He wont let me pick him up

[SarahK]

I have had my bunny for about 3 weeks now. His precious owner told me that they use to pick him up and hold him and he loved it, never fought it. But he won’t let me pick him up. He lets me pet him, he will put his head down, he does binkies and will run in circles around my feet but whenever I try to pick him up he starts fighting and i don’t want him to get hurt so I let him go. I have been trying by putting one hand under his belly and then scooping up his butt and back legs with my other hand. He is the first bunny I have ever had so I hope i’m not doing something wrong. He seems very comfortable around me, he will flop down on the ground to nap and will lay by me and let me pet him but no picking him up. I wouldn’t be concerned about it knowing that some bunnys don’t like to be picked up, but since his previous owners picked him up and carried him around all the time I am wondering what’s wrong with me. help  

[Sarita]

In my experience most rabbits really hate being picked up. I think if you have never had a rabbit it just takes some practice and CONFIDENCE – my mother loves to try and pick up my Netherland, Bobby, but she just doesn’t really understand the proper way to hold him so he squirms.

Start by just letting him get used to you – 3 weeks is not a lot of time. It took Bobby about a full year to get used to me and trust me and he still scampers away from me most of the time.

[Michele823]

When I brought both my bunnies home from the shelter neither one would let me pet them let alone pick them up. Once they were used to being pet I moved onto picking up, I tried the hand under the chest and the butt and the football hold but nothing seemed to work. I finally figured out that if I was petting my one bunny with both hands after a few pets I could slowly scoop her up by sliding both of my forearms completely under her body and place her on my lap for some more pets. Once she was used to this I then started to just slide my one hand under her front paws and lift her upper body off the ground by half an inch while petting her with the other hand so I just kept on with this method getting her used to me moving her more and more. Now I can bend down and easily scoop her up with one hand on her bum and the other supporting her chest But I quickly lay her front paws on my chest and hold her bum against my tummy and she will stay like that and let me pet her for a few minutes. She’s even starting to put her paws on my shoulder while I’m holding her to get a good look around. My other bunny however is having none of this, I’ve kept a more hands off approach and only picked him up for his weekly grooming he’s starting to get more used to it but I doubt he’ll ever liked to be picked up. Since you said he allowed his other owners to pick him up maybe you just have to give him more time try putting a treat in your lap and seeing if you can get him to hop into your lap and then very slowly work from there. Your doing the right thing by letting him go as soon as he struggles, I always let my bunnies go as soon as they start to move around and I try to set them in my lap and let them hop off that way they learn that they are free to go whenever they want. Even if I’m in the middle of grooming my one bunny and he starts to move around I let him go and give it another try in an hour or so. It took me 3 months to go from petting to picking up with my one bunny so 3 weeks is a short time.

[Amys Animals]

From my knowledge, rabbits really don’t like to be picked up. I try not to pick up my bunnies unless I absolutely have to. I actually have Valentine who doesn’t mind being picked up and held…I actually think she likes it, but Rascal HATES it. I will not pick him up unless I really need to. I don’t like to make my bunnies uncomfortable. I think you should give him more time before you try picking him up. Like Sarita said it does take some time to get used to holding a bunny. When I first got bunnies (I was young and didn’t know anything about them) I had no clue how to hold a rabbit. Now when someone wants to hold my rabbits, it’s usually Valentine I will let them hold and I have to make sure they know how to hold them. They need to have full security if they are being picked up off the ground. I hold them close to me so they feel secure. Also, I try not to walk when holding them. Usually if I pick up my bunnies I will sit down and not be high off the ground. Anyways, just some things I thought I’d add.

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