How to tame a nervous bunny

I have had reggie about 6 months now. I got him from Kirkby and bonded him with Ruby a week before Christmas. They are so cute and in love (i think!!!). When i got him he was very nervous but we have been working on him and since he has been with ruby he has got a lot more confident. He will now allow us to stroke him - but only if he is eating, he runs away otherwise. He will eat veg that i hold out for him and if you lie on the floor he does come up and have a look but runs off if you try and stroke him.

I have having a huge problem picking him up! he is inside at the moment but will be going back outside in the hutch with ruby when the weather is better. I would really like to put them out for a few hours in the run as it is nice weather but i just can't catch him. He runs off and if i do manage to catch him, because he is so small (i think he is a nethie crossed with maybe a dutch? but not sure, he is about 1.4 kilo's anyway) he wriggles and kicks and slips out of my hands. The only way i am able to pick him up is kind of grab him (no nicer way to put it) when he is in his dog crate and get him out. He will then sit on my knee and be a nice (but perhaps terrified) little bunny. To actually get him back in the dog crate i have started not feeding either bunny any veg until late at night, put it in the crate and he will go in when he hears ruby scoffing her way though the pile. I then can shut him in. This only seems to work though when he has had no veg at all in the day, and it doesn't always work. Sometime i have to wait for him to go back in the crate to use the litter box and shut him in.

This is going to be a problem when he goes outside and it is dark. I can't be chasing him round the pen in the dark at midnight!!!

Does anyone have any tips on how i can tame him better?

Ruby is not a problem, she even comes to her name and she is such an attention seeker if i get in the pen she spends most of the time with her nose right on my ankles! I thought he might have picked up some more of the confidence from her, he has got a bit but not a lot.

To be honest, I don't think it is a case of 'taming' him, but more a case of winning his trust and working out strategies to work within his means (such as using a carry case to transport him and luring him in with food or something).

no advice to offer i'm afraid. eric has been with me for over 12 months and he is a nightmare to catch for vet trips or outside play time. i just wish the daft bunny would realise that when i ask him if he wants to go outside, i really do mean that place out there he can sniff and chin everything. again:roll:

I'm afraid he may not be 'tameable'. We have had Badger 4 months and I don't believe he will ever trust people's hands, although he is affectionate in other ways.

We assume he has been grabbed and chased before, as he is worse with hands.

I used to have a lovely albino girl who was also really nervous when we got her. She was a rescue - found dumped in a plastic bag outside a charity shop!

When we got Snowy she would not let you pick her up, she would kick, bite and scratch like crazy. It took a good while for me to gain Snowy's trust and once she eventually did she still didn't really trust anyone else (gave my husband a run around in the garden for 6 hours once. He eventually gave up and I found them both in the garden after I got back from work. Snowy came straight to me and I picked her up with no fuss. My husband was not happy).

I don't have any magnificent tips - just spent lots of time with her. Initially blocked off the hallway and sat on the floor with Snowy. Allowed her to come to me and rewarded her with lots of nose rubs and veg, esp if she climbed on to me. Once she got comfortable with that, I would pick her up - again reward and put her back down (try to stop her thinking that picking her up only happened to put her into her hutch for bedtime or take her to the vet). Once she was ok with that I tried it in a larger space. Eventually she would come if you called her, binky and lick your nose - a changed bunny! (I do miss her).

It seemed to work with Snowy but not sure how helpful that is with you, or how it works with 2 buns? Guess it also depends on their personality?

thanks for your replies. I will persevere more with the food luring. He might be easier to pick out of the hutch when he is outside as then I will be more on his level rather than coming from above as i do i the crate. He is quite patient when i do actually carry him, he doesn't struggle.

I think the poor little bunny wasn't handled much, he has only just recently started to actually hop fast and chase ruby around rather than just kind of walk and shuffle so i don't think he was given much exercise. He is still a little wary of large open spaces he is not familiar with.

thanks for your reply Voracious bunny i guess it just takes time then. He has definitely got more confident since i have had him, he is just a bit scared when you try and pick him up, or go near him with your hands even

I think you might be right in terms of coming at him from above. My husband is a fair bit taller than me and used to just bend down to pick up Snowy whereas I used to crouch down to her level.

Good luck, I hope your perseverance pays off!

I've has Stew a year now and only yesterday she allowed me to give her a noserub and a stroke,i could have cried tears of joy it's took so long. I have obv. had to pick her up and she's never liked it but i always spend time on the floor with her and feed her from my hand. I've built that up to finally touching her but i always move my hand away before she runs off to try and get her trust

I have had Harry for a year and only over the last few months will he let you stroke him, and then only on his terms.

We let him build up trust by coming to us and now he quite likes a little fuss....until he sees something else of interest!!!

he is also just getting used to being handled although we keep this to minimum as he hates having less than 4 paws on the ground!!!

Hi, I used to have the same problem with my degus (who I rescued as adults). they loved getting out their cage at any available chance and it took forever to get them back in. Now, whenever I give them a treat, I also rattle the box (I have a mixture of their fave things in one of those plastic containers from a chinese takeaway) so they associate the noise with treats. It works really well and I can now let them run around the room as I know that (most of the time!) they will come running to me for a treat the second they hear the box being rattled! I have tried this with my bunny and it works well when she is in the cage but not always when she is out, however, she is getting better at it.

Thebadfairy x x