new "fearful?" behavior

[jfreight]

Hi, I am a new rabbit owner and new to this forum and I need some advice. I bought a 7 week old rabbit for my daughter in February and all was great til April. Starting in April the rabbit runs from us when we would try to pick her up, after letting her roam free for some exercise. She will let us take her out of the cage without a problem, but when it is time to put her back into her cage, it sometimes takes us up to 30 minutes to catch her. When we finally do catch her she tries very hard to get out of our arms and dives into her cage when we get close to it. This morning when I got close to her she bit my leg! Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we could be doing wrong and what we can do to try to change this behavior. She was the sweetest thing for the first 2 months we owned her, now we can't really enjoy her!
Thanks for any help.

 

[Saudade]

Your dear little stephanie has become a hormonal woman, if you want her to return to normal you're going to have to get her spayed.

 

[jfreight]

Thank you for your response, I had a feeling that might be the problem. What is the correct age to have a rabbit spayed, and do you have any idea of what the cost might be? I had my dog neutered at 6 months, because I was informed that it should never be done earlier than that, just wondering if it is the same with bunnies! Thanks again .

 

[Amy27]

Stephanie, I think the cost depends on where you live and the vet. I live in Ohio and I think it was about $200. Here's a link to the thread in the library that will give you some more information. http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12040&forum_id=10

Here is a list of rabbit savvy vets http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=9

I don't know if this will help until you get her spayed. But I never picked my rabbits up to put them away. Even after they were spayed, they would still run, who wants to go back into the cage. I would put the cage on the floor and we came up with a routine. When I wanted them to go in their cage I would get the treats out and shake it near their cage, when they got in they got one. Now I open the closet their treats are in and they run to their cage. You could do this with treats, pellets or veggies.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We use an Orange box(fro the grocery store). Cut a hole in both sides and put in a litter pan with shredded newspaper. The buns run in, we pick it up and place it next to the hutch door and out they go. Sometimes they come when we call, but not always, and we've had some for more than 6 years. No one ever wants to be put up. As to the cost of spaying--it varies. When we lived in CA, used to take a 30 mile drive as the Oakley vet was $135 and the ones in Tracy were $300.

 

[Maureen Las]

6 Months is a good age to spay

Iagree that this behavior can be diminished but my adult rabbits run away from me when I try to put them back.
Everything that you described is normal bun behavior.
When children get very young buns the buns are sweet and can be handled but this stage is only the first few months of their life and then you need to accomodate yourself to a teenage/ adult bun who responds to catching and holding as any other prey anmal

maybe some of this info will help you in addition toa spay ;. rabbits go through difficult "teenage" years


http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12066&forum_id=17

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=33995&forum_id=17

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12051&forum_id=17

 

[DazyDaizee]

My vet suggested spaying my rabbit at 5 months, because a rabbit's uterus becomes surrounded with a lot of fat as they mature and the fat makes the surgery more risky and the bleeding rate increases. She said she wouldn't do it any earlier than 5 months, but she finds it less risky to do it then rather than waiting until 6 months.

For picking up.. Our bunny used to hate it, also. She now tolerates it.. maybe even secretly enjoys it every now and then. We would hold her for a few seconds, then place her back down (she'd thump and be very upset), we'd reward her with a treat immediately. She eventually learned that every time she got picked up she got a special treat.. now she runs to where the treats are when we put her down. So it is possible to sort of train them to tolerate something. Try to make the experience less of a chase and catch. Maybe sit on the floor and pet your bunny for a while so she's relaxed, then scoop her up and hold her, place her back down and reward her.
Keep in mind that currently nothing good happens when she's picked up. She gets chased around then gets put back in her cage. I'm sure she'd prefer to be out, so she's not going to relate being picked up to anything good. Try to turn that around and make it a positive experience, and then it can be done more easily even if she has to go to her cage.

 

[jfreight]

Thanks for all the great advice! We have totally stopped trying to pick up our bunny ... we let her run free and when it's time to put her away we lead her into her cage with a treat. Now when we sit on the floor she comes over and sits on our laps and just hangs out. It's only been about 2 days and her behavior has improved dramatically!! We could probably pick her up if we wanted to, but we are resisting the temptation for a few more days (we want to make sure she really trusts us). The "chase and catch" was really scaring her, poor thing. I am still going to look into having her spayed, but I think we are on our way to a friendly pet bunny! Now if we can just get her litter trained, we'll be all set.