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New to this forum, need help, EMERGENCY

michelle9491

New Kit
I have a 5 month old female (not spayed yet) bunny. She has escaped out the front door & I cannot catch her! She lives indoors in a huge 3 story bunny condo, but she does go outside in the back yard during the day when we are home, which is fenced. She uses the dog door (so cool to watch). She is very spoiled rotten, but hates everyone. I cant even catch her when she's in the house, she just eventually goes back in her cage & I shut the door. She was a really sweet bunny, then one day decided to turn psycho. Anyway thats another whole story, but I cant catch her. I have cats & dogs, but they love her. She has been outside since yesterday and just eats & plays with the cats, but i cant get near her. I'm terrified another dog or wild animal will get her. I've tried bribing her with food, even have the window open to her room with a ramp so she can get in. I've read about using a sheet, but I cant even get that close. And she is very smart, tricking her to do anything has never worked. Someone please help if you have any ideas, i didnt sleep at all last night and cant take another night. You can IM me if you want, while i sit here on the computer watching her having a blast.
Please help!!!
 
Have you got some panels or something you could use to herd her into an area and trap her?

by the way, is she spayed? If she is not that's probably why she turned psycho.
 
Can you get her cage outside? If you can put some of her favourite food in it and hope she goes inside.

Good luck
 
My husband, but he's at work & can't leave. Everyone's at work, so no help until this evening.... No she is not spayed, had planned on getting that done next week. I thought about taking the cage outside, because she does love it. But there is only one problem, when I built the cage in her bunny room, I didnt consider having to move it, it is way too big to fit through the door.
 
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Do you have a cat or dog carrier that you ( with the help of some one else could try and coax her into ( maybe put some treats in there for her)?
 
A few of my buns are difficult to catch when they are running around in the garden. I have a 'mobile' run. 4 pieces hinged together I set it up near a wall and a fence but so the buns can get in and out at both ends and they get use to it. When it's time for bed I block one of the ends up by pushing it up to the wall then chase the bun in the open end (as they still think they can escape at the other end) clossly following them in and pushing it up to the fence so they cant get back out. It's then easier to grab them in a smaller space.

Do you have any run panels or anything you could do that sort of thing with?

Or... mine cant resist an open shed/out house door and go in to nosey. Anything like that in your garden?

Good luck

Rabswood
 
Just want to say first thank you all so much for responded so quickly!! Glad I found this site.
I dont have a run or anything like that. And I tried the dog crate trick with her favorite snacks. She wont fall for it or even go near it. Almost like she's laughing at me. Keep the suggestions coming, I'm willing to try anything.
 
If you know anyone else with a rabbit could you borrow it and put it in a cat carrier where she can see it - they will attack each other if put together so don't risk it, but if she's busy having a sniff at it you could sidle up and pop a big plastic washing basket over her maybe? (works when mine get loose) don't make eye contact though or she'll know something's up :)

the other thing that worked when mine got loose was a team of people - all hold hands and make a human barrier, and kind of gently and quietly herd her towards the house (people on the end carry a long handled broom) - hopefully she'll be so freaked out by this sight she'll run in the house and hide :shock:
 
If you can fence off the area she is in then this sounds best, just to stop her getting any further away or anyone else getting in.

You can buy humane rabbit traps that you could put her favourite food in and the door will close behind her, but don't know where you could get one from in your area.

Is there any way you can go out the back door and around and then come at her from the other side and try to chase her back towards the house?

Good luck!
 
Will have to wait on everyone to get off work to try the human barrier thing. I dont know anyone else with rabbits. I'm gonna try to catch her again without making eye contact. I never thought about that, but it makes perfect sense! Soon as she comes closer to the house again, I will try it. I have tried to go around the back way, but she wont go the way I'm trying to send her. I have gotten so much exercise since yesterday, my legs are aching!
 
This may sound awful to some.....but I have found that it works a treat......do you know anyone who has a long-handled fishing net? I DON'T fish or like fishing.....but the nets SUUUUUURE do come in handy!!!!! ;) :lol: :lol:
 
This may sound awful to some.....but I have found that it works a treat......do you know anyone who has a long-handled fishing net? I DON'T fish or like fishing.....but the nets SUUUUUURE do come in handy!!!!!

