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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 8sd replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 5 months ago by Beka27.

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- 06/12/2011 at 1:07 PM
  caudex
  Participant
  104 posts
  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. Any thoughts?
- 06/12/2011 at 8:04 PM
  Misspixie
  Participant
  40 posts
  Congrats on the new addition to your family!
  
  Huckleberry just gave me this advice for my bun that does not like being picked up. Maybe this will also work for you:
  
  My bun hates to picked up, like Alice. The only way I was able to win her over was to stay on the floor and let her come to me. It worked out really well, especially late at night, when she was more active. I got so many kisses and nose bumps from her. You might give that a shot with Alice! Just lay down on the floor and avoid picking her up or pulling her close. Some buns are a bit of a control freak haha.
- 06/12/2011 at 8:42 PM
  Monkeybun
  Participant
  10479 posts
  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
- 06/12/2011 at 8:56 PM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  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..
- 06/12/2011 at 9:46 PM
  TaraMichele
  Participant
  285 posts
  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!!
- 06/13/2011 at 1:22 AM
  Huckleberry
  Participant
  972 posts
  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?
- 06/13/2011 at 9:00 AM
  Stickerbunny
  Participant
  4128 posts
  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.
- 06/14/2011 at 4:32 AM
  caudex
  Participant
  104 posts
  Thank you for the welcome! Sophie appears to have a supernatural sense about cameras; she poses cutely for minutes at a time, and as soon as it’s in my hand I have a nice view of her back. We’ll work on that.
  
  I do plan on having her spayed. I had outdoor rabbits my whole life, and we had never heard of fixing them, and probably wouldn’t have if we did (Northeastern practical don’t-waste-your-money types.) But my last girl met a really terrible end from tumors. (I still feel guilty from not catching it sooner and letting her suffer; I visited and petted her a lot, but didn’t pick her up, and I was 17 and didn’t know better, but still.)The vet cited kidney failure, but research suggested to me that that was a symptom, not the cause. If I can keep Sophie alive and happy for a nice long time, it’s worth it.
  
  She’s come out of her shell a lot already. I’ve never had a bunny who was so free with her binkys. She just zooms around the room and binkys over and over. She’s a happy girl. She gotten so when she passes she will pause and say hello, touch a hand or a foot. She speeds away from pets still though, unless she is in her cage. She’ll accept some then, and seem to like it well enough. Almost makes me wonder if she’s just too “busy” to make friends right now. 🙂
  
  She’s also utterly disinterested in treats, which makes it hard to bribe her. Alas.
- 06/14/2011 at 6:11 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Welcome! I too am looking forward to pics of that sweet baby!
  
  I’m very sorry to hear about your last rabbit. The important thing is that you learned from the experience and you will forever be honoring her memory, and the memory of all of those that came before. When you’re young, especially under your “parent’s roof”, animal care can sometimes suffer when they don’t value animals in the same way. This is a common story on this board. Best we can go is educate ourselves so when we are able to make our own decisions, we know what we want to do.
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