I feel horrible but I have to

[muffinandmunchbunny]

Hello,
As you can probably tell by now, Muffin is a really stubborn bunny. She absolutely HATES the carrier and I have to push her inside. I feel horrible doing it, but there is no other way. She used to let you pick her up and put her in, but recently she’s become even more stubborn. When she puts her front paws in and she’s far in the carrier enough, I have to quickly and gently push her bum into the carrier but I can feel her trying to turn back. Would this give her a serious injury? She’s a pretty tough bunny….

Is there also any way to get her to get in the carrier more easily? I put hay in the back, pellets are hidden in the hay and I sometimes leave the carrier in her pen while she’s out.

Thanks

[12345ABCDE]

So long as you’re gentle, I don’t think it’d give an injury. We really struggle to get Peanut in the carrier so we have to put a pen up around him which itself is challenging! Then put the carrier in with him and slowly reduce the size of the pen. Sometimes he only goes half in the carrier so we have to push his bum a little. It’s not nice but it’s the only way. It’s one of the reasons I’m trying clicker training – I’m hoping to be able to train them both to go in their carrier. 

[Deleted User]

I try to lure with something super enticing to them … like banana! Right now, I only have to put buns in the carrier to switch their locations (I have unbounded bunnies). One of them absolutely hates the carrier and runs when he sees it…Ophelia doesn’t care- if there’s something yummy in there she just wants to eat it! I would try to see if you could find a way to lure her in rather than pushing her in, that’ll just make her stressed and she will associate the carrier with bad experiences. I know it’s not easy, but maybe her favorite fruit would give her a little push to get in there.

[joea64]

Buns can be quite stubborn when they want to be. When I was adopting Panda and Fernando last Sunday, I observed that they were rather reluctant to go back into their carrier when the session was over. Their foster mom had to give them treats, combined with gentle pushes on their furry butts, to get them inside so they could go back to their lodgings. I see that I will have to think about the best way to do this once I find a suitable carrier, and it also seems that the best way to get them willing to board their carrier is to associate the process, as far as possible, with pleasant things such as bananas.

[muffinandmunchbunny]

Posted By BunNoob<3 on 8/14/2017 7:14 AM
I try to lure with something super enticing to them … like banana! Right now, I only have to put buns in the carrier to switch their locations (I have unbounded bunnies). One of them absolutely hates the carrier and runs when he sees it…Ophelia doesn’t care- if there’s something yummy in there she just wants to eat it! I would try to see if you could find a way to lure her in rather than pushing her in, that’ll just make her stressed and she will associate the carrier with bad experiences. I know it’s not easy, but maybe her favorite fruit would give her a little push to get in there.

Ophelia used to be the same as muffin but she’s become a lot more stubborn since she was a baby! I usually have a trail of pellets leading to the hay and pellets in the hay, but once she’s got the food, she runs off and eats it and so on

[Deleted User]

She’s learned the hooman tricks!

[Dface]

Mine hate the carrier. The minute I even touch the carrier the stamping and foot flicks start.
They resist going in like crazy, there is no treat in the world that could convince them the carrier is okay.
I leave the carrier in their enclosure and they get in and out of their own accord, and even snooze in it optionally sometimes , and when we are in new locations they view the carrier as a “safe space” ..but they also know that when Im the one touching it, it means they are going in it.

Both require a somewhat inelegant hoosh into the carrier-I dont have time to play lure the rabbit when I have one in there trying to get out, while tempting the other in!

[muffinandmunchbunny]

Posted By Dface on 8/14/2017 2:15 PM

Mine hate the carrier. The minute I even touch the carrier the stamping and foot flicks start.
They resist going in like crazy, there is no treat in the world that could convince them the carrier is okay.
I leave the carrier in their enclosure and they get in and out of their own accord, and even snooze in it optionally sometimes , and when we are in new locations they view the carrier as a “safe space” ..but they also know that when Im the one touching it, it means they are going in it.

Both require a somewhat inelegant hoosh into the carrier-I dont have time to play lure the rabbit when I have one in there trying to get out, while tempting the other in!

Muffin’s the same. When my mum tells me shes gone inside, I have to run for my life to make sure I close the door on her For some reason whenever my dad is taking her back she always goes in with no hesitation…

[12345ABCDE]

Buttercup is so easy to get in the carrier. Even if she is suspicious, the temptation of yummy food is too hard to resist. Peanut on the other hand can sense when we want him in the carrier. I swear he can read minds. If the temptation is really strong he’ll approach the carrier but he’ll only put his head and front feet JUST inside. He’ll stretch to reach the goodies and then do a runner lol.

[Deleted User]

Posted By sarahthegemini on 8/14/2017 2:42 PM

Buttercup is so easy to get in the carrier. Even if she is suspicious, the temptation of yummy food is too hard to resist. Peanut on the other hand can sense when we want him in the carrier. I swear he can read minds. If the temptation is really strong he’ll approach the carrier but he’ll only put his head and front feet JUST inside. He’ll stretch to reach the goodies and then do a runner lol.

EXACTLY what my little guy does! When I switch them into each others areas, Ophelia is always the one that goes in the carrier because he runs as soon as he sees me with it! He might go sniff the food but decides it’s not worth it, but I think she may actually be associating carrier with food cause she goes right in!

[muffinandmunchbunny]

Posted By sarahthegemini on 8/14/2017 2:42 PM

Buttercup is so easy to get in the carrier. Even if she is suspicious, the temptation of yummy food is too hard to resist. Peanut on the other hand can sense when we want him in the carrier. I swear he can read minds. If the temptation is really strong he’ll approach the carrier but he’ll only put his head and front feet JUST inside. He’ll stretch to reach the goodies and then do a runner lol.

Pretty much exactly what Muffin does. She will act as if she will go in and, snatch the food and run to the other side of the pen

[12345ABCDE]

Smart little bunnies!

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