General new baby bunny questions

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 1sd reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 7 months ago by Mikey.

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- 10/09/2016 at 9:38 PM
  Kamyrx
  Participant
  4 posts
  So I just picked up a purebred pedigree 10 week old plush lop girl this morning(yay!! I was so excited!) and as my first rabbit experience didn’t go so smoothly I want to be sure this one goes well without a hitch(or as little as possible haha)
  My first question! I want to be able to hold her when she is an adult and I have started training both my bunnies to come to me when they hear me whistle or hum Epona’s Song. Is there anything I should be working on now so she will trust me more and will let me hold her or pick her up when she gets older as well?
  Another thing, she was raised in a hutch with wire bottom and so seems to be urinating and then continuing to sit in it and her grooming skills seem to be a bit lacking..her whiskers are bent and out of shape and her fur on her feet is a little yellowish. She is a house rabbit with me and so the urinating and then continuing to sit in it isn’t really a desirable habit I want her to continue..will she grow out of it and learn to groom better or will she need a little help with litterbox training and grooming in the meantime? If I need to groom her how can I do that without breaking her trust or making her afraid of being picked up and handled? I want to be able to clip her nails, check her fur and clean her feet and bottom if I need to without her struggling to get away and becoming scared of me(I would also love to do this for my other bunny if you have any tips on her as well!)
  
  Now with my other bunny…I had a bit of a rough ride with her at first, I was forced to moved twice and one move required her to be in a small carrier for around 10 hours (had to drive an hour to get to the airport and left around 6am, took 2 hours to get through the lines, plane was delayed and left at 9:30, touched down around 2, took until 4 to get to where I needed to be) and she hated it of course. The poor thing was so stressed I wish I could have done more to help her out. She started biting too around 4 months and I have been working on stopping that. I am getting her spayed tomorrow actually as she will be 6 months old then but she has already developed a few issues and moodyness that I’m not sure will go away after just spaying
  Sometimes I am afraid to put my hand in the cage to change or refill her food bowl because she scratches at me and lunges to bite my hand or sleeves. I will lure her with some food the the other side of the cage and she will run to her food bowl to attack my hand anyways some days. I was hoping a companion and spaying would fix the issue but I’m looking for other options I can work on too if they don’t solve them. I can’t pick her up at all either even when I just want to move her to a safe place like from the cage to the pen, I have to move the cage into the pen and then let her out and then take the cage back out and I feel that is also stressful for her having her safe place moved around multiple times daily…I just don’t know what else to do.
  
  And lastly, how can I introduce this new baby most successfully to my older bunny? She is only 10 weeks and so so tiny I don’t want my current female bunny to hurt her badly in an introduction gone wrong. I tried letting them meet in a space together under close supervision but my current one kept pushing her head under the baby’s butt after a while and then went to nip her and lunged so I separated them right away and decided to ask for advice. Would it be best to keep them separate until the one is spayed and recovered? Or are there steps I can take now?
  
  Thank you for any help you can offer!!
- 10/09/2016 at 11:10 PM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  Holding them when they are young doesnt promise they will still tolerate being held after they are adults. My most cuddley baby turned into my bun who hates to be held the most, for example. Many rabbits dont like being picked up at all, for whatever reasons
  
  For peeing and sitting in it, learn why she isnt scooting her butt back. Rabbits should scoot their butt back, pee, then scoot back to normal position. There should be enough litter to catch the pee so it doesnt soak into their fur. Soaking into their fur can cause scalding, irritation, and burns. Many rabbits also like to lay in their litter boxes too, because theyre soft and comfortable, which is also why you will need a good litter so the rabbit doesnt lay in their urine Many people like to use the bunny burrito tactic for rabbits who fight when they need to be groomed over. It seems not to have any effect on trust that ive seen, but ive not had to use that tactic for grooming yet
  
  Moodyness is very common in unspayed females because their hormones fluctuate a lot. Its like constant PMS in some cases. After she is spayed, allow her up to six months to fully change her habits. Females take longer than males to drain all of their hormones from their bodies, so although it can take a month or less to start mellowing out, it could take longer. For nipping, should she continue that habit, “yip” and turn your back to her when she bites, wait about a minute, then turn around and pet her. This will help her learn that nipping and biting causes pain, which isnt ok. Females are also a ton more territorial. It should be mostly fixed come time after being spayed. A companion right now will make it worse. Wait until she is healed and her hormones have drained
  
  You dont introduce them until they are both spayed. Until then, you should keep them both in their own territory/areas for the long wait. Again, you will have to wait until up to six months after the youngest is spayed to put them together. For now, the only steps to take until the several months have passed would be to keep their cages close but not too close. Just close enough that they can see one another, but cannot fight or bite one another. And while you do that, you can swap their litter boxes back and forth between the cages every few days, and swap their toys while you are at it too
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