Most rabbits hate being picked up and held, so my guess would be that this is her way of showing her displeasure.

No the squealing won’t stop them – it will just annoy them and probably frighten them – it’s negative. Your rabbit does not want to be held and he’s letting you know – you just gotta respect his wishes and put him down.

Yep, this is exactly what Leopold does when he’s had enough (typically when he is in my lap being groomed). He tugs at your clothes and he nips. It’s his way of saying “let me down, I don’t want to be in your lap anymore”.

I totally get that. Usually I would agree that to get a pet used to something they don’t particularly like, it should be done repeatedly. But, unfortunately, rabbits are different. They are prey animals, which causes them to react quite negatively to things that don’t come naturally to them. Out in the wild they have to fight a lot harder to stay alive than a predator does. Being picked up and carried is the one thing that they hate the most, nature screams in their ear “Run fool, you’re about to get eaten!” It naturally terrifies them, it’s on a whole different level than having to endure something they dislike a little bit, like a dog having to take a bath for example. They might not like it, but it doesn’t scare the pants off of them.

Some people have had some success getting their rabbits used to being held enough that they tolerate it for a little while. But most rabbits will not get used to it. To the contrary, a lot of the time, picking them up repeatedly does nothing but destroy their trust in you, until they run and hide when a person approaches them, and if that’s not an option, they can turn and become aggressive. Sadly this is one of the reasons lots of them end up in shelters. People pick them up not knowing how much they hate it, the rabbit starts to bite, is deemed “mean” and gets dumped.

It’s just not something that they get used to easily, as it completely goes against their nature. As far as grooming and vet trips go, I think it would be a better option to teach them to enter their carrier on their own using treats, that way you won’t have to pick them up at all. Grooming could be done while they’re eating, most rabbits are little pigs and don’t care about much else if there’s food in front of them. You just have to learn what works for your rabbits and what doesn’t, they’re all individuals. But generally, I think picking them up should be avoided if possible. We pick ours up to clip his nails because there’s just no other way, but boy does he hate it…

I have had a fair amount of success with mine. I would pick them up every once in awhile, hold them for a minute, give them a treat and then promptly return them to the floor. Now if I pick Leopold up, he’s automatically looking for his treat. LOL Wooly does too, but he’s not as demanding about it. So yes, rabbits do not like to be picked up and you cannot make them like being picked up. But being completely hands off isn’t necessarily the way to go either. I worry there would be an emergency and the buns would not allow me to catch them. So I’m not against trying to get them accustomed to being picked up for necessary things. This doesn’t mean I don’t respect their boundaries. If Leopold, for example, has had enough grooming then I will let him down. He tolerates being picked up but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t nip when he wants down! LOL

I had a bunny that was a chronic nipper. I never thought it was about showing displeasure it was just a nervous habit with him. Just as humans often bite their nails, he needed to bite something and clothing was handier for him than finger nails.

Our current bunny, will nip clothing when he is grooming us. To him clothing seems like we have matted fur and he tries to untangle it the way he would if a fellow bunny had matted fur, by working it loose with his teeth. My son’s solution to this is to strip down to his underwear before playing with Porky. I just try to be aware of him grooming me, and redirect him if he’s spending too much time on a part with clothing.

Our Bun has been nipping at our clothes more lately since we’ve been getting down on the floor to play with her. She usually does it after a long petting session. She will also ‘dig’ at us if we are laying on the floor. We see it more as an affectionate thing, but who knows. It seems like every week she’s learning a new behavior that we have to try and figure out!