Bunny Bad Behaviour

[BunnyBroph]

I have two rabbits, both have been neutered, we have had them for just over a year.. My husband and I are kind to them, let them run around freely all the time and give them treats. They just don’t seem to want to come near us and look fearful any time we get close to them, they either run away or cower in a corner. I don’t understand this as we had a rabbit previously and she absolutely loved us, she would come to her name and she would sit on my lap and loved a pat. What can we do? Sometimes one of the rabbits attacks the other when we have patted or held it.

[Deleted User]

Some buns are naturally more independent than others. It’s their personality. You can try bonding with your buns by sitting on their level and just not touching them. Ignore them and their natural curiosity will bring them to you. Don’t pet at first, just be there. After a while you can reach out, but not all the time.
As for the buns getting aggressive with each other, did you go through the proper bonding process?

[Dface]

How much interaction do you have with your rabbits? If the only interaction is you pickin them up they’ll run away.
There is also the aspect that too much space will let your rabbits “be feral”. If you can confine them to a smaller area and then ‘imprint’ on them, they should tame nicely. -sitting in a confined space with tthem holding food, which teaches them to associate you with food, touch and stroke them in the enclosed space, its less distance for them to run away-if they cant get away from you, but nothing bad happens, they learn that they dont have to be so afraid.

As for the rabbits attacking each other, are the neutered and correctly bonded?

[joea64]

Posted By Dface on 8/10/2017 6:32 PM

How much interaction do you have with your rabbits? If the only interaction is you pickin them up they’ll run away.
There is also the aspect that too much space will let your rabbits “be feral”. If you can confine them to a smaller area and then ‘imprint’ on them, they should tame nicely. -sitting in a confined space with tthem holding food, which teaches them to associate you with food, touch and stroke them in the enclosed space, its less distance for them to run away-if they cant get away from you, but nothing bad happens, they learn that they dont have to be so afraid.

As for the rabbits attacking each other, are the neutered and correctly bonded?

I expect that living in a small “efficiency” apartment, as I do, will come in very useful as I establish my relationship with Panda and Fernando, then. Due to the close quarters, we’ll almost literally be living cheek-by-jowl; they’ll basically have their bunny condo and a large playpen space, plus occasional outings into the rest of my apartment under VERY close supervision. We’ll basically always be within visual and auditory range of each other whenever I’m home, even when they’re in their habitat, except when I’m in the bathroom. I’ll be spending time in their playpen every evening and more on weekends, doing what you suggest. This will be particularly important for Panda, who is the more reserved and cautious of the pair , as I work to earn her trust. Fernando, by all the signs, is basically already in love with me .

 

According to the OP, the rabbits have been neutered, but I also wonder if they’ve been properly bonded. If not, that would go some way to explain their aggressiveness; it seems that their bond with the OP is closer than their bond (if it actually exists) with one another. 

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