Isis and bonding with me

Okay, so Isis is my one bun now and she and I haven't really ever gotten on togethervery much. It's as simple as wrapping her in a towel to clip her nails, pick her up to move her in or out of her cage and chasing her out of a bedroom if she sneaks in. If I pet her inside her cage she gets tense and seems to not like it. I guess she's territorial about that issue so I can respect that. If I try to pet her outside of her cage then she hops away and looks at me warily then keeps away until she doesn't suspect me of trying to pet her again anytime soon. I am wondering if there are ways to win over a female rabbit who doesn't enjoy my affections. I'd like to be close to my girl bun.

When she's out having a run about, try sitting on the floor with some treats, something she loves, let her come up to investigate, she may not come too close the first few times, but eventually, she'll be after that treat and will come up to you for it. Once she learns to trust you won't pick her up, you may have your new friend at your fingertips. Try it and let us know how it goes!

Alrighty, she usually grooms with her back turned to me to show how disinterested she is but i'll keep doing that.

AngelnSnuffy wrote:

When she's out having a run about, try sitting on the floor with some treats, something she loves, let her come up to investigate, she may not come too close the first few times, but eventually, she'll be after that treat and will come up to you for it. Once she learns to trust you won't pick her up, you may have your new friend at your fingertips. Try it and let us know how it goes!

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:yeahthat:

They usually react to you as much as you react to them so it will take some time. If she was bonded to Prince, she'll be looking for companionship soon enough.

Can she get out of her cage on her own without having to be picked up? That's always best.You may want to consider a pen instead of a cage, too.

Myguys are all very social, depending on how much time I spendwith them. I findthatsitting on the ground and briefly putting them on your lap when youhave a treat and/or for a brief pat butletting them go immediately and/or as soon as they squirm works well. Otherwise they'll still think the only time theycome in contact with human hands is for nail clippings andthe like.

Manyneed to get over the 'hands' phobiaand doing that withthe odd pat when they allow it takes a loooong time.

Good luck with her!



sas :clover:

Yes, she and Prince were inseperable from the very first 5 seconds that they were introduced. Prince's greeting was more than overzealous LOL.

Anyhoo, Isis's cage is a top loading cage, obviously the manufacturer's don't have rabbit convenience in mind at Living World Company.

What's funny is that Isis knows how to jump back in but she won't jump out. The first time she jumped back in the cage was in the kitchen where there is linoleum flooring and she was about 18 weeks old. She performed the most amazing rabbit stunt i'd ever seen! She took a running start back in the carpeted living room, skidded sideways in the kitchen on all four paws and timed her leap perfectly to hop back in and landed directly in her corner litter pan! I wish I had a camera going right that second but alas, i'm the only witness to that amazing feat!

Anyways, I saw some really nice cages at Petcetera a few months ago, maybe i'll get her one of those. I'd have gotten a nice setup for the two buns when Prince was still hopping but I was always leery about letting them share a hutch. Isis is rather territorial even though she had no qualms about visiting Prince's cage and squeezing right in there with him if the door was open.

Putting Isis on my lap sans towel is dangerous by the way. I've tried a few times in our time together to let her sit on my lap with no restriction, simply sit while I gently pat her head and her first action is to try to nip my leg and bolt. This will take some work.

Darfi wrote:

Anyways, I saw some really nice cages at Petcetera a few months ago, maybe i'll get her one of those.

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Putting Isis on my lap sans towel is dangerous by the way. I've tried a few times in our time together to let her sit on my lap with no restriction, simply sit while I gently pat her head and her first action is to try to nip my leg and bolt.

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I wouldn't spend money on a retail cage, I'd get some NIC panels and builda custom cage or a pen,it's bigger, REALLY easy and an awful lot cheaper.

Once she'snot being taken out of the cage and notices you're not restricting her on you lap, she should get over that. (BTW, my most awesome bunny, Dill, is a nipper like that, but he's just training me!)



sas :bunnydance:

NIC huh? (what's NIC stand for? lol)

I've seen pictures here of panels like that, looks pretty snazzy. I'll keep my eyes open for those when I go buy food and such next time. I'm sure she'd be happier with one of those!

Today I tried to give her a little chunk of my banana, her all-time favorite treat but it took a few attempts for her to take it from me. It wasn't until she was hiding under a teddy bear and she sniffed a couple times, eyeballed me really good, snubbed it twice, THEN she took it and devoured it like it was the last banana in the world!

It's also kinda tough to bond like this with her with Jade (my 3.5 year old) demanding my help every 5 minutes with various toys of hers. Keeps breaking my sitting attempts!

HAHA i'm watching Isis crawl across the living room, she's like super commando-crawling, one leg at a time!

Darfi wrote:

NIC huh? (what's NIC stand for? lol)

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NIC = Neat Idea Cubes

They go under other names as well. They're the cheapest at Costco I think. (If you do a search on Costco, anyway, there's a few threads about the other places they're available in Canada).



sas :bunnydance:

Here they're called Organize It Cubes, not sure if there is anything similiar to that in Canada.

Here's one thread...

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=28399&forum_id=1&highlight=costco



sas :bunnydance:

Thanks! We do have a Costco here in Kamloops but i'll have to catch a ride with my mom, she has a vehicle and a Costco card, i'll look at that and see what the pricing is.

I don't think Costco has them in stock right now. I haven't seen them there in over a year. Which stinks because when they do carry them the price is $20 for 8 cubes (30 grids).

You can get grids at London Drugs, Canadien Tire, Home Depot, Ikea, and some other places too. Their pricing is normally $20 for 4 cubes (14 grids).

This website has a materials finder: http://guineapigcages.com/
A bit out dated but most of the retailers still have the products.

--Dawn

I bought mine from SuperStore. $22 before tax for 17 grid panels.

Ashley (My foster Royce's owner) told me she's been buying hers at Londron Drugs for $19 before tax.. not sure how many is in there.

I know what you mean Darfi. I just lost one half of my bonded pair. Labrador and I were never close.. I play with him everyday, but after a few minutes he'd run off. But now that it's just him, I make an effort to spend as much time as possible. He's so upset =[