, though she may have while I wasn’t paying attention. I was with them the whole time. She didn’t mention it, didn’t tell me she needed it. I’m wondering now if she examined them and didn’t think she needed it. I must call her. I would only be able to have my vet do it because Sammy won’t let me handle her and I actually had to ask the vet to hold her up so I could see what her belly looks like. Hadn’t seen it all for 2 years. But her underside, including her gland/excretion area, was pristine clean. And she’s white. No smell. Maybe she doesn’t need it the way other bunnies do?

Apologies to all for not being up on gland care.

so its ok to trance a bunny? i thought i herd it was bad. maybe that was something else. LOL. do all bunnys like it / do it?

Bunnies don’t like trancing, but it is okay.

There are a lot of people that disagree with it, it is something that is based on opinion.

I do it to trim back toes.

they don’t like it? i thought tranceing was a thing they do out of relaxation.

Posted By mocha200 on 09/30/2010 07:55 PM
they don’t like it? i thought tranceing was a thing they do out of relaxation.

I agree some here Mocha. I’m not sure on the whole trancing thing but it does seem they zone out or “trance” themselves when they flop on their sides. I believe their objection is more about being picked up, held and put upside down in a position of vulnerability. Not by their choice but yours. So I can understand that they’d be freaked.   I’d like to see how you could clean the glands without putting them on their backs though!!!

With putting them on the back and/or trancing, the thing to be careful with is bring them back around. They can snap out of it and kick or scamper off quickly. When I have mine on their backs I lean my body forward to hold the back legs some. Like bracing them, so if they kick it’s not too much and won’t injure their backs.

I read on a couple sites that a bunny’s “trance” is actually a defense mechanism, like playing dead, and can even be a reaction to stress, and that the reason why they can “come out of it” so quickly is that they aren’t ever really “under it” in the first place.

I’ve tried to trance mine a few times, but it never works. They’re always like, “… the hell are you doin??”

Posted By RabbitPam on 09/30/2010 04:31 AM

I must confess I have never done this.

And I just paid a lot to have Sammy get a complete exam, and didn’t notice the vet doing it, though she may have while I wasn’t paying attention. I was with them the whole time. She didn’t mention it, didn’t tell me she needed it. I’m wondering now if she examined them and didn’t think she needed it. I must call her. I would only be able to have my vet do it because Sammy won’t let me handle her and I actually had to ask the vet to hold her up so I could see what her belly looks like. Hadn’t seen it all for 2 years. But her underside, including her gland/excretion area, was pristine clean. And she’s white. No smell. Maybe she doesn’t need it the way other bunnies do?

Apologies to all for not being up on gland care.

My 3 never need it either. Guess I am lucky

I actually asked the guy at Sammy’s last vet exam who clipped his nails whether Sammy should also get his glands cleaned, and he said that most rabbits don’t need to have that done. He was perfectly white down there and there’s never any smell, so I think only some rabbits develop the build-up.

It’s true… some bunnies don’t need much cleaning, and some bunnies are what my vet calls “producers.” Momo, over a year old, rarely has anything in her glands, but Remy is a producer. BLECH. I know it’s time for a cleaning when he gets a little stinky, every four to six months or so. Luckily, our vet doesn’t charge much for these services, and they’re super close by, so I just run him over there and they clean him up and he smells lovely again, lol.

One of my rabbits, Mr. Bunny, needs his glands cleaned a few times a year. If I don’t clean them, they produce a TERRIBLE smell that gets scattered around the room. 

In a few days, I’m going to “bunny-burrito” my new rabbit, Ms. Rabbit, for the first time. Who knows when she last got them cleaned.