Handling babies?

[Ally]

Hi everyone! 

I have a litter of 7 week old babies and the other day someone told me that I should be picking up and handling them everyday. Is this true? I try to pet them all the time but they hate being held and some are even still scared of me. And I hate forcing them to let me hold them. What should I do to make them more social and handle-able? I am super new to rabbits so any tips are helpful  Also,this litter was not planned… their parents wandered into my yard from the creek so we decided to keep them both, 18 days later she was pulling fur for a nest and the next morning their were babies. 

[kurottabun]

Hello and welcome to Binkybunny!

Do you know why the person told you that you should be picking them up and handling them everyday? I’m not exactly the most familiar with babies but from what I know, it’s not necessary to pick them up everyday at all. Rabbits generally don’t like to be picked up so they could be scared of you because you are doing that.

You can sit or lay with them and allow them to come and sniff you, rather than reaching out to hold or pet them. You also need to keep every single one of them separately, including the parents. The parents need to be spayed and neutered to prevent any accidents again. The babies may be a little too young to be sexed properly, but you still need to separate them because unfixed rabbits will either fight or mate, both of which are undesirable. When they are of the right age, you will have to spay/neuter them as well – if you would like to keep all of them, then they will have to go through a proper bonding process to ensure there are no fights when they are kept together.

It may seem overwhelming but it’s not easy taking care of rabbits (what more so many of them). All the best and do ask if there are any questions that come along the way!

[OnyxMoon]

Typically when breeders raise babies, (not that I’m saying you are a breeder!) they handle them daily to get them used to it from a young age so they are more adoptable/buyable. In their minds it helps socialize them and teach them to be more docile to handling since they were basically born being picked up and held.

Since babies don’t tend to get their personalities until puberty, most rabbits don’t like being picked up and some don’t like being held as well anyway. So if they don’t like it now, they probably won’t ever.

But that doesnt mean stop trying, like Kurrota suggested, try getting on their level and spending time with them. Before just petting them, offer your hand and see if they bow their head. If they don’t, take your hand away and try again in a few moments. This shows them you wont try to pick them up all the time and gets them to trust you!

[Author]

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