New Rabbit Owner, please help!

[JessC]

Hi my name is Jessica and I recently got a baby bunny for my boyfriend’s birthday. I got him from a respected pet store. I’m not entirely sure what kind of rabbit he is but he’s all black and his ears are about 2 1/2 inches long.

I have a couple problems with Gidget (our rabbit). First of all, he seems to respond well to my boyfriend and not as well to me. (Oh yeah and I don’t even know if he is a he or a she) I don’t understand why he always misbehaves for me and not for Dan. I mean, he’s not perfect for Dan but definitely better than he is for me! I try to talk sweet to him, to let him come to me, give him his favorite treats, etc. I don’t know what it is about me! I’m the one who saved the poor bugger from the pet store

Second problem is his pooping and peeing. Whenever we take him out of the cage its only a matter of time before he poops or pees on the couch. He also does this more when he’s just with me. When he does this we have been putting him back in his cage right away and picking up the droppings and placing them in his cage. Is this the right protocol???

I have tried to research how to handle rabbits and it seems like every different source tells me something opposite of the one before.

I could really use some advice!

Thanks!!

[RabbitPam]

Hi, Jess, and welcome.
It takes time for a bunny to get used to a new home and sometimes a bunny will seem to respond more to one person than another. That could be something as simple as the way your BF handles Gidget – possibly his hands are larger, so more secure, or his arms provide more support – to a smell, such as a perfume or lotion you might be wearing that the bunny doesn’t like. It’s hard to say, but it will get better between you.

Is there a litter pan in Gidget’s cage? If so, be sure to put the poos into the pan and soak up the urine with a paper towel and put it in there also. It may be better to let Gidget stay on the floor for now, and you can lay down there with her. She’ll come over to you, but will relate to you on her level. That way, if she gets excited and has to pee or poo, she will not be far from the litter pan.

Jess, you posted basically the same post in two places. I think this one is the right place for your questions, so if you don’t mind I am going to delete the other post to avoid any confusion. I hope this helps.

[Adalaide]

Hi. I wanted a bunny for a long time and finally brought Freya home for Mother’s Day. I was at work and my husband picked her up and brought her home. It took her a bit to get used to us and the new place but she’s bouncing all over now. She does seem though to like him better than me. I’m the one who tells her no when she’s eating the carpet, I also fenced off the computer wires which means she can’t run under there to the other side of the room anymore. I suppose she’s fairly mad at me right now. I just assume that either she’ll get over it or not. I didn’t get her because I want or need her to love me, I just want to love her. It’s enough to know that she’s happy. The litter thing can be fast and easy for some little ones, not so much for others. Freya is in the “others” category, lol. She’ll get the hang eventually. Until then and until she stops being mad I’m pretty much nothing more than a breathing pooper scooper.

[RabbitPam]

Adalaide’s right about different bunnies adjusting at different rates to using a litter box. They seem to have personalities where some are more fastidious than others. Like kids, some put their toys away, some are sloppy eaters – it’s fascinating to see their traits and it makes it hard to predict behavior. I forgot to mention that you might spend some more alone time with Gidget, so she knows you’re her main slave. If she has both of you together from the start, it might effect her behavior.

I have to admit that I got my bunnies for the love and companionship they bring me. I think most of us anticipate a special bond with our wee ones, and that’s a normal expectation. If you put yourself in their shoes, imagining you are genetically a small prey animal, it explains a lot of their behavior. She just needs to learn to trust you – and she will. As soon as you take her to see the vet, you may find a bunny jumping into your arms clinging to you!!!

[Elrohwen]

I’ve had Otto home for 5 weeks now and he’s still not totally comfortable here. He trusts us enough that he’s not afraid, but he is still very slow to explore and very slow to seek us out at times. Some bunnies just develop trust at a different rate than others, and it’ll take time. He is, however, perfect with his litter box and has been from the second day we had him. So all bunnies are different I guess! Good luck and with patience your bun will be best friends with you.

[Sarita]

How does he misbehave?

A large part of the poop and pee problem is age – he’s a baby and that is normal. Make sure you put a litterbox in his cage. My advice for the couch – keep him off there.

[babybunsmum]

i wonder the same as sarita… how is he misbehaving? rabbits do have some behaviours that are instinctual to them.. digging and chewing for example… that are considered bad behaviour in dogs bu t for buns it’s quite normal. if you name out the specifics we can help you with some ‘work-around’ ideas.

i’m thinking since your bun is a baby that he / she is not yet spyed or neutered either. once your bun is old enough for this it will help immensely with litter training. in the mean time you can lay down an old sheet or towel when you have your bun out to play so any messes can be easily washed up.

