First time rabbit owner looking for advice from experienced owners!

[babybun]

Hi everybody!
I brought home a baby boy Holland Lop last Friday. I know I've only had him for four days, but I'm getting worried that he'll never warm up to me or want to use his litter box!

I've set up a litter box in his cage, with hay hanging over that, with his pellets and water in a different area of his cage, but he still chooses to poop everywhere! I have a mat in his cage to keep his toes off of the wire bottom, but he'll go right ahead and poop there and lie in it! He's approaching three months, so I will be taking him to a vet for a check up and to talk about neutering him when he is old enough.

He also doesn't seem to be eating very much hay. Should I be worried? The breeder from which I bought him said that he was only being fed hay once or twice a week, but I have hay for him 24 hours.

I also have a playpen set up for him so he doesn't have to be in the cage all the time. I'll sit in the pen and mind my own business, occasionally petting him when he comes up to me, but he'll run away and never really stick around to smell or examine me. I'm getting worried that he won't ever be calm enough around me to let me groom him, check his health, and clip is nails! His nails are getting long, and I don't think the breeder ever took care of them!

Any advice is appreciated! How did you handle getting your first bunny?

 

[whitelop]

Litter box- you have to give him time. I assume since you have a wire bottomed cage, you don't have bedding in the whole cage? Like you just limit the bedding/litter to his litter box? What I did was, put all the stray poops into the litter box so my bun could smell her poop in the litter. I would also soak up whatever pee there was outside the box with a little paper towel and put it in the box so she would know where to pee. Also, the first few weeks of cleaning out the box I would leave some of the soiled litter in the box so she would know it was HERS.
I would also say that if you could get him to pee in the litter box like 96% of the time, you're doing good! There will always be stray poops, its just the way of the bunny. AND the more litter boxes the better. I have 2 in a small enclosure and I have to put one in a certain spot or my bun will go in the floor.

Hay consumption- how many pellets are you feeding him? If you are feeding an "unlimited" amount of pellets, meaning he has pellets all day; then I would lessen it a little. That will make him want to eat more hay. Like maybe, split it between two feedings so he'll eat hay in the afternoon or just take a few pinches out of each feeding to promote more hay eating.

Bonding- when my rabbit was a tiny baby, I would bring her onto the couch and hand feed her her pellets. I would also sit in the kitchen with her and use the laptop or read a book and let her come sniff me. I wouldn't mess with her too much when she came to see me, I would just let her do her own thing.
Also, he's only been with you for 4 days so its pretty soon for him to be your best friend! haha. It takes a little while for them to get to know you and learn to trust you. My bun took a long time to flop down in front of me and stay flopped in front of me. So it takes time, you just have to be patient. I really suggest feeding him his pellets. That is always the best way to bond, over food.
I should also say that baby bunnies have really short attention spans. So sometimes they're a little spastic and thats okay! He's a baby and he'll learn to love you in time! As you guys get to know each other, you'll be best buddies and you'll have a great bond. I was bonded to my old bunny and she was pretty much my best friend. haha. Sad.

 

[babybun]

Thanks, White lop!

I've been doing what you said about putting his poops in the litter box. I'll usually pick it up, put it near his face so he can smell/ see it, and then have him watch while I put it in the box. I also tried doing that with his pee, and that's been going pretty well! He's only ever peed outside of his cage once, and he does hop in the litter box if he ever needs to pee. I'll try leaving some poops in the litter box the next time I clean it and see if that helps any!

And I have been feeding him unlimited pellets, so I'll try to limit that a bit and see if that helps encourage him to eat more hay. Thanks for that suggestion!

I've tried just sitting with pellets in my hand, but that he won't ever eat if I offer it to him. As soon as I put it down on next to me, or in the bowl, he'll go ahead and help himself though!

I guess, I just have to be patient and not worry too much about it.

 

[JBun]

Chances are he won't be very good pooping in the litter box yet. Baby bunnies usually don't have the attention span for it, and an unaltered rabbit uses their poop to mark their territory, so it's pretty natural for them to leave their poop everywhere. Usually a neuter/spay helps improve litter box habits quite a bit, but that's not a guarantee.

With my baby bunnies, I would feed enough pellets to last most the day, but so they would run out about 3 hours before their next feeding, then just have unlimited hay for them to munch on during that time. I fed them twice a day. This ensured they still got enough nutrition from their pellets, but also were eating enough hay for good digestive health.

 

[Azerane]

Limiting the pellets a little should help, but since he was only getting hay twice a week before, it's possible that he's simply not used to eating hay and it just may take him a bit of time to adapt.

As for the bonding, you just have to be patient. Some rabbits can take a long time to really connect with their owners. While Bandit was friendly with us after a couple of weeks, it was about two months before I felt we truly connected. Keep sitting in the run like you're doing, but don't reach out to pet him every time. Keep offering pellets from hand, he will take them eventually. Just be persistent about spending time in there and let your bunny explore you

 

[DUSTBUNNY-CLYDE]

The boys took months to really warm up!!! Just be patient!!!

 

[PaGal]

Some buns just take longer than others to bond. When Thump was little he did not act afraid or skittish at all but he would only come near us for short periods of time. He was just more interested in checking everything out all the time and burning off his young bun energy. He has free run of a room all day.

As he got older is when he started to come over more for pets and will lay down to be petted. He also learned to play chase. He's a wonderful bun and brings me a lot of joy.

Your bun may just need more time to settle into his new home and he may also settle more as he gets older.

 

[babybun]

Thanks everybody! All of your posts have been really reassuring! When I filled up his pellet bowl this morning, I put a little less than usual, and sure enough I saw him eating some hay once the pellets ran low! I'll keep doing that just to encourage him to eat hay, and hopefully he'll be eating it regularly soon! No changes in warming up to me yet, but he did hop back into his cage to use his litter box today instead of pooping in his run area!

 

[Rosies Rabbitry]

I have found that holding and petting them clams them down and gives you a little bit of an edge for them to get more used to you. My first rabbit was solo for the first month that I had her and she would jump onto the couch and into my lap. She was using the cats litterbox to do her business in for a while. All of this stopped when I got more rabbits. Today she had 3 live kits and 4 dead ones and I put 4 rabbits out in the living room. She cane up to me, let me pet her and took a treat out of my hand. Great to watch the dynamics of all of them playing together. Best of luck. I have all Holland lops.

Exrayed