She won't let me take her..

Hello !

We acquired another bunny, since the last baby died only after a week. This time, she's a 1 year old beauty, unneutered, from a renown breeder where I live.

I had her for a week now, and she is really nice. She live in a 2' x 3' cube storage grid cage. Her door has been left open all days since I realized she was well litter trained. There never was mess outside her cage !

I'm able to pet her when she is in her cage, in a resting position, she'll even grind softly her teeths while I scratch her between the ears. When she's out, she's going everywhere in the room to renew her scent with her chin, binky like crazy on some occasions, then come and circles me, and sometimes nipping me in my back...

I know, it's time for a vet to see her. The problem I wanna talk about is that while she's outside her cage, I can barely pet her. She's moving forward fast and don't stay put. And I can't take her.

When I put my hand on her rib and belly, she rapidly moves forward and spin her rear paws even before I can put my other end on her butt / rear legs.

I don't know how much pressure I need to apply on the belly/rib area to secure her, I have been really soft but she just won't let me take her.

The only time I saw someone take her was when I purchased her : The breeder took her by the neck skin / back legs and put her on a table. That seemed easy at first...

I will soon need to cut her nails, check her teeths, do a regular checkup, but I don't see how i'll be able to do that without actually touching and taking her...

I know she's only been 10 days at home.. Am I going too fast ?

She's healthy, eat well and very much (Oxbow Timothy Hay and 2/3 cup pellets a day), water, etc.

Do you have any tricks that would help ?

Thanks !

Hi Mizu! By take her, I assume you mean picking her up? It seems like so far she feels safe with you inside the condo, but now you'll need to make her feel safe with you outside of it and work on building that bond. Try sitting on the floor and offering her a yummy treat. Bunnies love banana. Cut one slice into fours and offer her nibbles from your hand. Don't overdo the sweet treats though, I'm sure that you know this already. Most bunnies absolutely hate to be picked up, but there are times that you will need to see to their health and well being and it will be necessary. It is a little soon, but once she understands that you mean her no harm, everything should work out ok.

Here's a video that might help you on how to pick up your rabbit. I'm more of a visual person and like to watch videos of people working with bunnies. Look to the right and you'll find almost anything you can imagine on how to work with your bunny! I love youtube.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke8XCOJjMp8[/ame]

I rescued Lady my Holland Lop November 8 2013. Only three weeks ago I was able to pick her up. Give it time. Go slow. She needs to get used to you and accustomed to you as well. I never thought I was going to be able to pick up Lady but after just sitting with her in the kitchen and having her get used to me from giving her kisses, pets, treats over time with me and her it worked. I'm not saying it's going to take you 8 months... it just did with me and her because I was not going to rush her or make her panic.

Keep us posted and good luck with the new bunny!

Vanessa

I think you need to be confident, firm, and fast when picking up a bunny. Then, quickly hold it close to your body to help it feel safe. It does take a while to get confident in picking up a bunny because they do move away very quick. Remember, they are prey animals and think you are going to eat them if you pick them up. You can also give them a treat after you pick them up or when you set them back down again so they learn that they'll get a reward if they cooperate.

Once I pick them up, my bunnies like to be held with their feet on one forearm with their nose in my elbow and I put my other hand on their shoulders to keep them steady.

Yes, I meant "pick her up" sorry, that's a frequent french-english mistake I do.

I'll give it some time, and try again. I can already see she is being comfortable with me around, but that must be her hormones playing up..

Thanks for your help, i'll post updates soon !

speed and a confident hand will help you with picking up a bunny. You hold bunny firmly without being too tight. (like holding a squirming toddler).

I would avoid grabbing her from the middle, even Bandit would run away with I tried to put my hand under his belly to pick him up. What I recommend, is putting a hand on the head/face, petting if needed and put your other hand under the butt. When you have the butt hand in place you can move the hand on the head under the front legs as you pick her up. Different methods seem to work for different rabbits. Try to keep her calm and practice regularly so that you get a good feel for it, it will get easier with time the more she trusts you and the more confident you become with it.

There's a couple of different techniques in this video: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIXdvtNwAPk[/ame] I use one similar to the technique shown at 4:25

My buns rarely let you pet them outside of the cage. They're usually too busy running and exploring and chinning over the other buns chin spots. Try hanging out on the ground and putting food in your lap for them to come up to you, that way they relate you with food and will come to you. I'm still working on that . I come and they think "ahh she's gonna put us back in the cage!"

Exactly with my rabbits!!!!! They just race around and hardly love me it seems!

Hi !

So 3 weeks passed and things have changed. My bunny no longer circles me and nip, she instead put her two front paws on me to say hello

I was able to pick her up 2-3 times. At start, she was struggling and running like hell as soon as I touched her belly and bottom. Now, she just turn her head to see where my hand is when I pick her up. I won't say she likes it, But I can see she is beginning to accept this. When I pick her up, I get her on my lap as fast as possible, lay her down and keep my hand firmly gripped on her rear paws. She can stay like this for... 10 seconds, then struggles and jump away.

I then pet her saying she's good My goal is to be able to cut her nails, check her teeths, etc. I'm just not sure when i'll be able to. Other thing : When she jumps away from my lap, she'll almost always do this : scratch the ground, and gently hit the ground once or twice with her teeths ? Is there a special meaning to this ?

Also, I had this problem that she was peeing 1 or 2 times a day outside her litter box, in an opposite corner. I solved this behaviour by putting a large closed box with small entrance, filled with a bedding of cardboard strips. She likes getting in there and "dig". After 4 days, I have not seen any pee there !

Sorry, lots of questions Thanks for your answers !!

Glad things are sorting out nicely. We use litter pans inside cardboard boxes and fill them with shredded newspaper. Also have a playhouse made out of a large box filled with smaller boxes so that it's like a two story apartment house with holes cut from one box to the other and one in the top of the first level so they can jump thru to the second story and a hole thru the top so they can get on top. Our smaller bunnies really love it.