My bunnies are so timid!

[junior_n_sweetpea]

Hello all! I've been lurking for a while and havegotten some great advice! We adopted two baby bunnies a few weeks ago.They are roughly 10 weeks old now. We keep them indoors in a"bunny condo" that we built for them. They have the run of the livingroom (supervised of course) most of the time. They get along well withour poodle (who by the way does not know he is a dog!) They play socute together. And binky all over the place! But, they are so timid andjumpy with us. Once they are out of the cage they are impossible tocatch. They do seem to enjoy being petted when we are lucky enough tocatch them.Will they outgrow this? Is there anyway to helpthem overcome their timidness? Will they be more mellow when they arefixed? My vet wants to wait until they are 5 months old to doso. So many questions...so little time.

 

[Buck Jones]

Five months before surgery is not out of line and seems reasonable.

If they are binkying about, they are obviously having fun, so acceptthat as a fact. If they are still a little bit reticent withyou,allow them that. Be patient. They arethe equivalent of 3 month old humanchildren,but are pretty precocious at that!

Most behaviors improve with neutering. You'll know when theyfinally begin to "love" you because they will "kiss" you by lickingyou, or give you little "bumps" with their noses, or little love "nips"with those choppers. They'll think you're so good, they'lljust want to "eat you up".

Now, having two, means they are currently much more occupiedwith each other than with you, because, afterall, you are not abunny. Some people prefer not to have more than one rabbit ata time for that very reason. Others claim, it is not all thatmuch different. My response to that is, it depends... uponthe rabbit(s) involved and the people involved.

Buck

 

[bunty]

They are babys having fun and enjoying the world.Get down on the floor with them and be a part of their world. Let themhop over you and amke friends first on their level. The vet gave yousound advice. Give them a little treat when you catch them to make themwant to know cage going in may be fun. One down side of this is mine goin and then make a fuss to come right back out

 

[rabbitgirl]

Babies are shy sometimes. It's normal, and theyget over it as they adjust to you. Lots of treats work really good.Also if you lay on the floor and let them jump on you! Get your smellall over them, associated with treats. If you're worried about weightissues because of too many treats, just feed them 1/3 cup pellets eachper day and use small low-fat treats like a couple oats or smallleaves. The get diarrhea if you give them too much greens at once,though.

good luck,

Rose

 

[junior_n_sweetpea]

Thanks for the advice! I cancoaxSweetpea into coming to me with a banana slice every sooften.Junior turns his nose up every time! I guess he doesn'tlike bananas. They are about as different as night and day. Such strongpersonalities already.

 

[Carolyn]

Welcome JuniorNSweetpea,

The way I've gotten Tucker in his cage is I give him minimal treats sothat when it's bedtime, he hears the cookie jar open (where I keep hisfood), and before I'm to his cage, he beats feet over to it and hopsright in. Since your little one's are so young, it shouldn'tbe terribly difficult to train them. Wherever the food goes,bunnies go! Just don't treat them too much so that when it'stime to go to bed, they are ready for a bedtime snack.

I prefer to stick with the pellets.I had to reallycut back on treatsbecause I thoughthe was gettingtoo much. Last night, I gave himsome banana andhegobbled it down so fast, he gagged a couple oftimes. I found myself thinking, "How does one help achokingbunny?!" Scary thought. He's sucha pig!

-Carolyn

 

[BunnyMommy]

Carolyn wrote:

Welcome JuniorNSweetpea,

The way I've gotten Tucker in his cage is I give him minimal treats sothat when it's bedtime, he hears the cookie jar open (where I keep hisfood), and before I'm to his cage, he beats feet over to it and hopsright in.
-Carolyn

LOL! That Tucks! You can't help but to lovehim!!!