Poor Fiver

[MimzMum]

I knew he was coming from a troubled past, but it is sad to see just how far we have to go until he is trusting of people again.

 

I’ve had a couple of episodes of boxing and grunting when I move too close for his tastes.  Fast motions are completely out, but sometimes you need to move fast to contain a bunny when you’re lifting them, which kind of defeats the purpose of getting him to trust me. He flicks his head at you and smacks you with his ears if he doesn’t want you touching him. (The ears are definitely a touchy subject with him-poor thing-I just have horrid visions of those little boys lifting or grabbing him by the ears!) I sense that maybe he was struck if he didn’t do what was expected of him, because he seems VERY shy of hands. He lowers that cute little head of his, ready for a charge if he sees your hand in his pen. I wanted to bring him out for exercise today, as I had left him in his night pen yesterday so he could get used to it, but he’s having none of it. I even tried just letting him come out on his own, with a craisin offered as a reward, but even though he timidly walked out onto the bed, when I tried to gently pet his head or body, he jets right back in that pen and turns around and glares at you…or thumps, depending on how irritated you have made him.

 

It breaks my heart to see an animal this terrified. I’ve dealt with worse, but on this little guy it just chokes me up.

 

The only thing I see as an obstacle is, and I find it rather odd, I seem to be a bit allergic to his fur or dander. This  did not surface at the store, and I held his rather close to my face, so I am confused. Mimzy and Pip may make me sneeze occaionally, but the last time I was this clogged up was when our feral cat used to sleep on my bed. She’d been an outdoor cat for about a year and slept in a barn, to my understanding, so that may be what’s causing the problem as I have a mild grass allergy and it could be the proximity of his hay pile to my face. Either way this is pretty uncomfortable. So either he hasn’t groomed out whatever filthy stuff they kept him in at his last home, or I need a stronger antihistamine.

I don’t normally sneeze this bad unless there’s a horse within a few feet of me. And I really explode when I do, which I can imagine is a horrifying sound for a petite bun like Fiver. I keep having to apologize for being so noisy. lolz. So far the medicine I’m using is working okay, but I’m hoping to become accumstomed to him so I don’t have to take it.

 

Also, I purchased (rather foolishly) a Marchioro pen for him, since he was a smaller bun and I figured I could at least use it as a travel pen for vet visits when I got him something larger or he moved in with one of the other buns after they are bonded. But honestly, it’s a nuisance! The fasteners for the doors are totally impractical in form and function and, for some reason, I’ve buggered up the fasteners that hold the top of the pen to the bottom. Luckily he’s not heavy enough to push the top off and escape, but I’m going to have to find some way to reattach the two pieces so that they don’t fall apart at an inopportune moment. >.<

Does anyone here use this type of conatinment pen? If so, how on earth do you manage?? 0_o

 

Other than that, he must be getting a bit more comfortable, because he does dead bunny flops. I have one on my camera that I have to upload. I’ll tyr to attach it here. ^_^

Also, I find him incredibly intelligent and communicative. He very pointedly tells me when the water bottle needs adjustment or refill, when his litterbox needs to be changed he actually walks up to it and looks at it, then looks at me, then looks at it…his body language is totally readable, whereas Mimzy and Pip are still a mystery after a year and a half and 9 months, respectively. He will bat his play ball around and nudge it my way when he wants to play. Although granted that hasn’t been too often yet. And when venturing into the scary world of outside the pen, he lets me know just how he feels at each step; worried, inquisitive, curious, fearful, uninterested….you get the idea.

He’s quite a different bun from Pip and Mimzy. It is going to be a study in frustration in a few areas, and a completely new world in others.

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[TARM]

Thumper acts just like this. She will binky as long as she’s left alone to do her own thing but acts completely terrified if anyone attempts to handle her. She will show my daughter affection but she hasn’t offered me anything even resembling affection. She also doesn’t “ask” me for anything but she “begs” my daughter for her greens.

[MimzMum]

I think rabbits will definitely ‘glom’ to one person, like any other animal. My husky hated my husband when we first got him because a man had beaten the dog, burned him with cigarettes, scared him with loud noises and forced him to pull freight in competitions. It took me half an hour to befriend him with a pack of hot dogs and a skirt. (Anything in blue jeans terrified him and he became very aggressive.)
My cat, Q.T., was supposed to be my son’s cat. While I was trying to decide how to bring home another animal without my hubby going ballistic, I allowed him to sit in my lap, played with him (there were ten other kittens around him with all sorts of little kids from the school trying to mangle them gathered nearby) and then he crawled up in my jacket sleeve and went to sleep. One little girl kept asking me for him and I told her he was sleeping and shouldn’t be disturbed. On the way home, he scaled me and hung onto my neck with his little pins and needles until we stopped, I couldn’t get him back in his box so I had to walk into the house with him stuck to me…hubby arrived at the door (my son had called home to tell him that I was coming with cat) and said “NO”, but I begged. Told him the boy was to take care of him. But I don’t think he ever left my lap for those first few weeks. Needless to say, guess who he loves?

