• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

should i be handling jason more?

jasonbunny

Warren Scout
When i first got jason i did not know anything about rabbits, so immediately started looking for info online, in books and of course joining forums. I read a lot about not forcing a rabbit if they are scared to be held, taking time to let them get to know you etc, and thats what i have been doing with jason, its been nearly 3 weeks since i have had him after him being in a rescue all the first year of his life, and he has done so well. He will come to me when i call him, though he wont stick about if i dont have food :lol: and i can pretty much herd him to bed at night now when we go, instead of the half hour catch the bun escapades of previous nights!

I dont pick him up much at all, i know how to do it and am confident to do it, but i just know he doesnt enjoy it. He will sit on my lap and cower, no matter how reassuring i am of him, and i feel guilty! So i havent picked him up in a while, and hubs said to me last night that i should be. I just enjoy watching him hopping about the lounge, grooming, eating his foods, eyeballing the cats LOL, i dont feel the need to have him on my lap.

What do you think? should an owner regularly handle their bun? Or is it okay to just do so when needed?
 
I pick Lucifer & Azrael up for cuddles; but that's cos they put up with it :lol: Nyx hates being picked up, and even touching him will sometimes make him run a mile so I tend not to pick him up, unless he's going in the carrier to go to the vets.
 
I pick Misty up now and again, mainly only when I need to. Most of the time I sit on the floor and she can decide whether to sit with me or not. Sometimes when she can be arsed she will jump up on the chair but thats not very often now as shes an old stick :lol:
 
:lol:I don't pick any of mine up, they get strokes, nose rubs and attention when they come and see me when they get their dinner. It scares them too much when I pick them up so I don't think its fair on them.

I herd them into a carrier if they need to go to a vet and they understand that now so there's no need to pick them up - only my vet picks them up.

I can touch them and observe them enough to check them and make sure they are healthy etc so what's the point in picking them up and making them scared just for my benefit.

If I want a cuddle I pick one of my cats up - I have six to choose from :lol:
 
Rosie was a stray and she's very handshy and doesn't like being handled. I thought if I handled her everyday she would get used to me, but it made her worse and she started attacking my hands.

What I do now is sit on the floor everyday with a few treats like parsley or carrot and let her come up to me. I hold the treats so she has to put her front paws on my legs to reach the treat, sometimes I stroke her while she eats it so she associates it with something good.

She follows me around now and will come right up to me and will let me stroke her for a while even without the treat. Hopefully she will trust me enough to let me pick her up eventually, without taking my hand off! :lol:

If I want to get her to go in her cage or in a carrier I just put a treat in there and wait for her to go in herself.

I found that taking it slowly and letting them come to you in their own time worked better for me.
 
more than one rabbit?

Jason has always been on his own i think, in the rescue centre and with s he seems content, but i read a lot about rabbits feeling happier with a bunny friend. I feel bad because unless we get the house we are going for in april, we dont have the room for a bigger cage to acoomodate two buns, so its not an option for me at the moment. Do all buns need a friend or has anyone ever had just one that was happy?

If we get the house i will definately have another bun as it is HUGE and has a great big garden too,
 
Rabbits are social animals, but that doesn't mean they need a bunny friend.

If you're out of the house a lot (as I and my O/H are) then a bunny friend would be a good idea, but if you're home a lot then as long as he gets plenty of interaction with you he should be happy.
 
I try to pick my rabbits up every day or two. As soon as I get them my daugthers give them a tasty treat and I only hold them for a few minutes. If they struggle I let them go. They are very friendly and come over to us alot but don't really like being stroked unless food is involved. I feel this is because they get plenty of grooming and cuddles from each other. Try getting right down to their level and talking to them before you pick them up, it helped with mine. They have even started going to the spot I tend to pick them up from and waiting for me!
 
My two don't like being picked up but we have to to get them from the run. Piper will hunch up into a ball if she thinks you're going to pick her up and Minstrel will run off :roll:

We have Minstrel trained to climb all over us now, amaxing what a piece of banana will do! Piper will occassionally jump on the sofa and onto our knees but then gets straight down again.

They are both getting better at being picked up, so long as he is sitting up your chest Minstrel is ok. Piper prefers to sit across your arm with her head hidden, and when she wants to get down she'll do everything in her power! This is fine except when she's being carried across the garden, I've worked out that if you cover her head she feels much safer.

