New Flemish Giant…a few questions!

[StickyBun]

I am new to the forums…hello everyone and thank you in advance for any advice!

We just brought home our 8 week old Flemish Giant boy yesterday!  He is just great…we have been anxiously awaiting his arrival and now that he is here, we are all so happy!  But…I have a few questions…

1. We did our research on breeders and found someone through ARBA who we developed a relationship with and trust.  We stressed to breeder that we are looking for a HOUSE bunny and we wanted to find one who had been properly socialized and handled; this gentleman assured us that he handles his rabbits daily.  Since we have had our bun home…which has only been one day…he has not tolerated being handled AT ALL.  He panicks when being picked up and is quite jumpy.  I am hoping that this is just due to the stress of long car rides and a new home.  Any tips besides patience and…more patience?  I don’t know how long to allow him to avoid us before I become more ‘pushy’ about handling him.  He is going to be such a large rabbit, I don’t want to let too much time go by.  He is already 5 lbs…and strong!

2.  We are litter training.  Well…we really want to be.  He, on the other hand, hates the litter box.  LOL…go figure.  I have a large litter box, no hood, easy low access, feline pine litter covered in timothy hay.  His set up is a large 5′ x 5′ xpen.  He is choosing to pee on the rugs in there instead of in the box…and he is pooing willy-nilly everywhere!  So I removed the rugs and gave him an additional small cardboard box with feline pine litter and hay.  We will see how this goes.  Any and all tips are appreciated. 

3.  He is eating and drinking!  This is great news and I just wanted to share.  He also seems to like his toys! 

4. When I opened his pen door today, he raced out to explore the room.  He immediately began sniffing the carpet (which he does not have access to inside his pen) and began ripping out carpet fibers!!  I clapped my hands loudly and said NO! but truly, this bun looked at me like I was crazy and just went back to what he was doing.  So I approached him and noticed a small carpet fiber hanging out of his mouth…I tried to take it away and he started slapping at me with his front feet!!  It surprised me so much…I just started laughing!  He was determined I wasn’t getting his ‘snack’!  Needless to say I did get it from him…and got a few scratches in return!  What is this front feet slapping thing?  

5. Space issue.  Flemish giants are big and need plenty of space.  His 5′ x ‘5 x pen is ideally only until he is a bit older, potty trained and neutered.  When we are home, our goal is to have him out with us at all time…he is a member of our family!  Anyone out there with a Flemish Giant?  Raised since they were a baby?  I think we are going to have a lot of challenges and a lot of fun with this guy!!

[MoveDiagonally]

Hello and welcome to BB!

1. Most rabbits don’t like being held because they are prey animals. Being scooped up makes their instincts scream “escape you’re going to be eaten!”. Some rabbits do tolerate it better than other it will just depend on your bunnies personality as he develops and grows. He’s only been with you for a day he’s probably super stressed out and generally nervous about his new surroundings. He doesn’t know he can trust you yet.

Some people might disagree but I don’t necessarily think over handling in youth makes them easier to handle in adulthood. There are a lot of posts on here about people that had an easy to handle baby only to have them struggle, fight, and hate it as an adult. I think it really has more to do with trust and a particular rabbits personality.

2. He’s a baby and he’s been there for one day, give it a little time. He hasn’t settled in yet. Most bunnies favor a certain spot. Once they pick their spot you’ll want to put a litter box there. Soak up accidents with a paper towel and place it and stray poop in the litter box. Remove any soiled material, like the rugs because he will continue to go in a spot that smells like urine.

3. Yay!

4 & 5. I would give him more time to settle in before letting him roam. I do have some adult rabbits that simply cannot be on carpet. They tear it up and eat it which isn’t good for them or my carpet. You could try “thumping” your foot when he does it but I’ve never had much success getting my buns to not mess with my carpet. Hopefully others can give you more advice about this because for him to be free roam you’ll need to have a carpet solution!

