Being a bit rebellious?

[PeachyCream]

Alright it is day 3 of rabbit caring. I have figured that Bright Eyes doesn’t like being in his cage as he tends to grunt at me when he’s in it and tips his food over…

So I let him run around the living room. I’m never away from him for more than a few minutes at a time and he seems very content to hop in between the dining chairs over and over (a lot of our floor is hardwood and he doesn’t seem to like being on hardwood so he generally stays in a small carpeted area) I was going to show him some other areas of the house but now he’s under the dining table and just won’t let me pick him up. When I go near him he hops away from me and then he’ll hop towards me making these very strange low snorting sounds… Like grunting…

I don’t think it’s anything serious, to me I think he’s just being a bit of a brat (though it’s pretty understandable, since he’s in a brand new environment) I have a food dish and a water dish near him so that he can get to it himself. However, am I right about him just being rebellious or is there something else I’m missing? How should I go about approaching him if he always runs away from me?

[Sarita]

He’s just being a rabbit. Most rabbits hop away when they suspect you are going to pick him up – they do not like being picked up.

[PeachyCream]

Yeah… I wonder what the grunting is about… I don’t think I’ve done anything to make him angry and he only does it when he comes near me… He’ll come close to me sniff me and start grunting lightly… It’s a very odd thing…. He also seems very interested in my feet and legs

[PeachyCream]

I was able to catch him by putting a hand over him, not very hard around the back of the neck… He struggled a lot though, I was worried so I waited with my hand on him until he calmed down, stroked behind his ears a bit then picked him up… He was breathing really heavily… He’s calmed down now but I feel like this would be very bad for him if it went down like this every time… So I’ve moved his cage into my room and made my room rabbit-proof….He’ll sleep in my room and during the day I’ll let him out to hop around my room only until we get better acquainted… What do you guys think? I’m also still wondering why he was running around me grunting at me… He even chased my cat and was grunting at her! I’m not sure what this means… Someone told me grunting means he’s angry but I can’t imagine any reason for him to chase my cat around and grunt at her… She hasn’t done anything to him so I’m not sure why he’d be angry at her…

[Sam and Lady's Human]

He’s angry at her because she is in his territory. Being territorial is from the surging hormones.

I think putting him in a living space where you won’t have to pick him up is a great idea

[Author]

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