What am I doing wrong?

[sapp]

I got Babs when he was 3 to 4 months old. I always took time to hold him and handle him. He is 9 months old now and we cant hold him and he will not lay on our laps anymore. We are having a hard time clipping his nails or even brush him. I use to let him in my room but even though he is fixed he pees on my bed. so we keep our door closed. He claws at he door and digs. He has put a hole in my carpet so we put a plastis runner under my door to cover the hole but he keeps going to the door eery chance he gets. This is my first rabbit and need all the help I can get.!!!!!

[Sarita]

I am going to move this to the Behavior Section.

[Sarita]

Okay, now that I’ve moved this, I will tell you that you are not doing anything wrong. This is very typical rabbit behavior, they really don’t like to be held. Few rabbits care to be in your lap. You are best to just enjoy watching him at this point and letting him come to you.

Is Bab’s free roam?

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Posted By sapp on 10/11/2011 06:20 AM

I got Babs when he was 3 to 4 months old. I always took time to hold him and handle him. He is 9 months old now and we cant hold him and he will not lay on our laps anymore. We are having a hard time clipping his nails or even brush him. I use to let him in my room but even though he is fixed he pees on my bed. so we keep our door closed. He claws at he door and digs. He has put a hole in my carpet so we put a plastis runner under my door to cover the hole but he keeps going to the door eery chance he gets. This is my first rabbit and need all the help I can get.!!!!!

99% of bunnies do not like to be held or cuddled. I’m convinced that the ones that do are the exception, not the rule.

Look at the article at the top under Bunny Info about monthly maintenence, it shows the bunny roll and how to clip nails.

He pee’s on your bed to mark his territory, congrats! You’re his!

Bunnies naturally dig and chew. There are a couple things to do about this, one that I’m newly implimenting is instead of putting all the pellets in a bowl, put them in a treat ball and make them work for it a little more. This will help boredom and encourage him to eat more hay, which will satisfy his chewing need a little more. “hypothetically”, I should say. Its worth a shot though hah.

You can also try giving him attention when he goes to dig, sit down on the floor and call him/bribe him with a bit of banana or treat, then pet him where he is on the floor. I make a clicking noise with my tongue and say “Bunny name, Treat” and now he comes even if I don’t have a treat to get pets. Eventually you might be able to bribe him into your lap/ get him to trust you enough.

HTH!

 

ETA- I found this video quite genious, I’m going to start with my buns. She does it every day-

[TriBun]

Great video OneTwoThree, thanks. I’ll have to try it.

I wonder why he wants to go in your bedroom so bad. If my bunnies can’t go somewhere, they lose interest. Is there something in there he can smell?Or does he just want to pee on the bed? Ha ha. My bunnies are absolutely not allowed on the bed. It’s pretty much guaranteed that if it’s soft and fluffy, Rosy will pee on it.

The best way I’ve found to get my skittish bunny, Kevin, to let me pet and love him is by rewarding him every time. It started with petting him while I gave him treats. Then I moved to giving treats AFTER I pet him. Now, I’m to the point where I can kiss and love on him and he just enjoys it. I’ll still give him a single raisin afterwards so he knows it’s a good thing.

[sapp]

He runsfree when we are home and he is put in his cage when we are gone and at night. He will not even let us brush him and his hair is getting everywhere. I got him a cute little soft bed to get in when he is out of his cage. Day 1 he chewed a big hole in it. I am trying to learn about him from this website.

[Sarita]

Sapp, I’m going to delete the bonding post since it’s the same as this post and it belongs in the behavior section.

[Sarita]

Most rabbits aren’t terribly fond of brushing. The best thing to do is to get him into an enclosed space – I suggest the bathroom – where he cannot run from you. Put him between your lets and brush him. He may figure out that he likes to be brushed but it may take time. He’s at an age where he’s just not going to want to sit still – too much fun to run and play.

As for the bed, he’ll probably most likely just want to lay on the floor. That’s what mine do – they don’t understand the “bed” concept.

[Author]

Messages