Congrats on your new baby! I look forward to pictures. Flemish giants are one of my “dream rabbits”. Someday I will have one! But until then I have to live through all you lucky flemmy parents

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Bunnies in general do not like being held, even my flemmie tolerates it but she gives me a good thump to let me know she’s displeased. It also may be that you are holding him incorrectly and he’s not feeling secure

He will be difficult to litter train until you get him fixed, have you found an exotic vet for that yet? I’d either put down vinyl in his pen or move the pen to a solid floor surface, both my trained girls will pee on any cushion/ rug/ towel/ blanket I put in their pen. I’d replace the cardboard box with another Tupperware letterbox, and you might as well go big now, ours is about 3ftx 18in big, a under the bed plastic storage container. He’ll need the room before you know it

He boxed you. That should mellow out with a neuter as well. You are going to have to watch him as close as you would a newly crawling babe, they can and will get into everything and destruct what they can. Rabbit-proofing tips are in the tab above, and all over this forum Once he’s older hell grow out of the teen phase and should mellow out, but it does depend on the buns personality.

5×5 is a good amount of space now, and will be good for nights once he’s older. I keep lady and Sam in a 4×4 space at night time, but they get full roam of the house during the day ( and at 1 1/2 and 2ish they are fairly well behaved!).

What is he eating now?

[Sarita]

There is no difference between a house rabbit or any other rabbit, they are all the same. They all hate being picked up off the ground.

As for Flemish Giants you are going to find that once he gets larger you will have a very difficult time holding him due to his size – it will be best to get on the ground with him. Picking up a large to very large rabbit is very dangerous if you should happen to drop them and believe me, they will be all muscle and bulk once they reach adult hood. Ground is better for bigger buns.

[StickyBun]

Move Diagonally: Thank you for your supportive help!! I posted a picture of him in the ‘welcome’ section!

Sam and Lady’s Human: He will be neutered but my goodness…he is only 8 weeks old! LOL! As for holding him incorrectly, I am a veterinary technician and pretty comfortable with the proper way to hold and pick up rabbits…he is simply not tolerating it at all. I have a feeling I might have been a bit mislead about how much human contact he actually had before we brought him home. In regards to the litter box, we have two. One very large plastic one that he refuses to go near and a smaller cardboard box. I am just giving him options at this point. I have been soaking up his pee spots with paper towel and placing them into the litter box along with his poo. No luck yet but I am sure it will just take some time. We also have hay in his litter box. We are fully rabbit proofed but I am not pulling up all the carpet in the house! We watch him very closely, that is how I noticed him grab the carpet….and thank you for clarifying what he did..boxed me! That is just too funny…he was so indignant! Currently he is eating a very high quality pellet and timothy hay and fresh water. I have read that no veggies are allowed before 12 weeks, so we are keeping his diet healthy and simple

Sarita: We are on the ground with him always but there are going to be occasions that he has to be picked up…that is part of life. He will need trips to the vet, his nails trimmed, etc. It is better for him to learn to tolerate it now than leave it and have a 16 lb bunny on my hands that I cannot pick up or handle! We aren’t picking him up and carrying him around for fun, playtime is on the ground at his level.

[Amys Animals]

I think it might take a little more time for mr. flemmie to warm up to you. He needs to know he can trust you before he’s comfortable with you picking him up or messing with him. When I adopted Marley, (my dwarf) it took him a while to warm up to me but with time and patience he finally came out of his shell and didn’t try to attack me all the time. Trust is a big thing.

I’d say about a week you’ll start seeing him come out of his shell…Maybe even sooner. I wouldn’t advise handling him too much. If you are worried you won’t be able to pick him up to take him to the vet, etc. don’t be because he is a young bun and I am sure he will get used to things like that. Marley HATES being picked up. When I first adopted him he was so frightened of me that anytime I would go near him he would run to the back of the condo or try to attack me when I tried getting him out. I even had to postpone a vet appointment because he was too scared. I am sure your new baby will warm up and let you handle him soon. =)

[NewBunnyOwner123]

If you handle him too much before he grows to trust you, he will just assume you are going to pick him any time you are around and he will then always be fighting you.
I hardly picked up Sally as a baby because she HATED it and the older she gets, the easier it is to pick her up. Not very long, but i can get her where she needs to be. I think it’s because she is trusting me more and more and trusts that I’m not “eating” her. So she is getting better even though I only pick her up like once a month( IF THAT) I have only picked her up like 3 or 4 times the 5 months we’ve had her and it was only for like 5 seconds.
Harley has always been easy to handle since the day I got him though

[Sarita]

Honestly there isn’t that many times when you must pick him up off the ground – it’s much better to learn to deal with any needs for him on the ground or close to the ground with you sitting down. Close to the ground with large rabbits is key. Picking up a 16lb rabbit is very very difficult – trust me on this. You must get down on the ground to handle him. Even putting him in a carrier is better down on the ground. So picking him up off the ground is not really necessary.

