Bunny squealed when I visited him.

[nelze]

Hi! I recently got a 2-month old lionlop and hollandlop, and while the lionlop is still skittish around me, the hollandlop is quite friendly and tends to lick my fingers all the time when I’m around and petting her. However, tonight, when I got into their enclosure to refill their food bowl and to open their enclosure (they live in a room with an enclosure like a playpen around them when there are no people in the house, and are free to roam when there’s supervision), my lionlop suddenly let out this scream which lasted for around 5-10 seconds and I was scared to death ( He didn’t stop until I stepped out of their enclosure and I tried to calm him down by making hushing sounds. After a while when he’s calm, I went back to refill their food and he ate and lounged around like normal. I gave him a few pets and a rub to make him feel safe again. Meanwhile, my hollandlop was just lounging in a corner and was just watching him the whole time he was screaming. What did I do wrong? Why would he be scared of me? It made me so sad to hear him scream like that and I hope I can make it up to him.

[tobyluv]

Rabbits normally will only scream if they are in severe pain or are very frightened, possibly by the presence of a predator. It is possible that he was asleep, or zoned out, and he suddenly awakened to your presence which startled him and he viewed you as a threat in those first moments. In the future before you go into their pen, speak with him and make sure that he is aware of you.

Since you have a male and female, you will be needing to separate them before they are 12 weeks old to prevent pregnancy. After they have been spayed and neutered, with a recuperation period of a few weeks, you can rebond them. When you separate them, their cages or pens can be near each other, but they shouldn’t be touching. Rabbits have been known to mate through cage bars.

[nelze]

Thank you for that! Yes I will make sure to separate them a few weeks from now I also made sure to let them know of my presence before entering their play area.

Well, the day after, my lionlop (Teal’c) seems to have calmed down, and my hollandlop (Ishta) is still playful. However, today, I was awoken from my sleep when Teal’c screamed yet again in the wee hours of the morning. I rushed to their bunny room but when I arrived he was quiet and seemed to be eating and just hopping around. I thought maybe a cat passed by outside the window or something (We have stray cats outside), but when I was playing with them and looking after them this afternoon, he screamed yet again! (Note I was already with them for a good 30 minutes before he screamed so it wouldn’t have been because he was surprised at my presence.) Before he screamed though, he was licking his paws and he fell over on his back because he was trying to reach a tough spot. His back landed on the corner of a cardboard box, but he was able to stand up, shake his fur a bit, then he started screaming (but not as loud as the first time I heard him, and just a bit shorter). What is wrong with him? T_T Do I need to take him to the vet? I inspected every corner of him, there didn’t seem to be any fleas or mites or whatever and his fur is spotless. I’m really worried about him but I’m afraid the vet might stress him out since he’s only been with us for a week now, and the constant travel might do much worse to him.

[jerseygirl]

I think do take him to a rabbit savvy vet. I do understand the fear of stress of a visit causing more problems (I was thinking like this just yesterday) but it’s a risk we need to take sometimes. I wonder if a nerve is being affected and causing some sharp, sporadic pain? Im also reminded of a members rabbit who was passing kidney stones at a very young again. He was on a medication to assist this and screamed when each stone passed. : (

{{{Vibes}}} for your little one!

[nelze]

OMG now I’m more scared than ever T_T I will have to look for a rabbit savvy vet near us asap! I will pay attention to his poop/pee and check if anything is wrong with it! What could be the cause of it? Their diet consists of alfalfa hay (since I read it’s better for younger rabbits) mixed with some timothy hay, and a small amount of pellets so they don’t overeat it, and a lot of water. I hope he’ll get better when the vet checks him out T_T

[jerseygirl]

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that your rabbit would have kidney stones. Just that that particular rabbit screamed out due to the pain. I don’t think anyone could 100% say why your rabbit is letting out these screams. There could be a multitude of reasons. A vet would need to examine him to truly get to possible cause.

[nelze]

Yes I understand I just meant to ask like is there anything bad with his diet on the off chance that it could be kidney stones. I’ll definitely bring him to the vet!

[jerseygirl]

Their diet sounds spot on for their age. Please keep us updated how you get on!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By jerseygirl on 3/16/2017 1:57 AM

I think do take him to a rabbit savvy vet. I do understand the fear of stress of a visit causing more problems (I was thinking like this just yesterday) but it’s a risk we need to take sometimes. I wonder if a nerve is being affected and causing some sharp, sporadic pain? Im also reminded of a members rabbit who was passing kidney stones at a very young again. He was on a medication to assist this and screamed when each stone passed. : (

{{{Vibes}}} for your little one!

That’s so sad  Poor little thing. 

[Author]

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