My rabbit’s behavior

[airin Bendur]

I got my rabbit when he was 3 months old, and now he is 8 months old. He has never liked me. For example, he has never licked me or sat on my lap. If I try to pet him, he just runs away. He has bitten me 4 times before; twice making me bleed. I thought neutering would help these problems, but it didn’t. He was neutered 2 months ago, and has the same behavior. I have tried so hard to get him to litter box train, but he just goes everywhere. I attempt to bond with him by sitting on the floor, and letting him sniff me. But he’ll just come up to me and run away. If If I give him a treat, he starts to grunt and make these weird noises. He has a cage, but I let him run around my room whenever he wants(the cage door is open). But if I open my room door, he will not come outside my room for some reason.  I can’t even groom him(brush his fur), because he’ll get really scared and run away, and start thumping. When he gets his nails cut, I have to take him to the vets, because he won’t let me touch him. For some reason, he acts like an angel at the vet, and lets the vet pick him up with no problem. My rabbit is eating, drinking, using the bathroom normally if your wondering too. Please, I don’t know what to do, and it makes me sad that he doesn’t like me. So if anyone can tell me why he acts this way, thank you.

[LBJ10]

I don’t think that he doesn’t like you. Some bunnies are just no touchie. The fact that he magically turns into an angel at the vet tells me that he’s scared at the vet, which means he is at least comfortable enough with you to put up a fight and show his displeasure.

Perhaps what you need to do is go back to the basics. You said you are having trouble with litter training. Try reducing his space using an exercise pen and offer him more than one litter box. Make sure they are big boxes, the little ones they sell in the small animal section at the store are too small. Get ones meant for cats. Make sure the clean up any accidents immediately. Soak up any pee with paper towels and actually put the paper towels in the litter box. Pick up all his poos and put them in the litter box. Don’t expand his area until he is doing well with that.

What kind of treats are you offering him? It might help to find something he really likes. You can also try hand feeding him other things like veggies and pellets, so he has to come to you for those things.

[Elrohwen]

Some rabbits are just like that, and don’t want to be touched. The reason he’s so well behaved at the vet is that he’s scared, not because he actually likes it there.

LBJ gave some great tips for litter training. Just keep at it. Also keep sitting on the floor with him and giving him a treat if he approaches and he will come to like you more in time. He will probably never be snuggly though. I consider one of mine a pretty snuggly rabbit because she loves to be petted, but she would never sit on my lap or give me kisses. You just have to go at their pace and figure out what type of interaction they like, and work on the bond over time. It can take months to bond with a new rabbit (like 6-12 months)

[LopLove]

I would also like to add my two cents to this.

My rabbit started off this way as well. If you have a long, skinny vegetable (like carrot tops) to give your bunny, they don’t have to be as close to you; this sort of got my bunny used to eating from my hands and being near me. My girl’s definitely not a licking, cuddling bunny, but she sits near me and runs up to me for pets. I felt like we got a lot closer when we started clicker training (I believe that part of this was due to hand-feeding her pellets, while the other part was just being close and interacting with her in a way that was desirable for her). She’s also warmed up more to me since I started learning exactly how she likes to be pet. She used to run away every time I reached for her too; I started off with petting her with my feet, and graduated to hand-petting. If you’re having trouble touching her at all, you could try reaching out you fingers to her while you’re looking in the opposite direction. I approach my bunny this way when she’s spooked by something, (or when she thinks she’s guilty of something) and she seems to appreciate it more. Also, when she was still very new to me, I let her run around in my room while I was getting ready for school. I’m not sure how much this would have helped her, but I like to think that it got her used to my natural movements and personal agenda.

It took us about a year to get to the point where we are now. This all worked (very slowly) for me, but from what I’ve learned, every bunny is very different. I still consider her to be very aloof, but now also very comfortable with/friendly towards me. I would suggest that you try a variety of things, until you find what works for you and your bun. Hope I helped at least a little. XD

[LopLove]

Also, in regards to grooming, my bun used to be afraid of the brush. I gave her some supervised playtime with it, (involved her throwing the brush around a bit,) and this made it a bit easier to groom her. She still hops away sometimes when I’m grooming her, but it’s more out of boredom, rather than fear. “Not now human, I have to run”. Or something to that affect.

So perhaps you might also want to consider giving your bun some one on one time with the brush? XD

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