My little lamb hates me?

[Noel_dee]

About a month ago i brought home a 2 month old Holland lop doe named LambChop, all is well besides she HATES me. Ill sit on the floor low down so she can get used to me, bribe her with pellets in my hand, pet her, but she only faces away from me or doesn’t go near me at all! What else is there to do besides the generic things i read on articles about difficult bunnies? She seems to be settling into her new home nice, she is spot on with the letterbox besides a handful of poo scattered around her cage, but i take that as she 3 months old, it’ll get better. She loves her toys her hay her bed, basically everything but me.

I also have a male 3 year old nether land dwarf who she loves more than me! I had much help from the users here so I took the advice and they are separated until her spay. But she shows more interest in him than me! She has her separate side of the dog pen i use for my older male, so i do have to pick her up every time i want to take her out because the door is on his side, does she hate me for the handling? It literally breaks my heart! when she has the roam of a room, she won’t even walk past me, or when i sit on her side of the pen shell turn her back to me so she won’t see me or hide in the corner. And strangely enough, she hates hates hates her head pet, she is a lil diva never touch her head or she will shake and run away from you. I will occationally get a chance to pet along her back but thats it.  I imagined holland lops very mellow and lovable but she just doesn’t like anyone but my boy. Will she lighten up or is her personality just a subborn diva, I never had this problem with my boy growing up. I know it will take time but it has been a month and still no progress. Any suggestions or thoughts for better bonding?

[MK]

She sounds perfectly normal. You have to give her time to settle. My bunnies didn’t like me for a while after I got them. To her, she is still in a new place, and she probably sees you as a big, kind of confusing thing that gives her food and tries to pick her up sometimes. It is good to get her used to being handled while she is young, but she will warm up to you.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I agree. She sounds normal. Some buns take much longer to get used to/trust their humans. Give her time.

[LBJ10]

A month isn’t that long. Some bunnies are more outgoing, while some are more shy. So if she happens to be more shy, then what you’re describing isn’t at all unusual. She sounds like the typical shy bunny and she probably just needs more time.

[Noel_dee]

Is sitting by her cage and handling her enough? I was told by the women who I adopted her from not to give her anything but hay and pellets until she is 6 months, so i can’t coax her into eating from my hand with any special treats.

[Sarita]

You can start introducing greens at 12 weeks, you don’t need to wait 6 months….

[manic_muncher]

It took 7 months for my Holland Lop, Bumpy, to really warm up to us (3 months after his neuter). Other than if we were offering raisins or banana, he would come get those and be off again as soon as they were gone. Now I don’t feed him his pellets, which he LOVES.. they are strictly given as “treats” several times a day, so I am using his love for pellets as a reason for him to be nice to me. He now enjoys pets on his head, grooms my pants, and hops up in the chair next to me several times a day to check to see if he might get a treat.

HAHA he just jumped up here and is periscoping to see if anything is on the desk within reach… like his pellet bin.

[Noel_dee]

12 weeks?! The woman who I got her from made it a point to not feed her anything but hay and pellets until 6 months or else she could get terrible stomach problems and get dehydrated.
When did you start to give Bumpy bananas and raisins? Im very paranoid with Lamb’s diet based on what that woman told me.

[stella'smom]

look at house rabbit society’s diet guidelines. they really know what they are talking about!

and thanks to everyone,you all gave me hope that buddy will like me more and more as time goes by.

[Linette]

Try cilantro. Good treat. no sugary so not likely to cause tummy trouble. Offer her a strand when she is near you…a sort of peace offering.

I’m guessing it won’t be long until she’s coming to YOU saying “hey, where is my cilantro?”

you don’t need to give her bunches, just one strand when she is near you and see how it goes.

[manic_muncher]

He got raisins and banana pieces before he really should have gotten them. I really lucked out on not causing any upsets. At 12 weeks we started him with romaine lettuce, and after a few days, he got a couple raisins. At 16 weeks my husband and I were having a treat war… I wanted the bunny to like me and would offer a few raisins. He wanted to impress the rabbit with banana (and he liked watching Bumpy’s back spazz out while eating it). I finally had to put my foot down, because obviously the rabbit had no intentions of doing what was best for himself, and my husband wasn’t any help.

if I had to do it all over again. I would use pellets exclusively as the “treats” and maybe once a week or so surprise him with a raisin. It’s really hard to say no to those cute faces.

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