Help for New Bunny Owner!

[mellykins]

Hi everyone! I brought home a beautiful lionhead mix two weeks ago from a local rabbit rescue. He was rescued when he was about four weeks old and has been through a couple of foster home. All of his foster mom’s ADORED him. The woman who had him the longest from like April to August was almost in tears when I took him home she was so happy (the reason he had been through so many homes is there appears to be something about him that other animals and buns don’t like). Anyway, I went to go see him, I held him, I played with him, he was so sweet! I fell in love! And then I brought him home. Obviously I totally expect things to be different as he adjusts but I’m wondering if I’m (a) trying to bond with him correctly and (b) what the average time frame looks like for getting your buns to trust you. 

Ari has a giant x-pen in our office. When I want to bond with him, I attach another x-pen to his and just sit and read in the corner and offer him treats. He has gotten to the point where he seems to trust me completely in his (he doesn’t mind me walking around it, seems just fine with sudden movements, knows my voice, comes to my hand, etc…). I am positive he knows who I am and is okay with me (which is a huge victory for me!) My concern is that he just will not let me touch him, at all. If I give him a slice of dried apple, he’ll let me pet him while he’s chewing it and then will bolt. He seems to be quiet terrified of me touching him and or doesn’t like it at all. I know he has had nothing but loving treatment since he was rescued, so I’m really confused as to what to do. I don’t try and fore it. I just sit in his x-pen for hours and I’m lucky to pet him even twice. Even when he’s up and about (geeze I never knew rabbits slept so much!) he rarely comes over to see me. Or on the rare occasion that he does, the second I move my hand to pet him (without a treat) he bolts and hides in his box-home. I just don’t know what to do. I’m assuming trying to catch him and put him in my lap is not a good idea? Does anyone have any more tips for how to bond other than just sitting here/laying here for hours? Is it possible that he just doesn’t like me? Is it possible he will never like me? On a more pressing note, he’s deep in shed and needs to be brushed but I don’t know what to do because I’m positive he will not let me. I’m really worried he’s going to give himself GI statis by ingesting all this fur. His poop has been fine, but last night I noticed a tuft of hair attached to one. 

As I said earlier it seems he will ONLY let me pet him if I give him dried apple slices which I know is not good to give him on the daily (I’ve been giving him about a slice and a half every day for the past two days). I have tried banana which his foster mom used to give him and he’s not as into that. I tried hand feeding him pellets this morning but it seemed it only works when he’s really hungry and he wont accept it from me any other time. Do people have suggestions for daily bonding treats? 

[Hazel]

First off, welcome to BB!

Don’t worry, it sounds like you’re doing great. Some rabbits are just very opposed to being touched, even if they had no traumatic experiences in the past. We adopted our Oscar when he was about 9 weeks old and while he didn’t exactly love being petted, he allowed it for a while. Once he matured and finally got neutered, he started to become quite aggressive, especially if food was involved. He would attack my hand, and would not let me pet him. I got great advice on this forum and slowly won him over again. The most helpful advice I got was to hand feed as much as possible. Treats, veggies as well as the daily pellets. I only give him a little bit of pellets at a time, he gets 1/8 cup daily and I divide it into 4 – 5 feedings. That way he’s always ready to eat. Once he was comfortable with eating from my hand, I started to pet him while he ate, a little at a time. Don’t do it until he hops off, give him a few strokes, then stop. That way he will get used to it without being pushed over his limit. The last few weeks we have started to feed Oscar treats while he’s in our lap. We let him hop up there on his own, we don’t force him. He loves being on our lap now, in fact he will sometimes hop up on the chair before we get a chance to sit down, he gets that excited! Once Ari is comfortable with being in your lap, start petting again for short periods of time. Lately I have started feeding Oscar his pellets in my lap as well. A couple of times he actually stayed up there after eating everything and let me pet him for a good while. I was quite amazed. So the bottom line is, take it slow, use food to get him close to you and to get him used to being touched. Don’t force him and don’t push him too hard. With lots of patience, you will see results. Like I said, Oscar was not only not letting us pet him, he was also aggressive. So you’re already better off than we were back then.

Good luck!

[mellykins]

Thank you! It’s good to know that it can get better. I feel like I keep reading “well it’s possible he’ll just never like you” and was starting to get disheartened. I will keep in mind the “stop petting before he runs away,” I had been doing exactly the opposite. 

Thank you!

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