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Petrified Rabbits

XMissySJx

Wise Old Thumper
Hi guys i dnt normall ask for behaviour advice but i think i need it. Some people i know have 2 rabbits, lovely big hutch, fed correctly, the male is neutured the female is not. but they are both PETRIFIED of anything and everything.

they have had them 2 years, and they awere a eyar old when they adopted them as a pair from a rescue.

They have come to stay with me for boarding whilst their owners are on holiday but i can honestly say ive never experienced anything like them before.

If you open the hutch door they run up and down frantically running into things, when you touch them they grunt loudly, and as soon as u hold them they actually scream. I tried to get them in tonight,and as i opened the lid they went crazy, running up and down, spiing around like they were going to have a heart attack.


I am VERY gentle and quiet with them, it just saddens me that they are this way. They are treated very well, i babysit often at their house and always go and see the bunnies are they have a great life, they are just petrified of anything and everything.

does anyone have any advice to for me to give them?normally for a nervous bunny i say 'sit down in the run dont try to touch them, let them come to you' etc etc but they go CRAZY if you even open the run, so its just not possible.

:(:(:( ive never experienced bunnies like that
 
poor babys...wonder what some nasty person did to make them so scared.... i would suggest trying to get them to associate you with food or try crawling up to hutch or trying to make yourself small as possible....maybe try making their area dark and cover eyes when you have to pick them up to calm them?
 
Can bunnies have rescue remedy or such like- wonder if putting a few drops in their water each day (over a longish period) will calm them enough to learn that humans can be kind ?
 
One of my buns Truffle is very nervous she wont come to you if you try to pick her up she runs away stamping her feet and grunting,once you do pick her up she will kick and struggle in two years she is no better
 
we often have bunnies that are difficult to handle, ones that dont like being picked up or that stamp, but these are in another catagory altogether. you feel guilty even trying to get them to like you bcus they get so frightened, she says that she probably doesnt help the situation because when she lets them out in the garden, she will stay inside etc bcus otherwise they will hide and wont run about. but then i do understand where shes coming from, shes trying to keep them as happy as poss, but at the same time its not helping if that makes sense.
 
If they are that scared I don't think I'd let them out loose in the garden, as having someone chase them to put them back to bed must just reinforce the fear. I'd be inclined to somehow get a large run attached to the hutch so they can stay out in it all the time and feel secure in their constant surroundings. I've never had any as bad as that, but what I've always done with terrified ones is raise the hutch up to about waist height (so may need to have a run underneath and to the side), open the door and just sit with my head at the entrance, sometimes talking gently to them. It may take ages - days, weeks, months, for them to come round, but they should eventually learn that you aren't going to leap at them, grab at them etc (of course you may not have been going to anyway but they don't know that, hence they run off straight away. Then once they calm down, slowly rest a hand inside the hutch, and so on and so on... If they really are that bad, you may have to start off leaving the door shut and sitting just about the distance away that they start to freak, and then slowly moving closer and closer over time. Poor little buns, it must be awful to be so terrified all the time :cry:

One day I'm going to have AlisonA's behaviour therapy boarding clinic, I love a challenge.
 
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I think the best way of gaining their trust is to make them feel that "you = good things" this may be food or play time. My first bun Mitsy was terrified of me for weeks, I would put her food in and leave her the first week as we realised she HATED being touched and certainly being picked up was a no-no, so we made her a ramp from the top of her hutch to the patio so she could run around. I would sit on the floor and put little treats on my legs etc, then started handfeeding. :love:

Since that time she got so much better and would actually "play" with me - unfortunately she died soon after I saw this sudden positive change in her behaviour.. :(
 
If they are that scared I don't think I'd let them out loose in the garden, as having someone chase them to put them back to bed must just reinforce the fear. I'd be inclined to somehow get a large run attached to the hutch so they can stay out in it all the time and feel secure in their constant surroundings. I've never had any as bad as that, but what I've always done with terrified ones is raise the hutch up to about waist height (so may need to have a run underneath and to the side), open the door and just sit with my head at the entrance, sometimes talking gently to them. It may take ages - days, weeks, months, for them to come round, but they should eventually learn that you aren't going to leap at them, grab at them etc (of course you may not have been going to anyway but they don't know that, hence they run off straight away. Then once they calm down, slowly rest a hand inside the hutch, and so on and so on... If they really are that bad, you may have to start off leaving the door shut and sitting just about the distance away that they start to freak, and then slowly moving closer and closer over time. Poor little buns, it must be awful to be so terrified all the time :cry:

One day I'm going to have AlisonA's behaviour therapy boarding clinic, I love a challenge.

she doesnt chase them back in, she goes into the garden, pops some tea in their hutch and they run back in.

I have actually attatched run to their holiday hutch here so that i dont have to be picking them up each morning as that is clearly distressing them.

its such a shame bcus her children adore them, but they cant be near them bcus it frightens the bunnies so much, aparantly they used to be at pet bit of a farm, u know where u can touch the bunnies etc?

but they got to 'mean' so they gave them away, and she couldnt beat seeing him so frightened, so she adopted him, and then she couldnt sleep for nights thinking of the female one, so she went back and got her too.

she doesnt mind their not cuddly, she just wants them to be happy
 
Sounds as if they have learnt over their time at the petting place, that if you are nasty and aggressive, that people leave you alone. So I would suggest not reacting or backing away even if they attempt to shred you, just talk very gently and quietly but stay there until they calm down (obviously if they go completely banzai then that's too close, start further back). Where they previously learnt that this is a tactic for making people go away, they now need to gently 'un-learn' it. I fostered a bun called Tin-tin about 18 months ago, he was from a nursery school and they signed him over because he was aggressive with the children. It took about 2-3 months of real patience but he turned into a real sweetie.
 