[Amys Animals]

Posted By Sarita on 05/04/2013 06:46 PM
Honestly there isn’t that many times when you must pick him up off the ground – it’s much better to learn to deal with any needs for him on the ground or close to the ground with you sitting down. Close to the ground with large rabbits is key. Picking up a 16lb rabbit is very very difficult – trust me on this. You must get down on the ground to handle him. Even putting him in a carrier is better down on the ground. So picking him up off the ground is not really necessary.

I agree with this, however, I think getting a bun used to handling somewhat is a good thing.  In case of emergency or whatnot.  I have never owned a flemmie but I can imagine the difficulty in fighting to pick one up. (that is fully grown, anyway) 

 

I don’t like to pick my rabbits up often, because I know how they feel about it, but there are occasions when I do need to pick them up. Even then they aren’t off the ground for very long.  

 

When I got Rascal he was sooo used to being handled and held.  My other two buns, are not like that.  Different rabbits = Different personalities.  

Needless to say, I do not like picking my bunnies up off the ground, but there are times that it is needed…But you are right, most of the time it is not needed.  

[StickyBun]

I am going to have to go with Amy on this one. I think it is completely unreasonable to own a pet that I cannot handle. Do I think it is necessary to be able to pick him up and carry him all over the house? No…but it is quite reasonable to be able to lift him when and if it is necessary. At this point, all I am attempting to do is lift him into my lap while sitting on the ground. I will need to be able to trim his nails at some point, seems logical to me to start getting him used to it now.

[Sarita]

Handling and picking up off the ground are 2 different things.

You can handle him but you want to stay close to the ground. It will be a very big challenge to lick a large rabbit off the ground and it’s not always possible to do it. I have always been on the ground as you describe on your lap – as for putting a large bun like these in carriers, you pretty much can and have to do that on the ground too.

[BennyBooBoo]

Hello,

Congrats on your new flemmy! 

Since your post is approaching a couple of weeks, I assume my advice to you may be moot point!  All I can say is that Benny (my 8wk flemish), acted similiar to yours the first few days, but he eventually left his area on his own and started acting like a silly bun just last night (I can’t wait to get home today to see him do it again!).  I think it’s just a matter of getting used to his surroundings and the family…it definitely takes more than a day or two.  I’m not sure how to address your litter box issue.  So far Benny hasn’t urinated anywhere else (knock on wood) other than the litter box (although he does leave droppings outside the box and in his enclosed area).  Perhaps it just takes more time.  Keep me updated on your progress with that!

We have had Benny now for 6 days.  I tried weighing him but it was difficult on my electronic scale.  He’s probably around 5 pounds give or take.

Although he doesn’t beg to be held or anything, he’s very docile once he has been picked up (whether on your lap or on the sofa).

Up until last night he wouldn’t leave his “area” on his own.  I have him in a large enclosed space (probably a 7ft by 4ft area) which I open up to reign freely when we are home (with supervision).

BEHAVIOR:

Last night was filled with a few milestones! 

He left his space on his own for the first time! 

He also started running around like crazy and did binkies for he first time.  It was a joy to witness this, as I was starting to think he wasn’t a very happy bun. 

He hopped on top of his cardboard boxes and back down on his own.

He nudged me with his nose when I approached him with a small portion of parsely and then he nudged me with his front paws!  I assume that meant “GIVE IT TO ME!” haha  (maybe this is also what yours did with you “boxing”?)

He no longer seems to get scared when we go to simply pet him.

LITTER BOX:

As far as litter box….so far he has only urinated in the litter box (good boy).  He leaves plenty of stool in the litter box, but also all around sporatically in his enclosed area.  His litter box is huge…I lined it first with puppy pads, then newspaper, then litter (yesterday’s news)….with hay on one end of it.  So far so good as I haven’t detected any odor from it (I changed it completely out once in the past week, but also used a scopper to scoop some poop out of it a few times in between).  I hope as time goes on, he leaves less and less droppings outside the litter box, although I’m not too worried about the harmless droppings (it’s not like it’s dog or horse poop!), as I can easily clean those up using my handy vac (which I purchsed for this reason only)…as long as he only urinates in the litter box (keeping fingers crossed).

I’ll post pics soon.

 

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