Question on bunny behavior

[Deleted User]

Hi, I’ve started looking for a bunny and had a behavior question. I figured breeders that have something closer to a farm would probably be a bad place to buy a bunny as a pet as I figured they would not be used to human contact and for that reason would not make good pets. Anyway, I spoke with one breeder who runs something like a small farm and decided to visit as he was close by to somewhere I was going to anyway.

The main thing I noticed was that all the bunnies crowded by the opposite side of the door when the door to the cage was opened – literally piled on top of each other as far as they could get from the door. 

I was going to keep looking based on this – I’m guessing they were rarely handled so fear people based on that. But, I thought I’d ask first – maybe they can be easily acclimated to people and contact with people. The bunnies I saw were three months old by the way.

Thanks

[Kriscent]

That’s and extremely bad breeder. That’s someone who has no idea what they are doing and is trying to make a quick buck.
I got my Baby boy from a breeder but i wouldn’t have if they weren’t selling him for $10 (he didn’t look pretty enough so they were going to eat him) and she was and experience breeder that had each rabbit separated in their own cages.
You have to keep in mind that breeders (most often 5 or more rabbits) Either keep the animals together to “encourage” more breeding, or keep them locked separately in their own cages until adopted (certain rabbits are meat rabbits so they wait until they are sold in bulk and eaten)
I’ve noticed most often they all have. behavioral problems, aren’t properly cared for (as you don’t have to give rabbits many shots so many don’t) and aren’t neutered or spayed (which cause more health and behavioral problems).
Bunnicus was a frightened mess, wouldn’t let us cut his nails, brush his fur, terrified if we moved from the other side of the room. He’s MUCH better now and a cuddle bug and supper lovey but that took a year of constant every day 6 hour play/trust sessions.
I would recommend getting from a very small breeder or a shelter. Most Small breeders care and socialize with their rabbits and those rabbits transition to you quicker with vertically no health problems. With shelters you know exactly what you’re getting and know that they’re healthy

[Kriscent]

Hope that helped

[Mikey]

Call and report them. Thats abuse, endangerment, and neglect.

[tobyluv]

Those poor rabbits sound like they were very frightened. Which makes me wonder what they are doing to the rabbits there.

Do you have any shelters or rescues you can adopt a bunny from?

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the responses. I doubt that they were being treated poorly, based on everything I saw – the barn, cages etc. were very clean, they all looked very healthy, etc. I’m no expert but I think that bunnies raised with little/no handling are naturally afraid of people, and I live in Russia, here most people that raise rabbits aren’t raising them for people to buy as pets. The adult rabbits they had were much calmer, so I’m guessing they got used to contact with people over time.

[Author]

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