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Are my rescue bunnies getting sadder?

Quintilia

New Kit
Hello bunny lovers!
Firstly I'd like to express my delight that you exist. This forum is full of great advice.

My question is about if I'm making my bunnies happy. I have two 9 week dwarf lops from a rescue centre. I brought them home six days ago and installed them in my bedroom which is about 6m x5m they have a big cage on the ground.

On day one I let them out of the cage to explore their surroundings. They were nervous at first but bth the evening were binkying and could be picked up, a little wriggle at first but they calmed and lay out on my lap.

But since then we seem to be moving backwards. They will both eat out of my hand but won't be picked up at all without twisting dangerously and have stopped binkying. The girl has also started peeing on my bed.

I'm worried I might not be bonding with them or worse, that they are more unhappy than they were on day one

Does this sound familiar behaviour? Any advice you have on how I can improve things for them would best gratefully welcomed.

Many thanks
Charlie
 
Hi Charlie,

Welcome to the forum :)

It sounds, to be honest, like standard bunny behaviour, especially for bunnies that are developing hormones. I would be wondering if the girl is a boy.

Rabbits generally do not like to be held, so that's entirely normal and expected. To bond with them, you need to show them you can be trusted and handling them often removes that trust.

There's some potentially useful articles on the link in my sig; it might be worth reading those :)
 
The best way to bond with bunnies is to get down on their level, lie on the floor with them. :)
 
Thank you both! I've confined them to the cage for 48 hours to 'start again' and I'll try letting hm out for a few hours at a time in a smaller ace to see if we can build trust bit by bit... They're so sweet I hate to think they're scared or unhappy.
 
We just discovered lying down too!

Our boy is an angel (most of the time) and will happily be picked up and jump on you, but our girl is more timid.

We watched how she bonded with our boy and try to mimic it. We lay on the floor just near her and edge closer making happy noises! I think she thinks we're bonkers, but she will now happily jump all over us if we're on the floor. Especially if she gets treats for doing it.

She was quite still when we held her at first too, but I think it's because she was too scared to do otherwise. She now struggles away from you. I take it as a good sign she knows we don't want to eat her! We got binkies to start with too, I think she was happy to have more space to run about, but I haven't seen one in a long time.

Our main hope is we can't see how she could be UNhappy and that's all that matters! Just do your best and give it some time.
 
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