They are much happier with all four paws on the ground tho!

So long as you can do bum checks etc when he is on the floor I wouldn't worry about picking him up.

Helen x
 
Pickin Bun Up!

Hi, Majority of buns dont like being picked up its their natural instincts, so you arent doing anything at all wrong.Mine love for us to stroke them, and love it if we lie on the floor with them and cuddle.if i go to the door or phone my indoor lop will come with me and nudge for strokes, but hates me pickin him up but sometimes i need to cuddle him and he reluctantly puts up with it!!! To get him in his cage at night it was a long process but worked by saying etc"billy in cage" then id give him a treat of his favourite nibble, it works wonders.Im new on here myself but own two buns, if at anytime i can help in anyway just message me..billysmom:wave:
 
dont get me wrong, sometimes he is being soo adorable i just want to pick him up and cuddle him, but i just dont believe in forcing myself on him, same as i dont with my toddlers, if they dont want a cuddle i dont make them, and with jason its the same idea. When he is on a lap he goes stock still and i know its because he thinks he is going to be hurt. When i have picked him up i have tried having a bit of veg to give to him but he wont eat anything when on the lap, not even apple.

My husband however has a different attitude to me and just picks him up as he pleases.

Jason is very active and often jumps on the couch beside us or lets me stroke his nose, i think thats enough :D
 
I try and pick mine up about once or twice a week. I will probably increase it to everyday as we hit summer to check for fly strike. I pick them up mainly for health check reasons (although I do like to have a bit of a cuddle too).
 
Alvin wouldnt come near me when i tried to pick him up as a baby and when i stopped trying to cuddle the poor thing he suddenly liked me :)

i weigh my pair weekly and pick them up out of the carrier for a few minutes, im not yet confident enough to just grab them off the floor... Alvin fights every second but pearl freezes in fear.... the fact i watch them like a hawk closely monitor eating habits and poop production i dont think i have to constantly handle them.. if im concerned about anything i get ste to flip alvin over for me :D they are definately much happier without the constant threat of being grabbed...
 
now see thats just what i am concerned about myself, i dont want jason to start feeling nervous outwith his cage incase hubby grabs him. Last night hubby was out and it was just me and jase, he was out from hiding so much more than he is normally.
 
now see thats just what i am concerned about myself, i dont want jason to start feeling nervous outwith his cage incase hubby grabs him. Last night hubby was out and it was just me and jase, he was out from hiding so much more than he is normally.

i wouldnt worry about that, in time he will bond with your hubby... alvin still begs food off ste he just dosent give him the chance to catch him :lol::lol::lol:

alvin and ste are bonded different as well. when he lies on the floor with him alvin climbs all over him and even licks his head, the more bodies in the house the more alvin hides too.. when all is calm he will come out from the sofa and lie in the middle of the floor.. ive never been licked by alvin :( some bunnies just dont need us humans :cry:

pearl on the other hand only approaches ste when alvin is already there but will practically lie across my feet and grooms me.... me and her have deffo bonded very very well :D:D:D
 
Out of my 6 buns, the only one who will let me pick her up is Moonshine. Dudley and Smudge are also easy to pick up without too much fuss as they are small buns. I wouldn't even try to pick up Flops, she is a french lop cross and a BIG girl and she's really timid.

and then Billy and Emily are far too skittish to be picked up.

All my buns like strokes and nose rubs though
 
Hi
Just been reading this thread and it has made me feel much better about the whole handling thing, at least I think it has! My two 16 week old does are happy to be stroked and hand fed but hate being picked up. They're scared stiff, I'm nervous, and the whole thing turns into a disaster with them cowering and me feeling cross with myself for having upset them. I know it's important to take things slowly but I didn't want them to get to full size and be difficult to handle. However I feel that any relationship we are building goes out the window each time I pick them up and they are so upset. I agree with one person who said that as they watch their bunnies like a hawk (!!!) including poos etc, this is sufficient in the way of health checks and there is no need to be constantly forcing the issue of picking up. It's OK saying take things slowly and let them come to you kind of thing but this just doesn't work if you follow the general advice which I have seen of daily checks on bottoms etc etc. The two things contradict each other. What does anyone else think? :?
 
Back
Top