In need of some good advice

[nobunnynoclue]

First of all, I think we've decided to name her "Tof" after a character in the Avatar cartoons. I LOOOVE Avatar.

Anyway, she comes from a breeder who hand fed her as a baby and carried her around with her and made sure she was used to human contact. I talked to the breeder and she says the bunny loved being held as a baby. Then she was sold to my coworker who haa a bunny already in the house. Now after several months, they gave Tof to me and my family because they were unhappy with her.

Now that I have her I can see what they mean. She's _VERY_ skittish.
Picking her up is always a big production. The dashes around stomping and tries everything in her power to avoid getting picked up. Once I have her in my hands, she just "shuts off" and , for lack of a better term, she tolerates the fact she's being held and doesn't move a muscle and lays there like a rag. If she does move, it's to get away from me.

How do I break her of this behavior?

She's 9 months old and not spayed. She will be getting spayed in 2 weeks.

Will spaying her magically change everything? Or do I still need to work at it?

My main question is.. do I leave her alone or do I try to make her used to human contact again buy petting her and picking her up every chance I get? How about carrying her around with me. Is that a bad/good idea ?

thanks!!!!
-Tania

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I have a rabbit who is somewhat similar. She wasn't socialized really well as a baby and ended up having a litter when she as about 4-5 months old. I got her just before she turned 7 months.
When I first got her, she was very nervous. If I would move, she would go hide. I did get her as a companion for my other rabbit and he really helped her. If she was out on her own, she would just sit in a corner under a stool, if Korr was out with her, she would explore more.
After having her more just over a year now, she is much better. She is bolder and more willing to explore new places. However, she would still prefer to not be touched or held. She will come to me in the morning for some dried apple and I can pet her. If I need to pick her up, she will run away. Once I do get her, she in fine with being handled. She won't fight me, but isn't really thrilled about it either. I am ok with this as that is just who she is and I am not really looking for a lovey rabbit. She was spayed in January and that didn't really change things. It did make her less hormonal, but didn't change her personality. I did get a chance to hand feed her more and to get her used to treats.

I would work with her to get her used to you. Set yourself up in a pen so she can't get too far away, but still have the freedom to ignore you if she wants. If you can, attach it to her cage so he can come out om her own, you can close the door when she is out of the cage. Just sit in the pen and let her explore you. She might want to hide in a corner or she might want to check you out. If she will take them, try offering some treats to her, but only if she will eat them from your hand. She really just needs to get used to you.
I would hold off on trying to pick her up until she is more used it you. See if you can get her to accept petting or at least you moving toward her without running off.
If you do need to pick her up, try to keep her calm. You can use your hands to sort of corner her, if you appear big, she will view it more as a barrier and not want to move. This can keep her calm and make it easier to pick her up.
Carrying her around might not be best at the moment. If seems that she is fairly ok with being held, but needs to work on being social with people.

Spaying won't magically change her. It may mellow her out a bit.

 

[Nats]

We have a similar problem! If I had seen your post before posting mine, I could just go by the answers you receive. I wish you good luck on bonding with your bun!

 

[nobunnynoclue]

I do want a "lovey" rabbit. :'( But I know in reality that's not what I have. I would be happy if she would feel comfortable coming up to me to see what I'm doing. That's all I want for now. Then if I can get her to just accept the fact I'm going to pick her up and not fight me, that would be a BIG bonus.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Everything takes time and most bunnies don't like being picked up. Some do settle in once you have them and some don't. We usually spend lots of time just sitting in and around and let them come to us. Since all of ours are rescues, we've had some really shy ones, but they've all come around for the better. Doesn't sound like yours was really socialized and the background you we're given is usually packaged and sold by Oscar Mayer. Time, patience and bribery have worked very well for us and yes on the neutering--while it may not make her a cuddle bun, it certainly mitigated hormone driven behaviors in our bunch.

 

[jonesy]

Very few rabbits enjoy being picked up because they think you are a predator. You have to leave her alone and let the rabbit Come to you. Sit on the ground and play with her and let her come to you.

 

[blthmm]

I don't have much advice on this except to say that spaying my rabbit made it worse

Like many others, I wanted to cuddle my bun. When she was a baby I could pick her up and she would tolerate it. I slowly got her more used to it and could pick her up to put her on my lap.

When she was spayed, she was very sensitive to where her wound was on her stomach and even after it healed, would flinch and run away when I would come near it.

Several years later she loves cuddling.... on the floor. Being picked up is a huge ordeal and she will brood about it afterwards.

....good luck! Sorry I wasn't much help!

 

[nobunnynoclue]

It sounds like picking her up at all can backfire.

 

[bennibunny]

I don't have much to add, except that I applaud your choice of television shows. Avatar is one of my favorites, too
I'd probably also advise against picking her up for now, just because it sounds like she is very scared & that's not the way to build a positive relationship.