Bunny problems

[Charlie]

Hi we got our bunny around a year ago as a baby, at first he was a house rabbit as we had no garden but now is outside in a hitch. From day one he’s seemed territories of us. We put it down to new smells and the stress of moving however he’s never really bonded with us. We tried letting him come to us. Letting him sit with us on the sofa, tempting him with treats etc. We just came to the conclusion after months of trying that he was happier being left to his own devices. We let him out for exercise regularly and have to kind of shop him back into his cage after as picking him up is not an option. He is quite vicious. We’ve been fine letting him get on with life however now I’m worried his hatred of people is going to be unhealthy as I’ve noticed he has a rash on the back of his foot and he also must have caught himself on the back of the neck somehow as he has a very small scratch there. I can’t pick him up to check him over (or even get close to him as he runs away and stomps) I can get him to the vet as I can’t get him into a carry case. I don’t know what to do I feel like he’d be better off being with someone who knows more about bunny behaviour. If anyone has any advice I’d appreciate it as I’m getting quite worried about him now.

[BanditCamp]

To me it sounds like hes not getting the social attention he needs, bonding with your bunny is a long process and trust is a hard thing to earn with rabbits and can be quickly lost. The sores on the back of his feet are most likely sore hocks or the start of it and the scratch on his head might be from trying to jump inside his hutch.

Why was ne moved outside from being an indoor bunny? It seems as hes not comfortable with it and might be quite angry.

[vanessa]

I actually moved my bunnies from outdoors to indoors. 2 of them are very friendly with me and 2 are not. Guinivere wouldn’t let me touch her while she was outdoors, but she gets so much more attention now, she is very snuggly. Avalon and Morgana let me pet them in the morning when they are exited about getting food. The rest of the day they don’t really want to be touched, and I still have to catch them in a carrier. That is tricky – because I don’t want to chase them. It makes it more stressful. So I slowly back them into a corner and then scoop them into the carrier. I have had them for 4 years. Some bunnies are easy for us to bond with, others are difficult. I still love Avalon and Morgana. Even though they aren’t snuggly like Guinivere is, they are still more friendly than when they were outside.
Being in a hutch will probably make a bunny unhappy. Morgana hated her hutch. She chewed through the chicken wire and escaped from my front yard 3 times. Avalon and Morgana now share a room with Guinivere. (Lancelot is in my bedroom). I have a fence dividing the room, and all the bunnies are now happy.

[Charlie]

He’s been in both over the last year originally we moved him outside as we thought he would be happier but he was no different and over the winter he was back in the house so he didn’t get too cold, either way he won’t let us near him. It took months for us to finally give up as we felt like we were just scaring him by trying to be close to him. I do think the scratch is from him jumping in the hutch. He gets so scared whenever we go near it that he jumps around it. I think we are going to try and rehome him as we aren’t rabbit experts by any means and everything we’ve read up about and tried to do hasn’t worked. He’s a grumpy little cutie.

[sarahthegemini]

Why did you move him outdoors when he was already accustomed to being indoors? He’s probably not very happy about that not to mention he’s probably lonely :-/ It takes time to bond and build trust between human and bun, and putting him outside away from regular interaction isn’t going to help matters.

Edit: How much exercise time/out of his hutch does he get?

[Author]

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