This is exactly how we managed to catch one of our guinea pigs when she was a baby. She had managed to squeeze out under the edge of the run where it had been placed on a dip in the grass - fishing net worked a treat.
 
:wave: HI AGREE WITH ELVE, TRY A WASHING BASKET BUT DONT EVEN LOOK AT HER.AS YOU,VE PROBALLY ALREADY REALISED BUNS ARE VERY SMART AND SOON CATCH ON:lol::lol:.HOPE YOU SORT IT, KEEP US POSTED.:)
 
Or... mine cant resist an open shed/out house door and go in to nosey. Anything like that in your garden?

Good luck

Rabswood

yeah that's a good point :D rabbits are very inquisitive about anything different - when I want my bunnies to come into the shed and they've eaten all their snacks for the night (I sometimes time it wrong) - I stand in the shed and shut the door - soon hear them having a discussion outside :lol: 'oooh she's shut the door!' 'I know - what do you think she's doing in there?' 'oooh I want to see!' - then I open the door just a crack big enough for one bunny, and in they squeeze, one after the other, to see what's going on! :lol: same with the hutch bunnies - if I shut the hutch door they instantly want to go inside - contrary monkies :rolleyes:

If she's near the door, go in the house and stand just inside the door with it not quite shut, but just to the frame, and she might come to see what you are doing, if you just open it a crack so she can squeeze in, you'll have her I hope - don't wait too long though - she might find something more intriguing :shock:
 
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I used the fishing net method, it was the only way I could catch mine when he went lose. I have noticed when mine are out, they are very inquisitive if you just sit down on the floor and keep still and ignore them, when I do that mine come and get on my lap, so you maybe able to grab the bun that way?
 
Still no luck. Cant get close enough for a clothes basket or a net or anything. Sitting down & waiting for her to come up to me is out of the question, trying to make her curious about what im doing is too (tried that last night while she stood in the pouring rain just staring at me like I was crazy. I figured the rain would make her want to come inside, apparently she likes the rain. She is very curious, but could really care less what i am doing. I swear this rabbit really hates me. I got her when she was just a baby, my dad's friend raises rabbits for food, came by one day while i was visiting on vacation & had this cute baby in his pocket. I couldnt stand the thought of her going back with him & ending up in someone's frying pan! So I drove 500 miles back home with a rabbit in a cardboard box & no idea what i was gonna do with it. It took me a week to build her a cage, so she lived in our bathroom. I never thought such a tiny rabbit could jump so high, but one day i found her in the toilet. I thought she was dead, but didnt give up so I gave her mouth to mouth (I'm weird but i love my animals) wrapped her up in a heating pad & stayed in bed with her all day. She recovered thankfully. Then I started taking her to work with me every day, she had a whole office to play in, then would come sleep by me while i worked. She would even jump in the bed with us, the dogs & cats and nap. Everything was fine until a month ago. Like she woke up one day a totally different rabbit. All I have to do is look at her sometimes & she will growl. I cant even feed her, much less touch her without her boxing & clawing me up. I have even tried putting her in a trance. She tolerates it, pretends that she's in a trance, then starts clawing me. I never had no idea how smart rabbits are. Someone said she is acting like this because she is not spayed yet, I sure hope so. Speaking of her not being spayed, do wild male rabbits "like" tame unspayed female rabbits? I sure hope not. Sorry for being so long, have to do something while I wait & I didnt properly introduce myself on the forum.
 
Re the behavioural stuff - thats sounds just exactly like hormones - she will settle down and become a lovely friendly bun again once she is spayed. Right now she is just driven by her need to mate (and yes wild buns will be attracted by her).

Re catching: I now you need people in order to do it - but a series of barriers, each one carried by someone, until she is literally confiened inside the 'ring' and then the spare person catches her.
 
You could try and get one of those puppy play-pen things and corner her into an area of your yard. I've seen them at Home Depot before or a store like PetSmart, they're metal panels that are all connected except on the ends. Maybe worth a shot? Where in the US are you located?
 
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