Mardy rabbit

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help me. I have a female lop eared rabbit. She lives indoors and when she was little she was the nicest rabbit ever untiil she came into season. She has now been spayed but I still cant get anywhere near her to pick her up, and when i do get close enough to stroke her she wil turn round and bite me. She isnt scared of me as she will jump on me and take treats off me. Any ideas?

How long ago was she spayed?

She was spayed at the very start of January. She changed straight away in that she stopped spraying me and trying to hump things but her behaviour is still bad

My Lola is the same :roll: She is only doing I think because she is an outdoor bun and is indoors in a totally new space. She attacks everything that moves. It's a nightmare checking her stitches, feeding, changing her water, doing her litter tray lol. She was always feisty but about 3 months ago became very soppy. She was spayed last Friday and has turned into a nightmare again :lol: I'm hoping the hormones will die down soon :shock:

Sorry I have no advice but good luck with your bunny! :wave:

AwesomeTanya said:

She was spayed at the very start of January. She changed straight away in that she stopped spraying me and trying to hump things but her behaviour is still bad

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It's not that her behaviour is bad, she's just being a bunny

Rabbits don't 'come into season' they are induced ovulators.

Rabbits are prey creatures, so don't particularly enjoy being picked up, so be aware of that.

How are you approaching her?

Rabbits after often 'hands off' bunnies. I have one here myself, he hates being held, touched or examined, he will kick, scratch and struggle and feels very unsafe if not having 4 feet on the ground.

Your best bet is to sit on the floor with her, in her territory, sit and read a book, or sit on a laptop or something and let her come and explore you, put yourself in her shoes, how would you feel if someone kept trying to pick you up who was ~10-15 times larger than you, from above, where the rabbit would normally exprect predators to come from.

You need to gain her trust

She does trust me, when im on the floor she will come straight to me and jump on me and sniff me but if i go near her she hates it. Any advice on how to approach her once she has come up to me first?

AwesomeTanya said:

She does trust me, when im on the floor she will come straight to me and jump on me and sniff me but if i go near her she hates it. Any advice on how to approach her once she has come up to me first?

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At the end of the day, do you really NEED to pick her up? Probably not, it's just because most of us want a pet we can cuddle. If she doesn't like it and it stresses her out, don't do it is my advice only one of my bunnies likes cuddles, so he is the only one that gets cuddles

I think its a very good idea to be able to handle your rabbit actually in case she is ill or needs medication. How would you be able to do these things if you cant go any where near her??

AwesomeTanya said:

I think its a very good idea to be able to handle your rabbit actually in case she is ill or needs medication. How would you be able to do these things if you cant go any where near her??

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Well in that case you need to take Gray's advice as she clearly is a nervous bunny, and isn't going to enjoy being picked up. It's a long process but you have to be patient

I had to handle my rabbits regularly and give them medicine when they were new to me, and especially once they were wise to the process, the only thing for it was to wear gloves, grab them and wrap them in towels

It has taken time with the remaining one to let her make friends with me, but luckily she has grown to like me and has turned into a friendly bunny who also likes friends and visitors as long as she meets them on her terms & gets to stay on the ground. It took about 6 weeks for her, but she was already a bit friendly. With a much grumpier bunny, it would probably be months. Also, some of them just are less extroverted than others, just like people.

If you do have to handle them lots for some reason, it can be a step back, but it's an ongoing process, letting them get comfortable with you.

Some people on here check bunnies for flystrike in the summer by getting them to stand up instead. If your bun really hates being lifted up, you might be better doing this (rather than stressing her with daily handling), especially if she is short-haired and keeps clean, and is thus a lower risk.

I cant handle Poppy as she looses all trust in me then. If I needed to medicate her I would do it but I aren't going to force the issue if not. She isn't a people rabbit and we accept her for what she is (she was between 4-6 when we got her so it is very slow progress). I check her for flystrike by getting her to stand up for a treat (and by laying on the floor and looking up). The vet checks her teeth when we go for vaccs and does any nail clips etc (not yet needed).

She doesn't sound nervous to me, just bossy. I'm not sure how you go about getting her to think you're in charge though. With Toby he has learnt some voice commands, so he comes when I call he and gets on me, then I hold him and do what I need to do as opposed to me going to him. That seems to work fine, although if he's busy he'll ignore me. If I approach him he doesn't bite but he does grunt and growl.

So she is fine when she is allowed to come to you, climb on you etc, but not when you go to her? It sounds like she is associating you coming towards her with something she doesnt like, maybe being picked up or touched. She is very clearly saying 'I dont like what you are doing' when she bites you, just the way she would tell another rabbit. You just need to find out what that is and stop doing it, and she should be a bit happier.

Her hormones may not have completely died down yet after her spay either.