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nervous bunny- free-ranging and grooming Q

nessar

Warren Veteran
As some of you may know I recently bonded my buck Barney to lovely newly named Annabel. She is very sweet but just hasnt settled in as well as I thought she would (I think its been 3 weeks?), she's very nervous and will run off if I so much as move, and freaks out at being stroked. On the other hand she doesnt mind so much and will sit fairly still for a bit of light brushing as long as I dont touch her face, if I am feeding her pellets at the same time :love::lol: so she is improving.

Now I have two problems with her being such a scaredy-bun, 1 - she is fluffy and needs to be groomed, 2 - I cant get her back in her pen from free-ranging (indoors).

Now I've already had to cut out a couple of matts as she wouldnt let me brush her, and I'm stuck between not wanting to make her distrust me by frightening her with grooming, and the necessity of grooming her and getting her used to it. I also really need to get her used to being picked up, as I cant check her bum for flystrike.

The free-ranging problem is that I have a large room (around 18x12 ft I think) with lots of things to hide behind, chairs, furniture, tunnels etc. So far she has only been out of the pen a few times when Barney has let her out and each time is a nightmare to get back in, it usually involves 'herding' her and she is so nervous maybe its making her distrust me more :? She's not even a big eater so dinner wont tempt her in. I dont know what to do, they need exercise and Barney is going stir-crazy in the pen and keeps escaping, its only 4ft8x4ft8, but I NEED to get them back in at night or Barney jumps on my head when I'm sleeping :roll:

At the moment I've been comprimising on both issues by letting Barney out a couple of times a day whilst I sit in the pen hand-feeding her and trying to brush her a bit to gain her trust (Barney barges her out the way and gets overexcited, bites me etc if he thinks I have food so cant do it when hes there) but its just not working quick enough.

Ideas/advice?
 
sorry not much advice but didn't want to read and run. :oops:

i have noticed with all mine that the more they see me about especially if they are indoors with you the more used to you they get. i'm sure she is just nervy and will come around eventually, all bunnies are different and she is just taking her time.
i'd try keep up with the grooming and can you not leave the pen open and put the food in a bit before they are to be back in and see if she will make her own way back or follow Barney?

mine know the sound of the treat tub and come running as soon as i shake it!

i hope someone a bit more helpful will come along soon! :?
 
given time, she should follow Barney back when he goes in at the end of free-range time - especially if there is food involved! One way to help is to limit her space to start with eg. just give her a quarter of the area, then half over a period of time so she gets used to the extra space and still knows where her base is. Although this can sometimes be tricky to do.

She may take a long time to become less nervous and skittish. I have had Chloe 2 years, and she still only lets me stroke her when I am feeding pellets, and the slightest movement or noise makes her run. Just keep with it and it may get better, but some bunnies do remain skittish for some reason, even if they haven't had any trauma in their lives.
 
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