Sounds as if they have learnt over their time at the petting place, that if you are nasty and aggressive, that people leave you alone. So I would suggest not reacting or backing away even if they attempt to shred you, just talk very gently and quietly but stay there until they calm down (obviously if they go completely banzai then that's too close, start further back). Where they previously learnt that this is a tactic for making people go away, they now need to gently 'un-learn' it. I fostered a bun called Tin-tin about 18 months ago, he was from a nursery school and they signed him over because he was aggressive with the children. It took about 2-3 months of real patience but he turned into a real sweetie.


omg tin tin!! was tintin at briar patch? i saw him on the website n wanted to adopt him but i needed a girl bcus domino needed a friend! he was such a sweetie!

i see what youre saying,it makes alot of sense, il forward this infor onto her and hopefully it will help :)
 
omg tin tin!! was tintin at briar patch? i saw him on the website n wanted to adopt him but i needed a girl bcus domino needed a friend! he was such a sweetie!

Yeah that's him - he was absolutely adorable, he was sooooooooo tense, he had massive knots in his muscles, it took him ages to calm down, poor chap. If I recall correctly he was bonded with a beautiful girlie and they now live happily in a big shed and run :D
 
Yeah that's him - he was absolutely adorable, he was sooooooooo tense, he had massive knots in his muscles, it took him ages to calm down, poor chap. If I recall correctly he was bonded with a beautiful girlie and they now live happily in a big shed and run :D

i adored him, and there was a girl i liked but i cant remember her name, i think it began with an S....

she was white/grey colour

arrgh
 
I think they key is to do it very slowly.

I've had some success with popping treats through the wire mesh on their run. I don't open the run up so they don't feel threatened. At first I had to put the treat in and then walk away before they would take it. Now they grab it out of my hands :lol: . I also sit out with them when I let them out every day and they are starting to come a little bit closer every now and then.

I do pick mine up every day to check them for fleas etc and they do seem to struggle a bit less nowadays. Although they were very scared at first, they were never as petrified as those two sound.

I don't think you'll be able to make much progress if you just have them for a short time anyway :?
 
yeh i know that iwont be able to make much progress with them but im hoping i can have some good advice to give to the owners :D thanks!


AlisonA- i remember! SHILLING!! :love: i LOVED her, i really wanted her
 
I'm glad you've posted this as yesterday I took on two new foster buns that are absolutely petrified of everything. I've never seen anything like it - you can't get anywhere near them!

I've put mine at the far side of the garden so they can see me approaching, rather than just appear in from of them.
I'm guessing that time will be the key. Lots of gentle talking so they don't freak so much, just sitting near the hutch (at the mo about 15ft away) and slowly moving closer, making sure they associate their food to me etc.
I'm reckoning that I won't be handling them for at least 3 weeks - they virtually run on the ceiling to get away.

I wonder what on earth has happened to them to make them so terrified:cry:

I'm hoping that with all my buns visiting them whilst they're in the garden, they'll start to relax, but I reckon I'm in for the long haul!
 
I'm glad you've posted this as yesterday I took on two new foster buns that are absolutely petrified of everything. I've never seen anything like it - you can't get anywhere near them!

I've put mine at the far side of the garden so they can see me approaching, rather than just appear in from of them.
I'm guessing that time will be the key. Lots of gentle talking so they don't freak so much, just sitting near the hutch (at the mo about 15ft away) and slowly moving closer, making sure they associate their food to me etc.
I'm reckoning that I won't be handling them for at least 3 weeks - they virtually run on the ceiling to get away.

I wonder what on earth has happened to them to make them so terrified:cry:

I'm hoping that with all my buns visiting them whilst they're in the garden, they'll start to relax, but I reckon I'm in for the long haul!

i know what you mean about the ceiling, they literally just run...and head into and up anything to get away:(

just gave them their breakfast, but i swopped bowls instead of taking it to fill it up, i filled a new one and replaced it with the empty one, bcus they see food and think 'yum' rather than...what is she doing?
 
im reckoning a, the kids have scared them unintensionaly, or a fox has been sniffing, orrrrrrrrrrr your smell with other buns might be doing it,
i have to watch my son like a hawk although he has the best intensions his asperges makes him a little unpredictable, he could be sitting really nicly with a bun then suddenly squeal with laughter, or a sudden move makes them a little jumpy, ive had 2 really skitish ones, one is doing really well the other is still unsure i will get grunted at, he will start thumping and try and nip, mind you since i was up for an hour trying to calm 2 noisey buns down after a fox was in the garden, he was he has changed a little, i find just sitting next to the cage and talking to him, next step was to open the door sit blocking the door but keeping talking then, food bribary, getting them to take a peice of food from me, ive even had him in my kitchen and i just sit on the floor talking and wait for them to come to me, takes ageeeeeeeeeees
 
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