I hope that Fiver will eventually come to trust me. He seemed genuinely comforted while I held him in the store and that first evening here. I think though, he’s beginning to realize that, instead of screaming, nasty, obnoxious little children hovering over him all the time, he’s got quite a masochistic, easily startled sycophant on his hands. Once he sees that I am the bunny slave, I think he’s going to grow into the nickname I have given him…The Little King. ^_^

[MarkBun]

Remember that some buns are just not people buns and you have to let them be. I’m coming up on one year with Dono and he still won’t let me pet him unless he is completely exhausted from romping around and doesn’t have the energy to flee. Maryann also is very warm to me but she at least won’t flee when I approach. But for her to approach me? Almost never.

[RabbitPam]

I was telling a coworker today that I stopped wearing shorts because of how much Spockie loved my ankles and calves. Instead of reaching for him, maybe sit or stand nearby with your stinky feet (they love those) and legs showing. It might just have been a personal thing, but he may like other parts better than hands. Could also lie down with your face on the rug and see if he noodles around you.

He looks very comfortable. It’s quite soon, and he doesn’t know if he’s staying or moving on to other poking children, so give him time. I think Rexes may be more social than snuggly in general. Also, your hands may smell like Pip or Mimzy, which could make him bat at you.

If you can put the hay as far away from your head as possible it might help. Didn’t someone here recommend a hay manger that kept it all inside and the dust from flying around? I’ll try to find that website.

You’re doing very well with him.

Oh, when’s his vet appt.? He might bat if he’s a bit under the weather.

[RabbitPam]

http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=saveabunny&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=661464869&Count2=578605294

No-waste Hay Holder – might have been this one.

[osprey]

Yeah, those Marchioro’s do tend to fall apart at the slightest provocation.  The side clips that hold the wire part to the plastic bottom are hopeless, I’ve completely given up on those.  The clips that hold the wire part together will eventually wear out too, but those can easily be replaced by a few stratigically placed cable ties.  The best thing about them is that they can be dismantled and store easily, since I use mine for temporary fosters it is easy to break down and put away in the garage when not in use.

 

[MimzMum]

Yeah, I know he may never really warm to me Markus…but something in his eyes tells me that he is really looking for someone to speak to him on his level. I won’t push anything with him, since that doesn’t work with any of my other animal companions, so I certainly am not working on the premise that it would start now. But I hope to give him hope.

My vet tends to take off early in the week for three and sometimes four day weekends. But, she’s the only semi rabbit savvy vet I know, so…. :-/ I’ll be bringing him in on Monday afternoon.

I’m looking at the hay manger. I haven’t had success with one yet. ^_^ For some reason my bunnies like their hay right on the floor next to their noses.

Aw, they’re sold out. Oh boo!

Wow, look at the fleece bed! Hmm…(thinks of the possibility of sore hocks in rexes) Do you suppose a few of those would be nice for him? I notice he does slip and slide along the floor and that irritates him.

And I keep my hands washed as best I can, but he needs SOME smell to recognize. (My feet are immaculate, you could eat off them! ^_^ ) I cleaned out his litter box last night with vinegar and he had to sniff at it for quite a while before it obviously dawned on him, “oh yeah…my throne…I remember this thing.” xD
After I took a shower last night, he didn’t recognize my scent at all and gave me a beautiful stink eye. >.<

I can see him calming down. But he’s a year and a half old. If he was abused all that time, those memories are not going to fade easily.

