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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum BEHAVIOR Our girl lionhead is afraid of us

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    • Neverhood
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        My fiance and I have two rabbits an 8 month old neutered male and a 6 month old unspayed female. Our male is super friendly loves being played with loves being pet runs towards you etc etc. Our girl on the other hand doesn’t like being touched or pet or anything. If you reach your hand down to pet her she runs under the ledge in her cage. If we pick her up and take her out on the bed or try to play with her in an open area she is scared and it’s impossible to get her back into her cage sometimes cause she’s incredibly fast and elusive. Also when we take her out, after a little while she pee’s on the carpet or bed and we have to clean the sheets/carpet etc. Throughout the time we’ve had them we haven’t played with the boy more than the girl or anything. Also, we went on a week long cruise about 2 months ago and we left the girl with my fiances little brother, he had her out for hours at a time almost everyday. When we got her back she was more friendly and we were pleasantly surprised but about a week later that was over. So now to my questions. Could this simply be a thing where we just have to hold her and have her out in a very confined area for hours and hours on end? I truly don’t think we have the time to do that especially with her peeing everytime she comes out. She recently started humping and we think it’s time for a spaying….we are hoping she will be a totally different calmer less afraid bun weeks after the spay, is this just wishful thinking?


      • Monkeybun
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          Most bunnies do NOT like being picked up and held. They are prey animals, its just not in their nature. I would limit her space until she is spayed and has better litter habits. Once she calms down after the spay, you can try the running around in more space again. I suggest having a few extra litter boxes around too.

          One of my buns, Monkey, will NOT let anyone touch her, so it could just be your girl is a No-Touchy type too.


        • RabbitPam
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            No, it’s not wishful thinking, and yes, it is definitely time for her to be spayed. While some bunnies do not change their behavior afterward, it is very likely that it will help her, judging from the positive effect your fiance’s brother had on her. Even if she had been sweet at first, at 6 months her behavior will have changed due to the hormones. Call the vet asap and get it done. It will have no visible effect for as much as 4 weeks after.

            Meanwhile, bear in mind that your bunnies need to be bonded to get along with each other, and smelling another bunny in the house can also be agitating her, making her mark with pee. She will also smell him on you. If you read the Bonding section on the site you can find instructions on how to introduce them to each other so they learn to get along, which will help all of you, including her. It won’t matter much before the spay, but since he’s safe to be near her, you can try limited, supervised visits. Warning: she will be more aggressive toward him until she’s spayed, so be careful.

            She just may be more skittish – my bunny is – by nature, so let her be herself. She doesn’t need more hours of time as much as your attention that’s focused, calm and loving. Picking her up stresses her, so I would suggest you don’t do it much for a while and just get on the floor and let her hang out with you. She will learn that being with you doesn’t always mean being lugged around, and be less scared. You need more time to bond with her yourself, but on her terms more. They have different personalities, so that needs to be respected and accommodated. She’ll love you for it.


          • Neverhood
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              Thanks for the replies. We just feel bad that she’s alone all day. And we know she hates being picked up so we avoid that at all costs. It’s not like we’re brand brand new bunny owners or anything it’s just frustrating how scared she is….it’s like we love her and think she’s adorable but why have her if there’s no way to spend time with her? Also we are kind of down about the whole bonding thing. We know it’s probably better to wait till after she’s spayed and healed and everything but the other day we put them with us in a neutral confined area and it was an all out war the instant they saw each other. They ran at each other in circles at 100mph and fir was FLYING we pulled then apart as fast as we could, and it scared us to death….we know bunnies can die if they are scared to badly and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the girl keeled over right there it was that bad. And we think it was the boy who attacked but it was pretty much both. Also we’ve tried to put a gate in-between them so they can sniff and smell each other but that doesn’t work cause one will bite the other through the bars and they start scratching each other in the face and it’s another war. We originally got the girl to eventually put them together so they could spend time with each other and not be bored when we are at school or at night etc. But I feel like that’s never going to happen after these experiences.


            • RabbitPam
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                You might try the stuffed surrogate doubles to put in each of their cages until she’s spayed. They can get out a lot of initial aggression and get used to each others’ smells for a while. I’ve read where it’s effective here.

                I had a very social, human loving bunny with Spockie, but Samantha has been a totally different personality and really didn’t seem to like me, or likeable, at all at first. It was very hard for me to become genuinely fond of her, the difference was so dramatic. But I have learned to accept her for herself, and demand much less of her, and she seems to be much more loving toward me now. It took time, but I get unsolicited kisses on my feet, and followed from room to room. It’s her way, but clearly she is happy with me. They just are like people, and very different.

                If you have any shelters, rescues or vets locally that have some bonding training, (like several in California) you may be able to get some assistance. But the spay needs to come first. One step at a time.


              • Neverhood
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                  Ok that sounds good I would love to get help bonding them. I definitely have to check into that. Thanks a lot. I guess I might as well ask you my last question. The lionheads outer rim of her eye gets a pink/red color when she gets scared/nervous, any idea what this is? I tried googling around but didn’t find anything.


                • mindy10
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                    I have a 9 week old lionhead and she pretty much stays in her cage.  We can pat her but she goes into her frightened flat on the ground stance!!  When we are at work she has the run of the room but as soon as I come home she will come over sniff me and then go right into her cage for the rest of the day until we go to bed.  Then i sneak down stairs and she is out running around again.  It is very frustrating.  Im so use to dogs that want to be with you every second of the day and now I have a pet that wants to hide from me every second of the day.  I just hope someday she warms up to us.  Mindy

                     

                     

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                Forum BEHAVIOR Our girl lionhead is afraid of us