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Hi everyone! I’m caudex, 25, freshly graduated and in my grown up job, finally able to have my own fuzzy baby again. I’ve raised and loved rabbits from age 4 til my last passed away the year before I started school. I’ve been missing animals ever since.
I brought home what I was TOLD was my baby Seamus this weekend…then I got him home and double checked, and discovered that she’s actually Sophie. She is somewhere around 10 weeks, the size and coloring of a Holland Lop (looks like a carton of cookie dough ice cream!) with ears that aren’t quite long enough to stay consistently down, so I’d say she’s mixed somewhere along the line.
I’m here because I’m a little worried… I have a lot of experience with buns, but usually boys, and they all started out with generally interested and friendly personalities, but then, I also always knew where they came from and that they’d been played with and socialized. Sophie doesn’t particularly want to be held or petted, or have anything to do with me really, though once I have her she doesn’t resist at all. I don’t think she was socialized particularly well. I’ve also heard that it’s harder to bond with females in general. I’m torn between not upsetting her and letting her settle down, and wanting to get her used to me. Most of her body language right now says that she’d prefer I just left and shut the door behind me.
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Congrats and welcome to BB
Alot of bunnies HATE being picked up. There are some exceptions, but they do prefer to have all 4 feet firmly on the ground.
One of my bunnies, Monkey, absolutely hates being touched in any way. She’s happy to climb all over me and demand treats, but heaven forbid if I try to touch her or pick her up. Its the end of the world, then. My other girl, Smudge, couldn’t be more the opposite. She loves pets, loves attention,a nd while she doesn’t liek being held, she will put up with it. Bunnies just have their own ways of doing things, just like us humans
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Welcome
please post some pictures of your new fur child when you can *poke* A lot of bunnies don’t like being held. Mine sure doesn’t. She thinks I am going to eat her, when in fact, I am just doing it to trim her nails or groom her.
You have a baby on your hands, so it will take a while for your bunny to warm up to you. I had my Chacha bun from the time she was 7 weeks old, and now she is a year and a half year old. She has blossomed – she DEMANDS pets, wants treats (which she doesn’t eat often), and will THUMP and pin her ears back if she doesn’t get her way..
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Good choice on name! (I have a little princess named sophie too!) I have to agree with everyone, it definitely takes time and has to be on their terms. Sophie will give me all the love in the world as long as its breakfast or dinner time or she feels like it, Mr Cady has a very bratty attitude its almost like I have to pay attention to him but can only pet him when he’s in the mood. Bunnys have personalities like no other animal but its just important to earn their trust, I would totally listen to the idea of just sitting on the floor. I did this and would just go on my computer and when cady realized I was there and wasnt paying attention my computer became his target! Time and Patience!! and I agree with chacha, pictures!!
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Hey! Welcome!!!! She looks like cookie dough? I cant wait to see pictures!!
LOL, MissPixie Im happy my advice was quotable, makes me feel like happy. As MP said, my bun HATES to be picked up. I swear she gets this face
when I have to carry her somewhere. Another thing I have noticed about her, she doesn’t like to be bothered during HER bed time. She is not a “morning” bun and doesn’t appreciate being woken up. She is much more lively and eager to be all lovey dovey late at night. So, aside from getting down on the floor and waiting for her to come to you, try working around her natural schedule… which, if she is like mine, will be somewhere between 4am-6am, 7pm-9pm, and then around midnight-2am, lol.Good luck!!! And dont worry or take rejection too personally. She will come around, it will just take some time. Be patient with her, dont give up… and be ready for her to seem almost evil when she goes through puberty. Do you plan on getting her spayed? -
caudex, neither of my buns like being picked up either. Rabbits are prey animals, so their natural instinct is “picked up = danger”. I adopted a female from a neglected home who was not socialized much at all – when I first brought her home and got her out of her carrier, I had to move something near her and she was so scared she laid flat to the ground because I got near her and wet herself. Now she walks over and flops at my feet like “Ok, you may pet me now” and will hop up in my lap to “supervise” my cleaning of her litterbox. So it’s not impossible to bond with a female that hasn’t had good socializing yet. And your baby is still very young, so should be fine!
Just sit in her room with her and ignore her, read a book or something, until she gets used to you and wants to come to you. Then move slowly with her and don’t try to pick her up, let her explore you at her own time. When she’s comfortable poking at you, you can try to slowly move your hand up to her head for some pets, but don’t push if she runs away. Eventually she’ll see you aren’t out to hurt her and once you bond, you can work on picking her up to do the needed things (like nail clipping) without her totally freaking out about it. Just takes time with some bunnies.
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