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Picking up/handling your bunnies

mellyy

New Kit
I try not to pick up Rosie much - I find if I do she it often she runs away from my hands lol but if I don't pick her up and just stroke her she's fine. I only pick her up if I have to, to check her bum and everything, and to let her out on the garden but of course she likes that :)

So just out of curiosity I was wondering how often other people pick up their bunnies, if at all? :love:
(I'm new so I've probably posted this in the wrong place, sorry :oops:)
 
I don't pick Peter up excessively, He loves a nose rub and a stroke but isn't a fan of being handled. I pick him up to put him in the run in the morning then again to put him back later. I might occasionally lift him from his run, to have a cuddle, but I judge it by his reaction, if he wrestles to get away from me I leave him alone and just give him lots of fuss instead
 
Stephen gets picked up all the time because he's normally somewhere he shouldn't be! Lol. He jumps on the sofa when we're eating so gets picked up and put back down, he gets picked up when he comes into the kitchen and is in the way, he gets picked up to come upstairs for lazy cuddles and when mummy and daddy are reading in bed, he gets picked up for cuddles and treats... He's a very good boy and as long as I hold him against me he doesn't panic and is quite comfortable. If he knows he's done something wrong he might wiggle a bit to be put down, especially if it's Daddy who's just lifting him 6 inches off the ground to move him out the way, but he likes snuggling for noserubs so he gets picked up a fair bit. He doesn't like other people picking him up though and it annoys me when my friends try to pick him up, because as much as I know he doesn't mind it, it's still not his favourite thing.
 
Pud gets picked up quite often, he seems quite happy with it! If he doesn't fancy it, he'll wiggle a little and we just leave him.
 
I try to pick up yuri often to get her use to being checked, to cut her nails check her bum etc... Yuri now isnt fussed about being picked up she just dsnt like being carried which is fair enough and I dont do it.

but I think its important to get them use to it and settle down when its done so they dont panic every time, but try to make it a possitive experience give them a fuss or treat while doing it etc... if you make it traumatic they will never tolerate it.... if they just never get use to it or never settle then Id leave it and only pick them up when you need to check them.
 
Poppy and daisy are easily handled and I often pick them up for a cuddle etc :thumb::love:

Rosey HATES being handled and iv been trying to weigh her unsucessfully for the last 2 weeks...im going to take her to the vets instead...little madam!! :lol:

Lucky and Hope...they are still getting used to me :) Lucky loves a cuddle and a fuss and he is always on the shelf in his shed in the morning when I go in...he gets so excited that iv come with pellets that he often looks like he is going to fling himself off the shelf instead of going down the ramp and I always wimp out and pick him up before he does!! :lol: Hope likes to come to me for a fuss and nose rub and will put her paws up onto my lap :love:

Molly and Willow dont like being handled at the moment...they are fairly fluffy so im having to do bottom checks which they arnt thrilled about...both come to me for fuss and nose rubs though :love:
 
not unless absolutely necessary :lol:
Even when we need to take them to the vet we try and lure them in to the carrier rather than trying to catch them.
 
We don't pick Kirk or Daisy up - they're not happy when we do so why stress them out? Daisy was a rescue bunny from Celia at Kirkby so I don't know what sort of life she had before we had her / where she came from. Kirk we've had from tiny - he's just not into it so we leave them be. Kirk loves eating from our hands though and Daisy loves nose and cheek rubs :love:
 
I used to pick Harry up all the time, he didn't mind and used to doze off in my arms, silly old bun that he was :love::love::love::love:

Ludo gets picked up every day, he seems ok with it but I can't say he loves it. But I need to get him used to having his bum checked and to get him down from things he's climbed onto when he shouldn't. :roll::lol:
 
I pick all four of mine up quite alot....my girl rabbit bluebell I pick up a lot because she follows me round the house and I can't help it. I like scoop her up and kiss her on the face and she just lets me I don't have to hold her tight or anything. When I put her down though she runs off and does that foot flick thing which I assume means 'get off me'!
 
My two hate being picked up. they are happy to have a cuddle on my lap but they hate the actual lifting up of them. So I taught them to get in the carrier. So when they are out in the garden i don't have to chase them around, I put the carrier down and shout come on then and they bound up to the carrier and get in!

I do pick them up to check their bums etc but they don't actually like it. I try not to stress them out.
 
Personally I think bunnies (in fact all animals) are happier overall if they can be handled without stress, probably because I'm from a horsey background where they have to be amenable to anything you might want to do with them otherwise they are likely to be pts (yes this does happen, I used to work on a yard which was a last chance for a lot of horses and ponies in this position).

So. When we got Martha she was very scared of being picked up. She was from P@H adoption and was approx 4-5. We don't know if she had been handled at all in her previous home but doubt it. If she had then it was all undone by being in P@H. Before we took her home they wanted to clean her bum (which they hadn't previously noticed was dirty in the week that she'd been there :evil: But that's another story!) and it took 5 of them to hold her down (which certainly traumatised her more). When we got her home we discovered she loved snuggles and would sit on your knee for hours for noserubs, but she hated being picked up (I have the scars to prove it!). She also used to dig and nib at us if we stopped stroking her. So we ignored both struggling when being picked up and the digging/nipping. We picked her up anyway, gently and safely and keeping her secure at all times. After about two weeks she was far improved. After 2 months you could pick her up, carry her, put her down, with no fuss. Now she is relaxed with all handling as long as she is picked up and held in a way that makes her feel secure (ie fully supported and she prefers horizontal to vertical). Sometimes she doesn't want to be picked up and will move away. If we need to pick her up we will and she accepts this and is relaxed. If we just wanted snuggles then we leave her until she does too.

When we got Bugsy, also from P@H, they told us she was aggressive to people and had ripped an artery on one of the staff's hands. Later it turned out they were sexing her at the time so I'm not surprised she was kicking! And she had needle claws, which we clipped almost immediately in about an hour with minimal fuss. She was much much better than Martha to be picked up, almost no problems there (though she did give me a matching scar to Martha's one on one of the first occassions!) and now is also completely relaxed with all handling as we have taken the same approach that negative behaviour is not rewarded but being picked up and behaving in a relaxed manner (certainly in the beginning when we were picking them up as often as possible) is likely to get you popped back down and if not lots of snuggles.

Chestnut is currently getting picked up lots :lol: (even though he is very good and loves snuggles already)

I really think this approach helps when they need their nails clipped (I do it myself with bunny sat tummy up on my knee - Bugsy even spreads her toes helpfully!) or meds, as they know that any position you have to put them in is safe so they can relax.
 
Boris just won't ever be picked up and we don't even try - he is a big, heavy, lump and he wonders around thinking the sky is about to fall on his head so would seriously freak out if we tried...takes 3 'experienced' people at the vets to handle him. But - he is such a soppy boy when he's relaxed and loves being fussed and stroked.

Harley is a little pipsqueak and was well used to being handled before we got her but she does NOT like it - I usually just shove her head between my elbow and body - but unfortunately she now associates being picked up with being brushed (her all time least favourite thing) - and seems to associate me with all that horrible stuff as well so we have a bit of a love/hate relationship - she loves me when there is food happening but the rest of the time, she has no use for me whatsoever :( ... but I love her to bits anyway and love the total independance she has.
 
None of mine are bothered by being handled, i pick grayson up like a baby under his shoulders (sounds worse than it is:lol:)
 
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