Specifically, my video and the couple posts where I gave some notes about it are
here (buried in the middle of the thread)... but I do recommend skimming through the whole thread, as what works for some bunnies doesn't work for others and there's a lot of wonderful discussion in the thread with input and questions from a number of people. The video is 17 minutes long, but there's a guide in the post above it that gives time markers for what happens when so you can skip to the nail trimming parts.
A couple of the tips from my video: if she has dark nails and you have trouble seeing the quick, have someone hold up a flashlight behind them (or if she's not on her back, set a flashlight on the floor to backlight them).
If you're having trouble seeing because of fur in the way, use a shallow bowl of water or a spray bottle (warm but not hot water is most comfortable for the bunny) and dampen her toes just enough to get the fur around her nails to lay down out of your way.
What clippers are you using that she squirms when she hears them? I use either bird clippers or a small pair of cat clippers; there's no noise except when I snip all the way through the nail. I apply slight pressure right before I snip; if the bunny squirms it typically means I'm too close to the quick (though sometimes Gazzles reacts even when I know I'm plenty far from it as her quicks are easy to see). I just move the clippers slightly further from the quick and then cut.
As for trancing, I strongly recommend against it since it can be stressful for rabbits - I hold mine on their backs, but don't trance. I don't like to use a blanket, as I feel it makes things more awkward and difficult - works for some people, but it's not right for everyone.
In the video, you can see how I hold and flip my bunnies to prevent them from kicking/struggling much (and how I respond when they do struggle to prevent them from hurting either of us). I forgot to include it in my notes, but around the 15 minute mark, I go back and show how I flip Gazzles in more detail. You also get to see her bite me and get disciplined for it
.
Bunnies aren't as fragile as people tend to think - you HAVE to be firm with them when handling them for nail trims and such. They're more likely to hurt themselves than for you to hurt them; exerting firm but gentle control minimizes struggling and prevents them from kicking their hind legs full-force into the air while on their backs (which is where the risk of serious injury is). I flip my rabbits so swiftly they don't even know what happened until after it's over with; at that point, they tend to just comply (mostly).
The
key to nail trimming, regardless of how you do it, is to be swift and confident. If you're nervous, your bunny will feel it and SHE will be nervous. It took me almost 9 minutes to do both bunnies' nails in the video because I was doing a lot of talking (and because I normally sit cross-legged on the floor to do trims rather than on the bed), but normally I can do both bunnies in < 5 minutes.
