Rabbit Trust

[Deleted User]

How can you tell when your rabbit completely trusts you?

I’ve noticed Linus is opening up quite a bit since I got him, he’ll even approach me and lick me However, he still refuses to allow me to pick him up at times. I try not to pick him up whenever possible, but sometimes he refuses to go back inside his cage when I really have to leave. How will I know when he completely trusts me?

[The Rabbit]

Your bun might just be grumpy when it comes to getting picked up. My bun usually runs away when I try it(unless he really wants petting) a good way to lure your bun in is with a tasty morsel. I set it in the cage and walk away when he gets inside(usually he knows it’s a ruse so he waits until i’m going) I close the cage and and cackle wickedly. lol.

[LoveChaCha]

My rabbit loves to be pet.
Ever since she got spayed, she is getting better at me going to pet her, rather than she coming to me for pets. Which is fine with me

Most buns hate being picked up, and mine gets offended and hides in her cage, backs up against it and even makes noises at me So I try to get her when she is elsewhere in the living room. She is alright with me when I get her to groom her, but if I want to just hold her and walk around with her, she gets mad.

[Deleted User]

Ohhh I see! I’m glad to hear it’s normal.

I remember when I bought Linus at the pet store (I was unaware that I should adopt at the time) that the woman said he had been picked up and held a lot by children during the holidays and that he was traumatized after weeks of being held. This really bothers me, I don’t think the pet store should allow their customers to hold the animals unless they’re seriously considering purchasing the animal.
Do you think there is anyway to make him less traumatized by being held? It would make grooming him much easier, and I hate to think about how the poor thing was traumatized.

[Elrohwen]

Honestly, most bunnies just hate being held and it has nothing to do with traumatic experiences in their past. They just don’t like it! My two have had extremely untraumatic lives and they act like being held is the worst thing in the world.

The only way to get him used to it is to do it often for short periods of time and then reward him. Sometimes it works, and it can make a bunny less frantic, but he still probably won’t let you pick him up easily.

For transporting to his cage, I like the spaceship method – find an object he’s willing to stand on (litter box, carrier, cardboard box), lure him into it, then carry him to his cage. Most bunnies are ok with this because their feet don’t leave the ground.

[kralspace]

It sounds like Linus is really beginning to trust you. He may just never like being picked up.

Poor Linus, I have the same thing with my petstore bunny, Daisy. He was a ‘leftover’ Easter bunny that I bought that July purely because I felt so sorry for him. I had seen him there for a couple of months as the other ones were sold, one day there was this sign saying “Clearance, too old, gotta go” and when I asked what would happen to him, they were very vague about ‘something would be done.’ so I brought him home to Pringles.

I’ve wondered how traumatized he is too. The store people were always scooping him up and passing him around and he was frozen stiff, like a stuffed bunny. The glass box he was in had bedding, water bottle and a feed bowl. Nothing at all for him to hide in or even get behind and the kios was out in the open in the busiest part of the store so people would surround him on all sides. I swear, all the times I saw him there, he never moved a muscle or twitched a whisker, just sat there immobile.

I’ve tried to set up his and Lola’s condo so he has several boxes to hide in but I still see him doing the ‘statue’ thing for hours sometimes and it makes me so sad. He puts up a chase when I need to catch him, but as soon as he’s cornered he freezes and goes catatonic for as long as I hold him. I wonder if the stress of holding makes his hair turn loose, because handfuls come off on my arms each time.

After a year he began to come to the front of the condo and look for treats but he still won’t allow touching.(going on 4 years now)

He behaves normally sometimes, relaxing with Lola. When their door is open, he comes out a couple of hops and runs back in and hides. He repeats this, expanding his range by a foot or two each time until he’s out across the room, where he’ll binky and all, but run right back in.

I’ve wondered if that’s just fear or if he’s ocd. I feel he was severely traumatized by his life in that glass box and will always have these fears, but I try to give him the best life I can and ways to deal with his stress but accept that this is how he is. He’s cool, totally devoted to taking care of Lola (after being dumped by Pringles) and I hope the happiest bunny he can be.

Linus is probably doing the best he can and will relax around you in time. You sound like a good bunny slave. 😉

[Deleted User]

Elrohwn, I’ll try the spaceship method next time I need to get him back inside his cage! What a great idea (: Thanks a bunch!

Aww I’m sorry to hear about you traumatized bunny, Kralspace. ): I know I’m definitely not going to purchase another pet store bunny in the future. I really wonder what pet stores are thinking when they put their pets in the busiest areas of the store, I understand they want to sell them but how would they feel stuck in a glass box? I’m glad Daisy has a bunfriend to take care of!

[bunnytowne]

I used to do that with Cotton Boo McChew.   He would stop in his litterbox and I would carry it to his cage.  In he would go for the night.

Then I started guiding him to the cage with a treat saying go to bed.  Now he knows at the same time everynite he looks for his dessert and bed time.   It is much easier this way and with him in the litterbox too that was nice.

Ruby you can do what ever and she doesn’t care. She is so calm.  She was handled from birth so that has a big affect on them.  Most of them anyways not all of them.

[bunnytowne]

OH and about picking him up.   Someone posted something on BB about that.  Here goes

When I pick Cotton up I would say pick you up    I am going pick you up.  Then I would pick him up and give him a treat.   He is so good about being picked up now.   However he only lets me pick him up from his spot under the table.  Anywhere else and he runs til he gets to the table and sits calmly while I pick him up no scratching nothing.

He is just funny that way  about being picked up only from that spot.  However training them helps most of the time.

What ruined him was months n months of treatment for his lip.   However I got him back to being calm when  he is being picked up.  It took a little time.   It is so much easier this way. 

[Elrohwen]

BT, that’s so true that sometimes bunnies are ok being picked up in some spots and not others. Otto is super good about being picked up (not held for long periods though) from small spaces like his carrier. If he’s out in the open, no chance, but if you can get him in a small area first, he’s pretty calm about it. I still haven’t discovered any way to pick up Hannah.

I usually use my maze haven as a spaceship. Otto doesn’t like hardwood floors, so he’ll hop in his maze when he wants to be brought to the living room. Then at night, when he hears me making his dinner, he hops back in the maze so I can carry him back to the cage.

[Balefulregards]

Nope – my two hate it and I very rarely pick them up. Only for nail trims and anal gland checks, and I am honestly getting better and faster with it, so they don’t seem to hate me AS LONG afterwards. For many Buns, being picked up means = I am about to be eaten by something bigger than me. Not calming, at all.

I spend time on the floor with my two and avoid picking up whenever possible.

[Monkeybun]

Monkey really dislikes getting picked up. She used to be impossible to pick up, but daily pick up-reward sessions have helped get her so that she doesn’t run from me each time. She still starts wiggling if she thinks she has been Up too long, but she’s getting better about being picked up initially.

Moose is good about it, he sits nice when Up. he doesn’t enjoy it, but he tolerates it. Especially if there are raisins after.

[Deleted User]

I’ll try to reward him whenever I do have to pick him up. Blueberries should do the trick Maybe I’ll work at it with him a little bit each day in a certain spot.

[SukiBun]

Ooh thanks bunnytowne! I’m going to try that In the same boat as you at the moment DancingBun! One step forward, two steps back! We’ll get there

[Author]

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