New bunny, should we handle her?

Hi! My daughter and I recently brought home a Holland Lop who is now about 11 weeks old. From what we've been reading, we decided not to pick her up and just sort of let her get used to her new environment. She's begun to trust us more by coming up to us, sniffing our hands, eating pellets from our hands and allowing the occasional pet. She stopped running away when we clean her litter box, feed her, etc. We are wanting her to get out now and run around as we know they need a lot of exercise and outside the cage time. The way things are set up, we would need to pick her up out of her cage to put her down in her play area. As we've not handled her much, because we were wanting her to get settled and feel safe, she is much more skittish about being handled and that has not gone well. She runs away and I'm concerned any trust that we have built will be compromised.

We did move her cage into her lay area to see if she would venture out on her own but the question of handling would still exist. I know we need to handle her to vet trips, grooming, etc. so how do we go about doing this without scaring her much yet getting her used to being handled??

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. This is our first bunny and we really want to make sure we do this thing right so that she feels happy, safe and enjoys her life with us. Thanks!! Tasha and Lia

Not handling her while she was settling in was the right thing to do.

Now that you're ready to let her venture out, it is important that this not be done by pulling her out of her cage, letting her exercise, and then picking her up to force her back in the cage. The cage should be on the floor in her exercise area. The door of the cage should be open to allow her to hop out whenever she feels comfortable doing so.

It's a good idea to initially limit her roaming area. Offering too much space too soon encourages potty accidents. With a limited space, you can sit inside that area and it provides her more opportunity to get to know you.

A rabbit really needs to be able to hop back into her cage whenever she desires during her playtime. Her cage should be her sanctuary, her safe-zone, and she will feel more secure knowing she has ready access back to it at anytime. I strongly suggest you arrange her living space so that exercise time involves just opening the cage door and patiently waiting for her to come out as she feels ready.

I explain in more detail on my website how to go about bonding with her by sitting in the smaller area. You can take a look there if you like.

Thanks so much! I actually went over to your site after looking around here a bit and found it very helpful! Thanks again!

We rearranged Lia's room a bit and moved Cookie's cage so that we can just open up the side door and let her choose to come out when/if she wants. We have one of those gates that we can move around too.

I'm glad I didn't actually pull her out of the cage yesterday. I allowed her to run away from me in the cage and didn't pull her out (I never actually had a hold of her). My gut told me it was the wrong this to do. She is getting used to her new place on the floor though, heavier traffic but no one is going to pull her out of there.

While it's good to leave her be while she's getting used to her new home it's also important to start handling her while she's young. There will be times when you may need to give her meds or trim her nails, and you don't want her to go crazy in your arms because she isn't used to being picked up or held and handled.

Generally speaking, how long do you let a new bunny settle in before handling her?

Id personally give about 2-3 days. Depending if you notice the animal appears more confortable vs when you first brought them home. You just dont want to be stressing them out too much when they just arrive home.