1yr bunny runs away constantly and is impossible to pick up

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 2sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 8 months ago by Luna.

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- 03/01/2018 at 11:07 PM
  kingwoodstock
  Participant
  13 posts
  So i have a one year old holland lop girl shes fixed and is calm around me normally, she will stay stretched out and relaxed as i walk by. And i am fully aware that bunnies do not like being picked up and i do not lift them to force them to cuddle with me or anything. My problem now is she doesnt let me pick her up at all, and its getting critical because i need to groom her because she is shedding and im scared she will go into gi stasis from ingesting too much fur. I used to cover them in a small towel and kind of scoop them up so they feel extra safe and it worked really well. But she doesn’t “fall” for that anymore and will absolutely not let me pick her up any other way. its gotten to the point where she is suspicious every time i pet her that i will try to lift her. She runs away from me really fast if i do try to pick her up and theres no use chasing her because i also dont want her to be scared of me. I decided to give her a break from last time i lifted her, and its been weeks but she still remembers it and is scared all the time that i will try to do it again.(when i did pick her up weeks ago she was scared, but it didnt hurt her at all and was completely supported)
  
  How do i mend our relationship to where she trusts me again? And how do i lift her in the future because i do need to groom her regularly while shes shedding.
  
  all the advice i can find says i need a lot of time to bond with her again but my problem is i dont have a ton of time because she is shedding intensely and i am very worried.
  
  thank you for any suggestions
- 03/02/2018 at 3:08 AM
  Muchelle
  Participant
  1141 posts
  She is obviously not trusting you anymore since, as you have correctly said, buns don’t like to be picked up. I think you should focus on rebonding with her, make her understand you won’t do anything scary to her.
  
  As for grooming, you can make it a routine happening for when she’s loafing/relaxing and do it safely on the ground. Personally,I pick my bun up to groom him only when he’s into heavy shed and I need to straight up pluck his fur. I do that once every 2 or 3 days only during molt peak.
  
  If you are worried about fur ingesting, focus also on keeping her enclosure and the rooms she is allowed to go very clean and possibly switch her to a bottle during heavy molt(in case you are using a bowl)
- 03/02/2018 at 7:28 AM
  Luna
  Participant
  2219 posts
  Luna caught on to the towel trick too when I used to try to pick her up for grooms. Do you have a pet carrier? Whenever I need to pick Luna up, I open the door to the carrier and lead her in it with pellets. Once she’s in I slowly shut the door, carry the carrier to the table, and let her out there. She’s caught on to this trick as well, but she gets close enough that I can usually gently scoot her in.
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