You’re two days in, so he’s very new. Some bunnies don’t adjust well to being let out of their cage within the first week. Some really need a whole week to just stay in their cage and adjust to their new environment and people. That being said, there are buns that can take months to a year to fully open up and stop feeling nervous around their hoomins. I’ve had my boys for almost 2 years, and Asriel was very anxious the first year of his life. He doesn’t like being pet often and would prefer to explore on his own.

The best thing you can do is just let him explore you on his own terms, and be on the floor with him. Let him come to you, don’t try to go to him or pet him.Let him settle for a bit before you try that. When you do reach your hand out palm side down and if he bows his head you’re free to pet him, but only do so for a few seconds at a time, so he doesn’t get too fussy and feel afraid. If you need to transport him do so via his litter box. If you keep his hay in his litter box most buns will naturally hang out there and it will be easy to get him back into his cage. I’ve been doing this with my boys since I first got them at 8 weeks, and it’s never failed.

What you are seeing and feeling is absolutely normal. Please don’t be stressed! His world is now different and that can be scary and take a while to get used to. I can tell you from experience that I originally thought I made a big mistake and picked the wrong bunny. I honestly didn’t care for my buck at first. Now I wouldn’t trade him for anything. It just took time for us to figure each other out.

When I got my first bunny I left him alone for a couple of days. I gave them food, water and quietly cleaned up accidents and that was about it. I just spent a lot of time sitting in the bunny room watching TV.

When it was time for him to play outside of his cage I quickly learned that it would take time for him to trust me. I tried to pick him up to take him out of the cage and pick him up to put him back in because he didn’t know yet how to jump in and out of it. This was a mistake. I began to think I was never going to be able to catch him when I needed to. I did two things to get him back in his cage. I placed a pen around his cage and when it was time for him to go back I would slowly collapse the pen walls making his play area smaller and smaller. He eventually would just go into his cage. I would also time one of his play times to end at greens time and I fed him those in his cage. He was more than willing to go back in his cage for his greens. You can time it with when they get their pellets as well. Once we had that figured out I started giving him the full room and would just leave the pen open. When it was time for him to go back I would time it when he was playing in that general area and would slowly bring the pen around him and then do the same collapsing. I corralled him if you will. It worked perfectly. My bunnies now have their own room and aren’t closed in their cage.

When were getting to know each other I would just lay or sit in his penned off area until he slowly became more comfortable with me. I started hand feeding him a few rolled oats and sometimes parsley (because he was old enough already at the time) and before I knew it he started trusting me. I started to be able to pet him. Slowly I was able to pet him more and more until eventually he allowed me to come up to him and pick him up when I needed to. He stopped running from me, unless he knew I was up to no good like getting him for nail clipping etc,.

Chasing them does not work. I do think blocking off areas like under a bed helps. Don’t be alarmed by what you are seeing! You are still way too early in your relationship. Good luck with the little one!!

I have a buck and a doe and the experiences were totally different. My buck started letting me slowly petting him about three weeks after getting him. Shortly after that I took him in to be neutered and within 4 weeks of that he would come up and lay on my chest for pets and even kiss me like crazy at times. It was like a switch was flipped. He allowed me to easily pick him up around that time as well. I went from not liking him too much to wanting another one in about a month of taking him home and this was before the extreme snuggly bunny came out of him. Now he’s not as snuggly as he was but he is still a fantastic bunny.

My doe…she would give kisses the day after I got her. She would loaf for pets since day one. She is still the difficult one to pick up and she will try and kick when you do but I try not to pick them up unless necessary anyway.

Honestly it all comes down to personality and how they’ve been treated. I know some take much longer. My buck was more nervous so it took a while to gain his trust. My doe was more laid back from the start. They are now both outgoing buns with great personalities.