New nervous Bunny

[Pancakes09]

 

Hi everyone,

From Sydney, Australia :   )

Yesterday, I purcahsed my first bunny. A mini lop black and white butterfly. Its so adorable. I drove 4 hours to pick it up and 4 hours home. It was 11 weeks old and was the last one left with its mum and dad. At the moment I have it in a cage in my bedroom as I’m living with my parents at the moment who have two cats and two dogs. One of the dogs is 13 years old and the other is 5 months old both labradors.

It’s only be home for 24 hours and is still very nervous. The breeder said she isn’t used to being handled at all so that I have to handle her for at least an hour a day which I’ve been doing but she is still very nervous. Today, I blocked off our kitchen area and I sat on the floor with her while she ran around the kitchen which she loved until one of the cats Ruby, a year old Birman came in to watch. It has eaten a bit of carrot and apple while been home.

Eventually, I plan to get a two storey hutch to put out on our back balcony where the dogs and cats can’t reach her but only have her out there during the day and bring her in to sleep at night.

Is there anything else I can do to help her overcome her nerves??? Would there be any advantages to getting a male friend for her???

 

 

[BinkyBunny]

Welcome Pancakes! Well, I know the breeder told you to hold her for an hour a day, but at least for the first  few days, I would let her settle in and feel comfortable.

You also have to give a bunny time to get used to everything, and especially if she hasn’t been handled. (yikes!) So 24 hours is a very short time. You are looking really at weeks or even longer. So just take your time and with patience, she will come around.

In addition to getting her used to tolerating being held, I also recommend setting up an area where she can run around with you in it, so she can come up and investigate you on HER terms. That way she can learn that you are not just “catching” her which is how she may feel when you hold her right now. If you have a smaller area – like a bathroom or if you have an xpen, you can hang out in there, read a book whatever, and just let her be around you without you trying to do anything. “Ignoring” can be a non-threatening sign in bunny body language, so if you ignore her and let her come to investigate, that will help build trust. And then as she learns to trust you, you can reach out to pet her.

 

[Pancakes09]

I just finished cleaning out pancakes cage and gave her fresh water and fresh fruit and vegetables. As I was cleaning the cage I let her free in my room. She seemed to love it, being able to explore until she went under my bed (queen size bed up against the wall) so I couldn’t reach her. The indoor cage i got is big enough to fit two rabbits in comfortably. I think I will keep her as an indoor rabbit and just get a playpen for outside for when I am home.

when i’m not in my room i leave the radio on so she doesn’t feel lonely. I don’t know if that is a good idea or not. I put it on an talk back radio station so there wasn’t any music. And I leave the blinds open so the sun comes through during the day.

I just hope i am doing everything right.

[MooBunnay]

It is great that you are doing some research. I agree with Binkybunny, I work at a rescue, and when people first bring a bunny home we recommend that they really not hold the bunny or force the bunny to interact with them. What is best is when your bunny is out, just sit on the floor and read a book or do work or whatever you need to do and totally ignore your bunny. In “bunny speak” by ignoring your bun you are teaching her that you do not intend to pose a threat to her. Eventualy she will get curious about you and come sniff you and see what you are doing. When that happens, don’t try to pet her but just sit there and let her get used to you. Interacting with bunnies is very different than cats or dogs. Bunnies are a prey animal and therefore are scared of you at first because to them you are a “predator” or at least a very big scary thing Another good idea is to hand feed your bunny treats from time to time, hand feeding is a good way to establish trust.

What kind of diet is your bunny getting? I noticed you said fresh fruits and vegetables. Is your bunny getting unlimited hay? That is the most important part of his diet. And fruit should be really given in moderation, like one tablespoon per day max because it is very sugary. If you look at the top of the website under the tab for “bunny info” you will find the bunny diet recommendations for a healthy bunny.

[Pancakes09]

I put hay in the cage morning and evening and i make sure the floor of the cage is like covered in it. Pancakes loves it, this morning while i was getting ready for uni she was attempting to move a small pile of hay to the other side of the cage. In the morning I feed her 1/4 cup of the mix the breeder gave me and 1/4 of a cup of pellets that I got from the local pet store. At the moment I give her like a quarter of apple and half a carrot at night and by morning they are gone. I’m also litter training her and when she poops or pees in her bed or water bowl i place the droppings in the litter. I find she likes to sit in the litter since I got her but she is sitting in there less everyday.

Her cage is on my bedroom floor at the moment and when i got up this morning I was just sitting on the edge of my bed and she got up on her back legs and was just watching me. It was so cute. I wish I had a camera. My parents have two cats who before I got the bunny used to sleep with me (not every night but maybe twice at week) and now they scratch at the door as it is closed all the time.

Can you introduce the bunny to cats???

Tonight, I’m going to go do a vegie and fruit shop just for the bunny is there anything you can recommend that she would love????

[jerseygirl]

Hi again. In case I didn’t say in my other replies to you Welcome here!

I’ll try answer some more of you Qu’s. I don’t know why but breeders here seem to favour those grain pellet mixes. Is that what the breeder gave you? They can cause problems as the grains can cause impaction in the stomach. As Pancakes is a baby, you can feed unlimited lucerne pellets. It’s called alfalfa in the US. So you can just give her a full bowl and top it up. You’ll get to know how much she eats in time. After about 7 months you can limit the amount of pellets.

With the veggies, she’s probably to young but you can try some leaves of cos lettuce or parsley. Apple and carrot have too much sugar and could give her and upset stomach and messy poo. If you want to give her some, just give really small amounts like no bigger then a 10 cent peice.

Hay is very important. Again, since she’s a baby, you can give lucerne hay but even a mix of lucerne, meadow or oaten hay. If you only put hay in a feeder or rack and some in one end of her litter box, she’ll toilet train easier. The rabbits seem to like to munch on hay and poo at the same time, so litter at one end, hay at the other, helps them go more in the litter box and less all over the cage floor!

Mop up any pee on some paper towel and pop that in with the litter. Also, sweep up poop of cage floor and put that in the litter box. If she smells the pee in the box, hopefully she’ll get the idea to go there.

Lastly, you can introduce your bunny to the cats. I would wait though while you are litter training. There is some info on this but I’m not sure where to find it just now. Hopefully somebody will have it on hand.

[Pancakes09]

Thank you to everyone for answering my questions : ) it was much appreciated. I will try to upload photos eventually.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome!! Your bun sounds adorable and sounds like your doing very well already! I cannot wait to see pictures

I’d wait to intro the bun to cats (or your dogs) until the buns settled in more and trusts you more

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