It takes time to get a bunny socialized to a new human, particularly if they’ve come to you from rough circumstances like yours. The only remedy is time, patience and letting the rabbit set his own pace for building the relationship. Rabbits in general don’t like being carried off the ground, as you’ve found out, so I would urge you not to pick him up unless you really need to. The best way to start building a trust bond with your bun is to spend some time with him on the floor every day, not trying to push any petting or caressing on him, just letting him do his own thing while you’re sitting or lying on the floor doing whatever – reading, watching TV, being on the phone, etc. Bunnies are very curious animals and his curiosity will soon overcome his nervousness, and he’ll start coming up to you to sniff and explore you; let him do so without trying to put hands on him. The more chances he has to do that, the better he’ll feel about you, especially if you continue to treat him kindly and talk to him a lot, feed him well and give him treats every so often (don’t overdo the treats!) Giving him hay or greens from your hand will help him associate your hand with good things and eventually make him receptive to being petted.

It’s very unlikely that the rabbit has rabies, in fact the CDC claims that almost never has a case of rabies been transmitted to a human from a rabbit. The main thing you have to worry about with outdoor rabbits is tularemia. But, with a rabbit housed in a hutch, even that it not likely. If he was “wild” that would be different, and I would say you should be more cautious depending on the area you live in and the prevalence of tularemia in the wild population. (tularemia is transmitted through blood or contact with flesh though, so unless the rabbit had been badly injured and bleeding, you probably wouldn’t contract it anyway).

Rabbits don’t like to be held. And chances are, if he was housed outdoors he didn’t get a lot of human interaction. He will need a lot of time and patience to learn to trust you. Spend time on the floor with him, just staying still and letting him explore. Don’t try to touch him every chance you get- that won’t help you in gaining his trust. Feed veggies/pellets/treats by hand to get him to realize that you are not a threat.

You can’t really “make him less skittish”. Since he was an outdoor bun, he may just always have some degree of skittish behavior. And some buns are just like that. I have 2 buns, 1 of them is very sweet but can be quite skittish, the other is very sweet and he isn’t scared of anything lol

Posted By Samantha on 8/27/2017 10:27 PM

So me and my family rescued a bunny today. They told us the bunny was 11 months old. She said that he has been an “outdoor” bunny for most of his life AKA living in a hutch, but has been living in her house the past month due to her neighborhood having rats. I literally have zero how much or if any of this info is true. I do know for sure that he was living outside at the a few weeks ago though.

You can tell he (guessing gender BTW) hasn’t been socialized much. He’s very skittish and runs you try to get him from his cage. He won’t eat from your hand or even when he’s out of his cage.

Okay don’t make fun of me!!! But I took him out of his cage when we first got him and was carrying him into another room. He started going crazy and scratched me up a little bit. A few hours later my mom got me freaked out because she said since the bunny was living outside I have no idea if it had rabies or something which is true I guess. Now I’m worried LOL. He seems decently healthy. He’s a bit chubby, no wetness around mouth/nose/eyes, normal poop, etc. I should be safe right??

Also any words to the wise on a new bun owner? How do I make him less skittish?

You’ve had him a day, it’s hardly surprising that he’s not yet eating from your hand. Don’t pick him up. It scares rabbits to be picked up. Not to mention he barely knows you and has had little human interaction, he was probably frightened for his life. It’s dangerous to pick up a bun because they can severely injure themselves trying to escape. 

As for trying to make him less skittish…again, you’ve had him for a day lol. I think you’reexpecting too much from him. He needs time to settle into his new home and to get used to all the new surroundings, new smells etc.

Posted By Samantha on 8/28/2017 8:42 PM

Thanks everyone! I know it will take time… I was more worried about having rabies than anything else ?

Not really something you have to worry about with buns! Many people think that they are rodents and carry many diseases. They are actually not rodents, they are classified as lagomorphs. While wild rabbits can carry diseases (such as tularemia), rabies isn’t something they usually contract. According to the CDC “Small rodents like squirrels, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rats, and mice) and lagomorphs including rabbits and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.”

I would just bring bunny to an experienced rabbit vet and make sure that they haven’t contracted anything from being housed outside.

Have you picked out a name yet?