Troubled Bunny

[thevitalvariant]

Long story short: We have two bunnies who had a litter of three. Two of them were taken to new homes. The one that remains will continue to remain because we do not feel anyone else will really take her in, and we're concerned for her well being.

Twix is a frightened bunny. Between my girlfriend and I, I am the least liked. When I approach the cage Twix will bolt to the farthest corner and back into it so tightly that she forms into a fluff ball (which would be adorable if not for the terrified look in her eyes). My girlfriend can feed her and occasionally pet her, but the occasion is always a cautious/nervous one.

We've gotten to the point where we're not sure what to do. We don't know how she got this way, especially considering none of the other rabbits we've housed were like her. We've tried being submissive and letting her come to us. She will do so as long as she believes we don't notice her, otherwise she will cower. I've tried being slightly more aggressive (figuring, it worked with my rabbit and he has come to friekin love me more than I've seen anything love anything). We've taken some training advice from a magazine as well. Nothing has produced any change of behavior.

As a side note: she no longer gets along with Yue, her mother. Yue has been neutered, Twix has not. We've assumed there may be some competition between them, but we not longer let them out at the same time because they fight. Not sure if these two issues are connected.

We feel we are out of options, but there is no quitting her. I've seen scared bunnies turn around, I'm confident she will too. If only I could find the magic bullet to help her be comfortable.

Any and all advice or input would be appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[mdith4him]

Aww, poor bun! I guess you've tried things like giving her treats when she comes to you? When you let her out, does she like to run around? Are you always in her run around space? If so, maybe open her cage and let her out to run without you being around. Then she can get used to the space first and you second.

Maybe she just isn't a bunny that likes to be pet. Junie is kinda like that. She'll let us touch her, but she generally moves away pretty quickly. She would much rather crawl/hop all over us than sit to be pet. Have you tried lying down on your stomach and seeing if she'll hop up on your back? She might like that better.

 

[JessicaK]

One of my bunnies is like that.
One thing that I've found to help is wrapping him in a burrito. Kind of like you would swaddle a baby. At first just a couple seconds, slowly building up time. But always trying to let him go before he tries to escape.
Last night he sat on my lap for nearly an hour.
He still won't come up to me, I have to catch him. But he's slowly getting more comfortable.

 

[thevitalvariant]

After reading this pinned topic we've been playing with her this morning. Her cage is open and she's running about happy as could be. You'd never know anything was wrong. Still, if we approach she will dart away.

On the plus side however: My girlfriend and I are in the play space. I'm on my laptop doing homework while she is reading a bunny magazine for advice. Twix seems to have no problem coming to us and seeing what we're up to. She will lay down on a far wall occasionally as well as jump around kicking her feet. She does climb on us and does not seem to fear approaching us.

She seems happy, but petting her is out of the question. I believe this may just be a personality trait rather than an actual issue.

 

[whitelop]

My bun used to be the same way. She would binky around and hop all over me, but as soon as I went to pet her-forget about it. She was outta there! I've had her since she was about 2 months old and now shes 3 years old. I would just sit on the floor with him and let her come to me, I would put my hand down on the floor and let her sniff it. If she stayed near my hand, I would slowly pet her. Sometimes she would run, sometimes she would cower. But after a while she got used to it and let me pet her for real. Now, you can walk up to her and love all over her. I usually let her out in the kitchen and let her do her thing. But I try to sit in there for a little while so I can pet her. Now, when I sit down, its straight to my lap.

It might just take some more time. Her hormones are probably racing and shes confused. I know you guys have probably been doing this for a while already. But you may just have a bun that doesn't like to be petted.

But I will say this about my bun, my dads girlfriend has a special needs son. A few months after I got my bun I let him meet her, we left her in the cage at first so he could pet her. Then we let her out. She went right to him and sat in his lap to be petted. Even when she wasn't coming to me for love, she went straight to him. It was great.

 

[bethepoet]

It's like with any animal, nothing will happen overnight. You seem to have made some progress, what with her feeling able to come closer. She'll get more confident and keep coming closer, and then you'll be able to work on touching her. Keep going with it

As for her not getting on with her mother, it's probably because you had the mother spayed. She came home smelling all weird and different, you may as well have brought a totally different bunny home, haha. Just start the bonding from scratch.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

All of ours are rescues and we've had several "shy" bunnies. With time and patience all of them have come around and are really good citizens. Only had one that was still not wanting any interaction, but would run all around us and check us out. He was like that till the day he passed, and was handled as a kit and never suffered at all--just his makeup and personality. Sure do miss the little turd.