Stage 1 catching the rabbit?

[Kiki]

How do you even catch your bunnies to begin bonding?

My bunnies absolutely hate to be picked up so that is not an option. I have trained them both for weeks with treats and they both rush over and straight into the pet carrier which I did again this morning. 

Then I had them fence to fence to get used to each other prior to any actual bonding and they have both freaked out. 

My boy bunny is the one on the left in the video below and he is always scared of any noise and umm well he is not exactly brave aka Super coward/ scared of everything.

Post fence to fence bonding he is now terrified of me and will not let me get close and runs and hides at the sight of the pet carrier after one bonding session. 

My female bunny still loves me and runs up for pats but is avoiding the pet carrier despite treats. 

Niether bunny would go back into the pet carrier after the fence to fence session was finished so I had to put the pet carrier’s in the cage’s with them and push them gently into the pet carriers which has freaked them both out.

Our boy is free range in a very large bedroom and has a table, a queen size bed, lounge chairs, tunnels and numerous boxes to hide in so chasing him around for 30 minutes to catch him seems like absolute torture and our girl has a similar setup but smaller and no bed to hide under but still plenty of places to hide.

I never see people saying how they’re catching their rabbits for bonding. Are people not having issues catching them? How do you go about it? Or do you just have them in a cage where it is quite easy to just push them into the pet carrier even if they don’t like it?

That’s the only thing I can think of… putting them in the cage’s side by side and leaving them there throughout the entire Bond. But unfortunately our boy obviously ate a lot less than normal in this situation and I don’t want him to end up with GI stasis from the stress of being in a cage. 

Also my girlfriend who has bonded extremely strongly with our boy (he is her baby) says it is unacceptable and it is cruel as he is used to being free range and used to having a lot more space. 

Any help? Suggestions?

Here is a link to our first day there is only 4 minutes here but we did do it for 2 hours. Our girl on the right is more aggressive and rushed at the cage several times but not on video…

https://youtu.be/4RBCgKOnXTc

[Wascally Wabbits]

How long have you had them? Maybe they just need more time to bond with you and trust you to handle them more easily.

To be honest. With my skittish Chicho, who would never let me pick him up, I just had to be faster than him. I had him for 5.5 years, and wasn’t able to find any way about it. He never goes into carriers willingly. He is terrified for the 10 seconds I’d have to carry him for. But I have just accepted that’s what it’s going to be.

With Pepper, she has learned to trust me a lot more after 2 weeks of picking her up twice a day every day. Just for a few seconds.

[Wascally Wabbits]

How long have you had them? Maybe they just need more time to bond with you and trust you to handle them more easily.

To be honest. With my skittish Chicho, who would never let me pick him up, I just had to be faster than him. I had him for 5.5 years, and wasn’t able to find any way about it. He never goes into carriers willingly. He is terrified for the 10 seconds I’d have to carry him for. But I have just accepted that’s what it’s going to be.

With Pepper, she has learned to trust me a lot more after 2 weeks of picking her up twice a day every day. Just for a few seconds.

[Kiki]

We have had the boy 1.5 yrs and the girl 1 yr.

We have tried bonding before but have had lots of health issues. GI, 3 blockages 1 needing surgery, eye infections, and human issues.

I am bonded with Misty our girl and my partner is more bonded with boy Lindor as we have to keep them separate I spend more time in Misty`s area and she more in Lindors…. But still picking up is NOT an option. They see the hand position and run we even touch them. They are smart.

And if u do get him once. Even only 10 seconds then he will run away from you for days before trust can start again.

[Author]

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