[JessC]

Thank you for all your adivce! Honestly, he isn’t a terrible bunny I’m just afraid we’re going to train him wrong or do something wrong! He is still a little guy so I guess I can’t get too upset at him. Plus, we’ve only had him for about a week.

We are going to get a litter pan to put in his cage, unfortunately his cage opens from the top… sooo should we pull out the litter pan when we take him out so we knows to go there and now the floor or the couch?

When should we get him spayed (or neutered depending on the sex) ? What is a ballpark expense for getting that done?

He isn’t horribly skittish unlike some bunnies. I just have no idea how to go about things the right way. He really is a sweetheart.

Oh also the reason we tend to keep him on the couch or our bed is even though we have a small apartment there are lots of places for him to run around. Also, when we let him run around the apartment (the one time we did) when we went to pick him up to put him back in his cage he got pretty scared, he even thumped at me. I just feel bad

Any other general tips? I think my boyfriend and I are going to go get a litter pan for him.

Have any of you ever put a harness on your bun and walked it? Lol we are thinking about getting him adjusted to this idea.

[Adalaide]

Getting a bunny spayed/neutered is almost a must, especially for girls. I think I read that something like 80% of unspayed females get cancer. Besides, who wants a hormonal wreck spraying the house? I think it’s gonna cost us something like $150ish to get Freya spayed, but that’s nothing really when I think about all the messes I won’t clean and all the extra years she’ll be with me.

A litter pan is a definate plus, maybe grab one for in the cage and one for out then you don’t have to move them. I picked up a few at walmart for $2 each. Make sure that you don’t use cat litter or pine or cedar shavings, very bad for bunnies.

If you can pick up some split flex tubing it’s great for bunny proofing wires… when you don’t have a psycho bunny that thinks the stuff is the most delicious thing on the planet. Anyway, it gives me peace of mind knowing I can catch her in the act of chewing the bunny proofing and not be 2 seconds too late to stop her from getting zapped. Baby gates are a great way to keep him from getting in other rooms where he shouldn’t be if there aren’t doors.

We had our first vet visit this week (every pet should go for a check-up to make sure he/she is healthy.) The vet actually recommended taking her outside on a harness as long as I know she won’t be in any grass that’s treated.

Don’t forget to check out the pages on this site for bunny-proofing and litter training and such. The info there is a life saver, helped keep me sane our first few anxious days.

[Sarita]

I think you might consider redesigning his cage so he can get in and out on his own – is that possible? Rabbits do not like to be picked up so he probably dislikes that.

What size is the cage?

[JessC]

I would probably have to get a new cage =/ No one at the pet store mentioned it when I was there and I wasn’t thinking about it at the time. His cage is about 4 ft long and about three feet tall. He chills out pretty well in it but taking him out (even though he seems to like being in the cage as much as being out of it) is the part that gets frustrating with the pooping and the peeing.

[RabbitPam]

You can get several litter pans to use outside the cage that are small and inexpensive, then set them around different spots in the apartment. What often happens is the bunny will pick one or two at the most that he likes for a location, and will use it when he’s out. I had one at my parent’s house next to my mother’s desk in a corner in the TV room. Spockie would leave his cage, immediately hop over there, do his thing, and be good to go for a while. Usually a slightly hidden or set back place that feels secure. When he was little he never made the journey back to his house to go, he just used an outer pan like that. Samantha, however, will run through two rooms into her cage and only go in her one box. She totally ignored a new outside pan. She’s the best self-trained litter user I’ve ever seen! Kind of makes up for her not letting me pick her up.

By the way, Feline Pine pellets is the only brand of cat litter that I know is safe for bunnies. I also like Yesterday’s News, CareFresh, Aspen and Equine Pine (ie. untreated wood stove pellets) as options for litter. Sometimes they improve with a litter they feel is more comfortable.

I do agree with Sarita that by not having a side entrance he can use himself, he has no options to get back to pee. Watch for squirming and butt wiggling as a sign he might need to go.

[jerseygirl]

Hi Jess

Have you looked at the House Rabbit Society Website? It’s a very useful resource. Alot of the information here at Binky Bunny follows HRS guidelines. This is a link to one of the pages that may help new rabbit owners. http://www.rabbit.org/care/new-bunny-index.html

Another great site is The Language of Lagomorphs language.rabbitspeak.com/rabbittalk.html   It helps us understand rabbit body language.

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