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New to Bunny Ownership

Spitfire

New Kit
Hey guys and girls.

I got my first 2 Rabbits around 4 weeks ago now, and I had a few questions/thoughts. I was told my 2 boys were around 8 weeks old. However when I took them to the vet one of them turned out to be a girl and the Vet commented on how big they were for (at the time 10 weeks) old and she thought they might have been a little bit older. Anyway no problem so I took them to the vets again 2 weeks later (2 days ago now) to get the pair spayed, neutered and micro-chipped. I had them vaccinated on the first visit. When I got them back I was given Medicine for the girl (Dean, we thought they were boys when we named them), that was to be orally 'injected', and then Eye drops for the boy (Sam, if only the names were reversed it would have been perfect :p).

Now I wanted to ask a little bit about owners that have had rabbits for several years. Is it natural for them to be always 'scared' of me? I have had them for around a month and I generally sit with them for a few hours a day, I wish it could be more but with my job and house hunting my time is consumed quickly. Unfortunately due to house rules they are outdoor rabbits. I wish I could bring them inside but that is simple not an option as this point in time. So back on point, they seem very apprehensive around me, and will always run and hide when I walk into their space. (they have permanent access to a gated off area between the house and the next house over, which is a pretty large area). I always get to a point where they seem to be getting comfortable with me, and then I have to take them to the vet, and it resets, since they really really really do not like being handled or touched. They dont bite or snarl or anything, they just get panicky and run away when trying to coax them into the carrier. This also makes it difficult to give them the prescribed medicine.

Normally I would tend to think that they are just unhappy and or scared of me. But they are running jumping, binky'ing all the time, especially when they are out in the garden. Is this natural/normal and they will eventually learn to trust me? Or am I doing something wrong. I just want them to be happy around me and not to feel as though they are in danger or anything.

Any feedback would be awesome!

Thanks
 
hi and welcome to the forum. rabbits being prey species tend to be more timid, though they can come round to us humans in time, sometimes it takes a while but they will gain to trust you as their bunny slave, them binkying around sounds like they are happy in life and there home
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :wave:

I agree with the above - rabbits can be very timid compared to, say, cats and dogs, because they're hard-wired to assume that anyone who comes near them may want to eat them.

Often they will get used to you with time, it can take a while though. One of my current rabbits took over six months to become calm and 'friendly' even though she lived in my bedroom so we had a lot of contact. A good approach is to sit in their area so you're on their level, stay still, and let them approach you/climb on you when they're ready. It's less scary than having someone loom over them.

Some rabbits though will just always be jumpy and you just have to let them get on with it, and admire them from a distance. :)
 
Okay Thanks to both of you :)

Giving the medicine was a lot easier today only took 10 mins as opposed to nearly 2 hours yesterday :D
 
hi welcome. i had the same problem, my little boy was so friendly and loved nose rubs and his ears petted. then i took him to the vets, it took him a good while for him to forgive me, every time i went in to see him he scuttled off. but he has now forgiven me. bless.
 
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