Normal for a new bun?

Hi guys

Great to find this forum. I've a very new bunny owner (although i've had cats and rats for years) and am finding that there's a lot to learn about the psychology of bunnies! I've read practically every article on the Internet but would love some feedback from fellow owners as i am perplexed with developments so far!

2 weeks ago we (my boyfriend and I) brought a 5 month old boy German Lop. His name's Bigwig. We got him from a pet shop (i'm a bit ashamed at that part - normally it's rescue homes all the way but i made the mistake of holding him and fell in love!).

In the shop he was no problem to pick up, was quiet and seemed happy to be held (or was he just terrified?) He now has the attic room as his home, with a large cage for night times but free run of the attic all day. He's got lots of toys, wood, games etc. etc. and we spend an hour in the morning with him and 2-3 hours in the evening with him, although we would love a situation where he comes down every evening to hang out in the living room with us, and eventually the whole house once he's fully integrated with the cats (whom he has met and chased around!)

However, since we've brought him home, he seems to be constantly disgusted at us, WILL NOT allow us to pick him up and has gone from wanting to interact to sitting in the corner under the sofa bed where he knows we can't reach him. He has moments of loving where he'll nudge and play (bunny bricks with Jenga!) and today he had a crazy 2 minutes where he ran circuits of the room and even did a couple of binkys. He does lie around stretched out with his legs behind him, which i understand shows a good level of relaxation, but he also spends a lot of time grooming himself around us, which i'm concerned shows anxiety!

In order to create more time where he is around us, we have now trained him to jump into a box which we carry him in down to the living room because the stress it causes him to be picked up results in the biggest cold shoulder you've ever seen! He's also a right little stomper and will stomp over the least little thing i.e. not getting his carrot fast enough!

Does this all sound like normal bunny behaviour, are we expecting too much, too soon and should we just back off or continue with placing Bigwig in situations where he has the opportunity to socialise? He is un-neutered (although not for much longer) so I wonder if his variable moods are simply teenage stropiness!

So many of the posts i've read on here talk about sociable little bunnies who light up at the sight of their owners - what are we doing wrong?

Teenage stroppiness.....almost certainly :lol: :lol:

Also, however, on the psychology front the vast majority of rabbits absolutely deteste being picked up and those that tolerate it do so out of fear.

This is because, as a prey species, the sensation of being carried mimicks that of being picked up and taken away by a predator....leaving most rabbits in fear of their life. This results in a few submitting to it in fright and others madly scrabbling to break free.

Welcome to RU by the way :wave:

Hi there!

Thanks for your reply :wave:

I absolutely understand the picking up thing and that's cool if Bigwig's not up for it during play time but I'm concerned about handling from a health point of view i.e. taking him to the vets or checking him over myself.

Do you think he will settle as he gets used to us and matures? I guess at 5 months he's still young and he's spent the majority of his life so far being handled by different people each day in the pet shop. Must have been rubbish for him!

I guess i'm just looking for reassurance that we're being good parents! It's like a whole new world, and totally different to both cats and rats. :bunny:

It is important that they tolerate being handled to some extent as other wise a stressful trip to the vets is even worse for them.

I find that acceptance comes with time but the best way is to actually get them to sit on you lap....that way they get used to being off the floor and close to you without the restriction of being clasped or the motion of being carried.

TBH I often use the 'trancing' technique on my rabbits when it comes to things such as nail clipping and bum checks but thats a personal choice and not everyone agrees with it.

I see it as the lesser of two evils.

hi there and welcome to RU i'm reasonably new here myself and a reasonably new bunny owner! i found training winnie to be picked up fairly stressful because she kicked out and i indeed got the cold shoulder, but i took on the training technique advised in a book i purchased, which simply said to pick her up for a second and put her down instantly, which didn't give her a chance to kick, once i put her down she got a treat, i continued to do this for a little longer each time, if she kicked she didn't get her treat, she soon learned that to fill her stomach the best thing was to keep still, like sooz said rabbits relate being picked up to predators so by treating they slowly learn its not so bad, although some don't, winnie now hops on your lap happily and i can pick her up with ease, she even lets me turn her over to brush her belly, using the same technique she knows she gets a treat at the end of it!!
hope this helps, oh and just to add everytime i have taken her to the vets she has been amazing i think slightly down to the fact that i insist on holding her and a little out of fear too which is sad but she always seems happy when she gets her treat in the end!!!!!

you can do a similar thing with getting your rabbits to follow you (useful if you want to take them back to bed). Try "Bigwig come" and when he does give him a pellet. Shaking their pellet tin or treat ball also seems to have the same effect. After about two weeks he should follow you.

To get him to go home to the attic you'll also have to train him to go up and down stairs. Up is easy, just a pellet on each step...although don't let him go too high because then you want to train him to go down (a pellet again). Some buns never get the hang of going downstairs though. My foster has decided she has vertigo & can't get down. Luckilly she also has the common sense not to go up anymore either.

Have you had him neutured? This might help him calm down a little.

When he's settled in completely, I'm sure he'll be fine, and grooming means that he feels comfortable. I'd say, you should sit in there with him, and if he doesn't come to you, read a book and make a point of ignoring him, he wont be able to resist you also, if you kneel and put him on your lap, whne he stays there for a bit, you should reward him so that he connects you with nice things.

:wave: I would suggest neutering him as well.

Thanks everyone - i really appreciate the responses. I brought him downstairs last night (in his bunny chariot!) and we had a nudging and nuzzling session behind the sofa which was lovely and reminded me to be very patient with him. It's amazing how rewarding it is when they show that they do like you really!

Hi,

My Tinker had a stroppy patch when he was a few months old, but since netering he was fine! Also, it takes time for them to get used to you - a good website if you can google it, is the language of lagomorphs.

Good luck xxx

Thanks Sarah. I've called the Vets today ... he's going in for the chop in a month! Once that's been done, i'm going to look for a girlfriend for him, i think he'd like a special friend to hang out with.

Tinker's gorgeous, by the way - very handsome boy! :wave:

CONGRATS on your new bundle of fluff!! It doesn't take long for them to become the centre of attention

Just wanted to add, something we found very useful was feeding their pellets by hand. Initially it was to ensure I knew how much each hand and so that I could limit the amounts they have, since they would eat as much as they could and ignore the hay which wasnt good! They only have a dozen each a day now and they are used as treats really. I kneel on the floor or sit on the settee and it doesnt take long for them to get the idea and to be scrabbling all over you and they follow me everywhere first thing in the morning which is when they know they get them!
Molly was very nervous when we first brought her home and since Charlie had been for us for some time she copied him and it didnt take long for her to be far better and climbing all over me for the food!
I also find that offering them a treat is a FAB way to get them into bed at night and before I go to work in the morning. They go mad for it and now come when called.

There are lots ofhints and tips but you will know your bun best and find what works for him.

PS getting Charlie a GF was the best thing I did, company during the day and partner in mischief by night