Kellizaber
Member
Hello, fellow rabbit owners.
I've owned a few rabbits in my day but I've never had this much trouble getting a new bunny to like me or even be used to my presence. My sister and I picked up a 6 month old Dutch at the county fair on Sunday. They let us play with her a little bit and she seemed calm and curious, very friendly. Now that we have her at home it's much different.
The setup she has is a cage approximately 24"x20"x20" (LWH) that is set up inside about a 6'x6' dog penned area. She has a hay manger, a water bottle, a water bowl, pellet bowl, and fresh greens. The only noise in our apartment is our air conditioner. My sister and i live quiet lives.
Our problem is that when we enter the livingroom where she is set up she starts throwing herself around the entire penned in area. We took it slow hoping she'd calm down but every time we enter she freaks out. At first we were going to keep her in the cage to litter train her but she was throwing herself around in that tiny little area so we got the pen set up. Yesterday we managed to both sit/lay in the pen with her so she could investigate us and after a while she had calmed down but still very obviously did not like our presence. When we got up to get out of the pen it was as if no progress was made.
Today( I know it hasn't been long) she still completely freaks out. When I came home and entered the living room to see how she was doing she started running around the pen, back and forth, back and forth, into the sides of the pen, into the cage, jumped on the cage, jumped down from the cage and ran into the side of the pen, back and forth. I noticed what I thought was blood on the carpet and sure enough, her little front paw and back paw both had blood on them. I'm assuming she caught her nails at some point on the carpet or on the pen. I was finally able to sit in the pen with her and get her to calm down around me, smell me, climb on me, all without me interacting with her. She hunkered next to me and let me pet her head after about 25 minutes of bonding time.
I know she's got to get used to her new surroundings but I've never seen a rabbit this frantic and I'm afraid of her hurting herself more in the process. I know someone has to have some suggestions! Please help! Unnamed bunny is scared
I've owned a few rabbits in my day but I've never had this much trouble getting a new bunny to like me or even be used to my presence. My sister and I picked up a 6 month old Dutch at the county fair on Sunday. They let us play with her a little bit and she seemed calm and curious, very friendly. Now that we have her at home it's much different.
The setup she has is a cage approximately 24"x20"x20" (LWH) that is set up inside about a 6'x6' dog penned area. She has a hay manger, a water bottle, a water bowl, pellet bowl, and fresh greens. The only noise in our apartment is our air conditioner. My sister and i live quiet lives.
Our problem is that when we enter the livingroom where she is set up she starts throwing herself around the entire penned in area. We took it slow hoping she'd calm down but every time we enter she freaks out. At first we were going to keep her in the cage to litter train her but she was throwing herself around in that tiny little area so we got the pen set up. Yesterday we managed to both sit/lay in the pen with her so she could investigate us and after a while she had calmed down but still very obviously did not like our presence. When we got up to get out of the pen it was as if no progress was made.
Today( I know it hasn't been long) she still completely freaks out. When I came home and entered the living room to see how she was doing she started running around the pen, back and forth, back and forth, into the sides of the pen, into the cage, jumped on the cage, jumped down from the cage and ran into the side of the pen, back and forth. I noticed what I thought was blood on the carpet and sure enough, her little front paw and back paw both had blood on them. I'm assuming she caught her nails at some point on the carpet or on the pen. I was finally able to sit in the pen with her and get her to calm down around me, smell me, climb on me, all without me interacting with her. She hunkered next to me and let me pet her head after about 25 minutes of bonding time.
I know she's got to get used to her new surroundings but I've never seen a rabbit this frantic and I'm afraid of her hurting herself more in the process. I know someone has to have some suggestions! Please help! Unnamed bunny is scared