[kimberleyanddarren]

dont worry mimzmum he will trust you eventually, i think what you should do is move his pen to lets say the bathroom (as if its one of those big cages its easy to move right? or am i thinking of something else) anyway what i did was i just sat ont he floor with my book/laptop and just sat there, for hours and hours and hours but in the end he came an inch closer, then another, then another, then he was walking by me, then climbing on me, then taking treats from me etc. i think you should give this a go i found it works brilliantly and i can get other things done at the same time ie. my reading for college or my BB messages hehe I dont think any bun would not warm to a person if they put enough time in, they may like one person more than another but i think you will always ahve a bond if you work hard at it, keep us posted hun ***get some bunny attention vibes*** hehe

[MooBunnay]

Henri is a lot like Fiver, he was rescued from an alley way where he was stuffed in a cage full of baby buns, and then grew up in a shelter, so he was very un-socialized. I think that with these types of very intelligent bunnies there is a great opportunity to make a very strong bond with them. Henri would lunge and sometimes even threaten to bite my husband when he first adopted him, but with my husband’s patience and insistence, Henri slowly came around, and now shares a very tight bond with my husband. When Brian has dinner, Henri will start eating his hay, if Brian lays on the floor next to Henri’s cage, Henri will lay down next to him, and when my husband sticks his head in Henri’s cage, Henri will come over and groom his head! Henri still does not enjoy people sticking their hands in his cage, and still is next to impossible to pick-up, but that doesn’t interfere at all with our enjoyment of the bond we share with him!

[MimzMum]

I actually had a great few moments with Fiver today that have me very hopeful.

First of all, he is actually becoming much more curious about his surroundings. He is also not flicking me with his ears as much, or startling at the least touch on his person every time we bump into each other. Instead of keeping to the far corner of the pen with bunny butt firmly positioned in my direction, now he often comes up to the side of the pen and seems to be looking for nose rubs or a familiarity sniff. As long as I don’t move too fast, or touch before permission is given, we have precious moments there.

Today I left his door to his pen open to the bed after I cleaned, (I can actually put my hand into his cage now with surprisingly little interference from Fiver…I almost get less growling from him than I do from Mimzy!), and with a little coaxing, he came out onto the bed and began making mental notes about where everything was. You can just see the wheels turning; “creep forward, sniff, creep sideways, sniff some more, look something up and down, poke it with your nose and if it doesn’t fight back it’s safe, move over here, sniff again”….you get the idea. ^_^

This went on for about half an hour or more, and then we had to retire as I had to go out for a bit. But somehow, this wasn’t enough for Fiver, he seemed genuinely disturbed that I had shut his door and kept giving me these plaintive looks that just shouted, “Hey, I wasn’t done making my map yet!”

This is better than I had hoped. Of course sometimes a touch, unsolicited, can still cause Fiver to either leap completely back into his pen, or at least get as close to the door as possible. But you can see he’s just loving the idea that he can take himself out where he wants to go, instead of having someone grab him by whatever appendage they think is appropriate, and haul him around like a sack of rice, which is what I feel has happened to him in the past. The lady at the store said he did fine once you got him in your arms…well of course, because part of a rabbit’s fight or flight response is to become as small and diminutive as possible when cornered. That may be the only reason he was complacent when being held. I assume that will change as he realizes he has more freedom now to be the bunny God meant him to be.

I also got what I think was meant to be a kiss today from Fiver. I had put my hand up to the pen bars at Fiver’s request for a sniff, and felt his little lips moving over my hand…suddenly there was the feel of a little tongue on my finger. He could’ve been licking me…or maybe just tasting to see if there might still be a hint of Craisin on my skin. ^_^

Either way, it was a sweet moment. I had a few of those with Mimzy too, when he first got here, and then they stopped when I became more bunny slave than true friend. But now, I can see Mimzy is just a bit jealous, and so very fond of our times alone together.
I had forgotten that it took months to bring Mim around to realizing I wasn’t going to hurt him in any way. I can only expect as much, if not the same fears in all areas, from Fiver.

Now, if only the eventual bonding will go as well as it has in the past when we get to that point, it’ll be 3 bun heaven! ^_^

[Lightchick]

Awww….MM! How sweet! I’m sure Fiver will learn that you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him and LOVE you!

[MarkBun]

Not to get your hopes up but he may be lookin’ for a bunny friend. You never know. But as I found out with Dono if you bond him with a bun before you, he’ll take quite some time to warm up to you. But he was for Maryann so I have no complaints.

[MimzMum]

Yes, this is true. ^_^ And I think I may know who….
Please if you have time, see my new post in Bonding called “Here’s a strange…”

I’d love your opinion.

[kimberleyanddarren]

mimzmum i dont think we have had our fill of fiver pics yet, so if you please hehe
hopscotch will come over for pets happily, daxter will let you pet him but he seldom seeks to be petted, i guess its just bunny personality!

[MimzMum]

Ah, sorry about that, hehehe….

I shall work on getting a few more. He really hates the flashy box, but I’ll persuade him somehow.
I hope to get piccies of his binkies. ^_^

[Author]

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