How to catch bunny if free-ranged??

[BraveBunnies]

 Hi. I am currently changing my bunnies habitat, so he will have my whole room to run around in, instead of the super small cage he is living in now. Yes, I have bunny-proofed my room (and considering of double bunny-proofing my room, if that is possible!) and he is litter-trained, but I still have one problem. If he is free-ranged, how am I ever going to catch him???? I mean, when I let him out for some play time now, it takes 15-20 minutes to catch him, which is is very stressful, and if I ever want to pick him up ever when he actually is free-ranged, it will just take me that long time, even if I  just want to cuddle. He would also just become even more wild, if I never handled him, because he wouldn’t let me. So here’s the question. How will I let my bunny be free-ranged, but still handle/play with him and not make him stressed out and scared? Thank you!

[RabbitPam]

First, you want to have him associate you with pleasurable handling. Picking up a rabbit is not their favorite thing, and he sounds like my Samantha, who won’t let me pick her up at all. But she comes to me on her own for face rubs and pets. You want to be on the floor with him, let him get curious about you, and pet him gently around the face and ears to get used to your touch regularly.

As for picking him up to catch him, I found that she could be trained to a routine of coming on her own with a treat reward. I shake the treat bottle each morning and place one inside her food dish in her cage, and she comes running for it. She now goes into her cage at the right time and looks at me until I get her treat in there with her. It’s the basis for clicker training, which is a total reward for good behavior system.

That’s my next suggestion. You can read up on clicker training and start now, so in case of an emergency you can have your bunny already trained. That said, I know it’s very hard and takes a while.

So you want to catch a bunny quickly by throwing a light towel over him and scoop him up and into your chest while wrapped in the towel. If you can get him where you need him, then set him down gently and only then unwrap the towel so he can see that he’s on the ground again, he should be mad but fine. Get the door shut quickly at that point so he doesn’t escape. I learned that the height was scary to my bunny, so she does better with her eyes covered if she needs to be lifted at all. Some bunnies don’t need a towel if you can scoop quickly and firmly into the crook of your elbow while carrying him pressed to your chest.

Herding is another way to get your bunny where you want him. You pretty much stand opposite the way you want him to travel and move toward him so he moves away from you to where you are trying to get him. If you can herd him into a room, or an increasingly smaller space, you can block his escape with a baby gate, closing a door, or eventually caging him.

[bunny-yawns]

 ”So you want to catch a bunny quickly by throwing a light towel over him and scoop him up and into your chest while wrapped in the towel. If you can get him where you need him, then set him down gently and only then unwrap the towel so he can see that he’s on the ground again, he should be mad but fine. Get the door shut quickly at that point so he doesn’t escape. I learned that the height was scary to my bunny, so she does better with her eyes covered if she needs to be lifted at all. Some bunnies don’t need a towel if you can scoop quickly and firmly into the crook of your elbow while carrying him pressed to your chest.”

 

Thank you!!  That is an awesome tip, which I intend to try out tonight.  

UPDATE:  This worked like a charm!!  I hate having to pick Maddie up to put her in her pen for the night, but she refuses to go in on her own.  When the girls are bonded I will not have to worry about putting either of them in pens.  Looking forward to that! 

[Monkeybun]

Also keep in mind, most bunnies HATE being picked up. And alot don’t like to cuddle. So you may have to be content with just petting them on the floor.

[MayaConsuelo]

I adopted a very tame rabbit, but like everyone said above all rabbits hate being picked up. With him I scoop him up very quickly and firmly, supporting both front and back paws, and then hold him against my chest until he calms down which usually only takes a few seconds. I do this so he’s used to being handled, even though he’s tame, when you want to inspect their teeth or trim their nails that’s a whole new story. However the best way to get them back to the cage is treats (which for my bun is just pellets), open the pellet bag and lead them back to the cage with the pellets, eventually the bunny will hear the bag and be ready to go back in the cage instantly so he can get his treats!

You said he has a super-small cage, which I assume is the same one my bunny came with, the typical pet store one… if you get a slightly larger cage or pen, even if he’s not in it much, it’ll be easier to coax him back in there.

[aims]

 i had the same problem cos mine are also free ranged. food works a treat – the sound of the pellets falling into the bowl make mine come running! herding is also good 🙂

[Beka27]

If you end up training with a clicker or with food, also try to incorporate a word in there. Either the name, home, num-nums, even a short whistle or click of your tongue… something that the bunny will learn to respond to just in case you don’t have the clicker or a treat.

[Elrohwen]

When I want my bunnies to come to me, food usually does the trick. The more I chase them, the more they run away, but the more I draw them to me with food the happier they are.

If I want to capture them to go to the vet or something, getting them into a pen first is key. There’s no way I’m going to corral them if they have the whole house to run around, so I at least limit them to one room (which it sounds like you’ve done) or try to herd them into a pen (or get them to go into the pen for food). Once in a small area it’s not too hard to convince them to go into a carrier with a little nudge. I generally only pick them up once they’re in the carrier and can’t run – if I try to pick them up when they can get away, they will get away, and then will be far more wary of me than before.

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