Suddenly terrified of me

[hannandottie]

 Hi everyone!

About 2 weeks ago I adopted a 1-2 year old bunny. He’s very friendly and he adjusted to his new home very fast, and he trusted me and always got excited to see me when I came in the room.

But all of a sudden last night he became scared of me. He ran from me to hide in the corner and wouldn’t come near me, and he thumped and ran every time I tried to get near him. I’m 100% sure it’s me he’s afraid of, not something else. The only time he’ll come out of the corner is if I’m on my bed or leave the room, and then he acts normal.  If I come back in or get off the bed, he runs back to his corner. And even when he comes out he’s constantly looking over to see where I am and he keeps an eye on me the whole time, and if he catches me looking at him he gets scared. He won’t even come to me for treats.

I don’t know what happened. Yesterday he was fine, then last night I was feeding him and he came over to me and then freaked and ran away. I had just taken a shower, so I was thinking maybe it was the smell of the soap or something, but I didn’t change kinds and it never bothered him before. He also ran over to eat and banged his head on the food dish when I put it down – maybe he thought I did it to him?

I gave him space and figured I’d wait until morning and hopefully he’d be fine, but it’s still the same. I couldn’t even get him to go in his cage last night so I had to leave him out (the room is bunny proofed, I just feel better with him in his cage).

I feel awful. I don’t know what I did wrong. He wasn’t even this scared when I first got him. He’s still eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom, and acting normal otherwise, so I don’t think it’s a medical issue or anything. Any ideas what could be wrong and how to get his trust back? I want him to go back to nudging me to be pet and climbing in my lap…  

[IsabellaRobyn]

Anything could have spooked him really and he might just think it was something to do with you. When you hit him with the bowl was it hard? I’m sure that didn’t help things much. Because he is still new to you just little things might make him frightened because although he appeared friendly at first he wouldn’t have developed a solid trusting bond with you in only a few weeks.

I think you really need to treat him like a brand new bun. Let him have his space when he wants it and respect that he is frightened. Make slow movements and don’t try too hard to be affectionate with him. Try sitting or lying down on the floor and just stay there still for a while, maybe take a book or something to stop you from getting too bored. Every time he comes close to you give him a pellet or a treat (a herb like basil could be a good idea because the smell would entice him). When he comes over don’t try to pet him just let him check you out. He’ll be checking to see if you’re dangerous and if you try pet him he might assume you’re trying to get him which would just frighten him more. Hopefully he comes around on his own but if not just take it little baby steps at a time!

[hannandottie]

Posted By IsabellaRobyn on 06/03/2013 07:41 AM
Anything could have spooked him really and he might just think it was something to do with you. When you hit him with the bowl was it hard? I’m sure that didn’t help things much. Because he is still new to you just little things might make him frightened because although he appeared friendly at first he wouldn’t have developed a solid trusting bond with you in only a few weeks.

I think you really need to treat him like a brand new bun. Let him have his space when he wants it and respect that he is frightened. Make slow movements and don’t try too hard to be affectionate with him. Try sitting or lying down on the floor and just stay there still for a while, maybe take a book or something to stop you from getting too bored. Every time he comes close to you give him a pellet or a treat (a herb like basil could be a good idea because the smell would entice him). When he comes over don’t try to pet him just let him check you out. He’ll be checking to see if you’re dangerous and if you try pet him he might assume you’re trying to get him which would just frighten him more. Hopefully he comes around on his own but if not just take it little baby steps at a time! 

 Thanks IsabellaRobyn. He actually hit his head on his own – he was excited to eat and zoomed over and crashed head first into the bowl lol, not very hard, but I think maybe he thought I did it.

I’ve been sitting on the floor doing other things and acting like he’s not there, but it doesn’t seem to be working. He still looks scared when he sees me there and refuses to come out. He did come close to me once and then ran away again It’s breaking my heart  I don’t know what could’ve made him so scared that he hates me now.
 

 

[IsabellaRobyn]

Just keep at it. It is strange that he’s behaving like that though. Belle acted like this for maybe the first two – three weeks that I got her home.

[Jessie1990]

This happened with Ashe and my boyfriend not too long ago. I went outside to throw away trash and I came back inside and Ashe ran behind my legs and looked like she was being chased by an owl or something. By boyfriend was very upset and said she started acting that way suddenly when he peaked over the edge of the couch to see what she was doing. Over the course of two days, my bf fed her vegetables and treats that I would have normally gave her and laid on the floor for hours playing games. She eventually forgave him I think she thought he was hunting her when he peaked over the sofa lol

[hannandottie]

Posted By Jessie1990 on 06/03/2013 08:22 PM
This happened with Ashe and my boyfriend not too long ago. I went outside to throw away trash and I came back inside and Ashe ran behind my legs and looked like she was being chased by an owl or something. By boyfriend was very upset and said she started acting that way suddenly when he peaked over the edge of the couch to see what she was doing. Over the course of two days, my bf fed her vegetables and treats that I would have normally gave her and laid on the floor for hours playing games. She eventually forgave him I think she thought he was hunting her when he peaked over the sofa lol

Lol I had to learn not to peek over things at Chester to see what he’s doing too! He hates that 

Thanks for your replies, I’m happy to say whatever the problem was, he’s back to normal! He’s coming up to me when I walk in the room and running in circles around me on the floor, and of course begging for treats  So glad to have him back to his usual self.

[JustineT]

I’m glad to hear your bun is back to normal!! I think it’s just your bunny being tempermental. Our rabbit used to run scared from my husband every time he tried to stroke her for months. We had no idea why. He changed jobs about 2 months ago and ever since, she’s been cuddling right up to him at night and sitting on his lap for treats! Maybe bunnies can sense stress or something.

[Author]

Messages