New Bunny- does she like me??

[Luna the Lop]

Hey everybunny!

       I recently adopted a six month old holland lop, Luna, from a local animal shelter (she was surrendered).

When I have to bring Luna somewhere, something like this happens:

 Whenever I open the door to the room where her cage is located, she freezes. Then I walk over to the cage and she still stands frozen. Then as I unlock her cage, she cautiously sniffs around her. Then when I try to pick her up (gently of course!) she struggles, meaning she kicks and jumps and wriggles. Once I finally get Luna into my arms, she’s fine. But when she is hopping around her exercise area and I come with some food in my hand, she hops away. So I slowly crawl toward her and hold out the food. She eats it. Then when I have to bring her back to her cage, she hops away and thumps the ground with her hind leg. I try to pick her up, but she kicks me and tries to run away. I know that foot thumping means “Leave me alone” or “I’m mad” or “I’m scared”, but I have to pick her up! Does Luna hate me? Or is this normal? I’ve previously owned a male lionhead who didn’t like being picked up, but was much sweeter than Luna is. Whats going on??

Thanks for your help,

<3 Luna the Lop

[Mikey]

Since you seem to pick her up often, shes associating you with being picked up. Most rabbits dont like being picked up due to being prey animals. In the wild, if they are picked up, it usually means they are about to be eaten. Ive trained one of my bunnies out of this habit, but it did take a ton of time and training, plus i did it when he was younger (about 3 months). Why not try putting her cage in the room shes allowed to roam around in? You can bribe her in and out of her cage with treats. That way she will stop associating you with being picked up (something she doesnt like), and will instead associate you with treats and pets (things she does like)

[LittlePuffyTail]

How long have you had her?

Sounds like she’s just nervous. Some bunnies can take quite a long time to feel comfortable and safe in a new home.

My Olivia has been with me for over 7 years and she still hates being picked up to go home every night. And freezes like I’m torturing her when I’m grooming or doing anything to her. Some bunnies just have a more nervous type of personality.

[Love4Bunny]

Lol LittlePuffyTail. Luna the Lop, I think your rabbit just needs time and patience. It’s like learning a new dialect with each rabbit. My 10 month old has only just come out of her shell, and she is gaining more confidence, but it took a while – I had to learn to respect her space more than my first rabbit (who gets in my personal space often). She now approaches me but I had to go for a little while without her wanting to be near me. I gave her pellets from her daily food ration throughout the day, so she would associate me with good things, and like Mikey suggested, her main play area is next to her exercise pen, so I don’t have to pick her up to put her inside the pen. I just lure her back into her pen with a small portion of a treat.

[Luna the Lop]

I’ve had Luna for a little more than a week.

and I’m not allowed to keep her in the room she roams in.

[Theodorusrex]

She will still be settling in after a week. I adopted my first bun 2 months ago and he is a different rabbit now from the first week I had him. Theo doesn’t like being picked up either but when we first got him we could not pick him up at all – he kicked and bit. With some patience, hard work and training he now tolerates being lifted without kicking etc but won’t let you hold him for long. It will just take time

[LittlePuffyTail]

Agreed. A week is still very early in your relationship.

[cinnybun2015]

Chomondeley acted like he wanted nothing to do with me the first week, and he would bolt whenever I came over to his X-pen. Now, he runs to me (almost) every time I come near. A week is very early; rabbits generally do not like being picked up either. Chomondeley still kicks me when I attempt to pick him up to put him back into his X-pen after running around the house. Like Love4Bunny said, all rabbits have a different variation of a language. Like learning a language in the human world, it takes time, observation, and memorization.

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