New bunny grunting and lunging when you are near him

[Beth]

Hi,

I have had Crackerjack for 2 weeks now.  He is a 1 year old, neutered male, Holland Lop.  I posted a week ago asking how to bond with him and described what type of home he came from.  The short version of his story is that he was given to me by his previous owners, they had bought him for their 2 yr old daughter and now the husband is allergic, so they had to give him up.  He has been staying in the bathroom until his x-pen comes in, which should be any day now.  Everytime I go into the bathroom he runs to his bed and “hunkers” down.  Then when I step too close to him he will lunge and grunt, he will also do this when I reach for his food bowl.  If I reach to pet him he will flinch and turn his head away.  He obviously doesn’t trust me and I’m not so sure I trust him not to bite me.   So, I’m not sure what to do or how to handle this situation. 

 

Thanks so much

[LBJ10]

He sounds very possessive. Is there a lot of traffic in the bathroom? It might make him insecure if people are going in and out. Is he for sure a boy and neutered? Has he been to a vet? There could be something else that is wrong too. Just some thoughts.

[Snowytoshi]

My bunny Joshua use to do that because he was handled poorly and not very well socialized. We spent a lot of time sitting on the floor with him and just waiting for him to come to us. Once he realized that we weren’t going to hurt him, he started coming over more, and we’d hold vegetables to reward him with when he came over. A big thing was just to not act scared and let him know that we weren’t going to push his boundaries. Right now he’s much better even though he still gets worked up about food.

If you’re scared that he might bite you wear boots and long sleeves. Don’t show that you’re scared because he’ll sense that and think it’s okay to ‘beat up on you’. If he does bite you, thump your foot, and turn your back, that’s rabbit talk for ‘that’s scary and you’re beneath my notice’!

You may also want to check out: http://language.rabbitspeak.com/ The articles are very well written and will give you some big clues to what he’s saying.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Your bunny sounds exactly my Olivia 3 years ago. She came from an unknown background and I suspect she was roughly handled. Your bun most certainly was traumatized by his former family. A 2 year old could certainly have made him fearful.

2 weeks is not near enough time to gain his trust. Olivia is only recently to the point where I can snuggle her (on the floor only) and she still lunges at me occasionally. I still get honked at for reaching in her cage at times. You will have to be patient and understanding. Be kind and he will come around. Don’t try to corner him or cuddle/pet him for right now. Spending lots of time sitting at his level and ignoring him will probably bring out the curiosity and he will come over to you eventually.

A traumatized bunny needs lots of time to regain his trust in humans.

[Almcv]

i agree with all abovr posts
just go in the bathroom and sit on the other end of the room from him and play on your phone(on mute not to scare the little guy) or read a book quietly maybe leave a few veggies near you for when he comes to check you out dont touch him or anything maybe look at him and say hello and just keep doing what u were doing

(if u havent posted pictures lets see!)

[Author]

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