Need advice human-rabbit bonding

FORUM

What are we about? Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules.

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 4sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 9 months ago by kurottabun.

Viewing 4 reply threads

Author

Messages
- 08/02/2018 at 11:17 PM
  ktrab3296
  Participant
  2 posts
  Hi everyone,
  
  Long time lurker, I just adopted my first rabbits after researching for over a year. I think I may have gotten in over my head. I adopted a bonded mother daughter pair of rabbits that have been in a small cage for most of their life. They are 2 and 2.5 years old and are inseparable.They live in a converted rabbit room and have free roam of the house when I am here but they prefer staying in their room. I have had them for a couple months and nothing I can do seems to make them warm up to me. They run immediately upon seeing me, do not like any contact. They wont even accept treats, as I have to leave it on the ground and walk away. I have a lot of patience I just don’t know how to continue from here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
- 08/03/2018 at 6:35 AM
  Terra
  Participant
  39 posts
  I’m sorry to hear about your situation. Do you know their history before you adopted them? If they were in a traumatic situation they may have a residual fear of humans, even though you’ve done nothing wrong yourself.
  
  Do you spend time just sitting quietly on the floor in their room? If you’re able to do that for a while every day, maybe reading or using your phone but not doing anything in particular to get them to interact with you, that would allow them to feel like things are progressing on their terms.
- 08/03/2018 at 9:24 AM
  Nutmeg
  Participant
  594 posts
  Hi Ktrab3296 – I am so sorry to hear that, and can understand your frustration and sadness.
  It doesn’t sound like they had the best life before you adopted them… that means they are going to take longer than most to get over that – same as when you adopt any other abused animal… and for them, living in a small cage was horrible.
  
  I will also suggest the same as Terra – Sit on the floor in the room with them and just IGNORE them. Read a book, play on your phone, watch a movie… let them come up and sniff at you (may take a few times) but don’t react and don’t even try to pet them yet.
  Then slowly start having food for them with you… start by putting it on the ground closer to you and work at getting it closer and closer…
  
  Please know that its not you – they are just scared. Even when a bunny lunges or tries to bite, its because they are scared.
  
  It’s just going to take time and lots and lots of patience.
  And at the end of the day, just know, you are giving them a WAY better life then they would have had with out! So good job!
- 08/04/2018 at 7:41 PM
  ktrab3296
  Participant
  2 posts
  Thanks so much for both of your advice! I had not thought of that before as I thought my presence just freaked them out too much. From what I understand they came from a bad home and have been cage bound for most of their life. I will give it some more time and see if they can eventually get used to my presence!
- 08/05/2018 at 7:59 PM
  kurottabun
  Participant
  908 posts
  In addition to what the others have said, you can also try limiting their space for now. I’m not sure how big the rabbit room is, but sometimes bunnies are more keen to explore in a smaller space because they may feel intimidated by a big one. The given space shouldn’t be as small as a single cage, but more like a pen or maybe half the room.
Author

Messages

Viewing 4 reply threads

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.