Clarabelle: Our Craigslist Adventure

[sophie anne]

 Hi everybody!
I’d like to introduce myself (Sophie), my roommate (Anne), and our new bunny, Clarabelle.

We had been looking for a bunny to adopt for a while through various channels (didn’t want to buy from a pet store/get a baby). Clarabelle’s ad showed up on Craigslist and we just knew she was the one!

She’s supposedly about four months old. I say “she,” but we haven’t actually checked her sex yet. She came with the name, and she answers to it fairly well so we’re going to keep it. Before spending a month with the owner who posted her on Craigslist, Clarabelle lived in a pet store. She was bought for a 4-year-old boy as his first pet, which, needless to say, didn’t work out well at all! She came to us on Friday with everything: cage, water bottle, food, dish, hay, and hay rack.

Friday and Saturday were spent in her cage, getting used to the sounds and smells of her new home. Once she stopped acting jumpy while we walked around the room, we opened the door and she quickly came out to explore! 

She seems to be fully litterbox trained, which is unexpected but not unappreciated! But she bites my roommate out of the blue which is pretty upsetting for her. Of the two of us, I’m definitely the animal person, so it’s easier for me to forgive her for her exploratory nips and nudges. Anne is also much louder than me, so it’s possible Clarabelle is scolding her for hurting her ears!!

Rabbit Name: Clarabelle

Rabbit Age: 4 months

How long with us: 3 days

Spayed/Neutered: Nope

Personality Traits: nippy/nervous with my roommate, but very calm and snuggly with me. Also quite adventurous!

All right, now for a few pictures

[Bam]

What a beauty!

[Sarita]

She’s so pretty! She looks like a Netherland Dwarf to me.

[sophie anne]

 Thanks! The previous owner did say that she was a “dwarf” rabbit, so my guess based on research and her looks was a Netherland Dwarf. She has the prettiest coloring of any rabbit I’ve ever seen! Her eyes are bluish in real life and she looks like a little siamese-cat-bunny!! She fits in the palm of my hand, about the size of a large guinea pig.

My roommate is not too crazy about the nipping, and Clarabelle was supposed to be primarily her bunny. I guess I’ll post about that in a new thread. It’s too bad, because she’s very sweet but Anne just isn’t going to be willing to put up with biting  So hopefully we can get that under control…

Also, I just can’t get over how amazingly good at the litter box she is. She hasn’t had a single accident yet!! Hopefully she keeps that up!

[Sarita]

When is she nipping…not sure what is “out of the blue” – there has to be something that is causing this. Although my netherland while very sweet can be nippy too when I’m fooling with him and he wants to be left alone.

[sophie anne]

  She nips Anne when she’s out of the cage and hopping around. For example, last night, we were sitting on the floor with her doing work on our laptops and she sat with me for a while, getting petted. When she was done with getting snuggles, she hopped over to Anne and sniffed her for a minute, followed by a sharp bite to the knee that drew blood. Anne also has a bite on her hand from Saturday, and she says it happened in the same way.

She also growls at Anne when she reaches into her cage. For whatever reason, she’s never bit me nor growled at me, at least not yet. She does nudge pretty hard and kind of nibble my skin and clothes, but nowhere near as hard as I watched her chomp Anne!!!

[Sarita]

LOL – well Netherlands can be quite nippy.

Reaching into any rabbits cage can definitely be grounds for growling and nipping since they can be very territorial when they are young. Nipping can also be age related as well.

Wonder if she felt Anne was not paying attention to her or she just wanted to get a reaction…some people suggest letting out a yelp when they bite which is probably a natural reaction anyway – some rabbits respond to this and some do not.

It’s very possible she may outgrow this as she ages and also getting her spayed can help with this behavior – eventually.

I think too Anne needs to remember that 3 days is not very long and you all have a long way to go to establish a relationship and to learn about rabbits as well. There will be lots of suggestions on what has worked for other members with behavior issues but each rabbit is unique and in the end, being patient is the best way to learn about your rabbit. Also don’t let nipping be the cause for animosity – she’s not being mean and her instincts are different from ours. It is possible that Anne being louder frightens her :~) but Clarabelle may get used to this as she ages. Rabbits are pretty adaptable.

Anyway, I’m sure she (Clarabelle) will settle in eventually – she’s in sensory overload and possibly confused as she’s in a new environment.

I have to say that Netherlands are full of personality and can be extremely loving once they feel comfortable.

Have you found a vet to sex and alter her yet?

[tanlover14]

She is absolutely adorable! Congrats on your new furry room mate!

I agree with Sarita – loud yelps sometimes really help with this. My female was just spayed and until then was very nippy when she didn’t like what we were doing and it progressively got worse until she was spayed. Along with the cage aggression that Sarita described. Sometimes moving them out of a cage and into an x-pen can do wonders for the cage aggression. Two of my buns become very aggressive in cages – but you have to remember it’s their space and they become very territorial of it, just like you wouldn’t want someone poking their fingers around in your room and through your stuff either! =P Both of my got out of this when they were put in bigger spaces though.

[Emandme]

Welcome!

I’m no help with the nipping, but I’d just like to say Clarabelle is such a cutie! I love her colouring too.

[Julezypie]

She is quite a beauty!!

When Fiona would bite my husband or I, I would squeal loudly. It took about four times, but it has stopped completely now.

[sophie anne]

We do have a vet lined up, and she’ll be headed there within the next month or so. We’re giving her some time to settle in first… moving to a new home with a new family + an immediate operation seems like a bit much to do all at once!!

The nipping is already improving thanks to us yelping every time she does it. I think she’s trying to groom us and thinks that pokey knees and elbows are knots in our funny pink fur…. which of course isn’t fur at all and it hurts us to get bitten/groomed! She looks genuinely surprised every time we ‘Eep’ at her, and she stops right away, so I think it’s not intended to be painful.

She’s full of spunk and loves to jump in and out of her cage and sprint around the room doing backflips… what a nut!! haha!

I think this is going to work out very well for everyone involved. Of course, it won’t always be easy, but that’s what makes it interesting!!

[Dwarf Sparrow]

Clarabelle is gorgeous!!
She also might be a Polish (dwarf) rabbit; she looks a bit like Merida (and the pictures on the internet haha)
The nipping issue also sounds a little like what Merida did when we first brought her home- she loves to groom me and my boyfriend, and she used to throw in occasional light nips among the licks. We would pull our arms/hands away and sometimes yelp, and she stopped.

Does Anne take more or less care of Clarabelle than you do (giving food, giving hay, changing water, changing litter, etc)? Or spend more or less time petting her/sitting with her/offering treats/etc?

[Author]

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