• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

My big bunny confession... am I weird??

M

Morrigan1981

Mama Doe
I've just been looking through some of the photos I missed over Christmas and I noticed lots of people cuddling their bunnies :love: :love:

It really is lovely to see, but I have a weird confession to make... I really don't like picking rabbits up :oops: I don't have anything against it or anything (i.e. it's not because I think it distresses them or anything like that) but given the choice I'd rather actually pick Jenny up as little as possible. She's never kicked or struggled when I have had to pick her up, so it's not that. Also, I absolutely love seeing her do bunny stuff and I'm delighted when she comes and climbs on my lap for a nose rub when I'm sat with her (like now!). But I 'd rather avoid actually carrying her unless I have to.

Is it just me? :oops: Am I weird?? :oops:
 
I dont think your wierd. I only pick Trip and Scarlett up to get them in and out of their hutches. I put some pics of me holding Scarlett on here, but they were only taken as I was taking her back out into the garden.

I never pick up Malibu, because it does scare her and I have never really had to do it :D

I give them cuddles when they come up to me and climb on me though, but I dont just keep lifting them and bugging them for cuddles.
 
Actually, I guess the reason I don't like to pick Jenny up is because I get the impression that she doesn't like it that much. She's very good about being carried, but only ever to and from her hutch and run. I think she sort of thinks to herself 'OK, I'll just tolerate this for as long as it takes for me to get to play' :lol:

I think the other reason I don't like to pick up her is that I'm nervous that I might hurt her or drop her... when she was a teeny, frail looking baby I used to put her in a carrier to walk from the top of the garden to her run at the bottom!
 
Yeah I think thats why I dont like doing it unless I have to, Trip and Scarlett are both very good about being carried to and from their hutches but I think they would start getting annoyed if they were getting lifted just for the sake of it :lol:

I used to use a carrier for Malibu to get her in and out of her hutch, but as she has gotten older she will just jump in when she is told to and comes into the house when she is called.

She has only been lifted a few times by the vet when he was checking her and she went crazy. I would be too scared to try picking her up :shock:
 
I pick Bertie up & cuddle him quite often but Molly doesn't like to be picked up so I don't.. I stroke her but she doesn't like cuddles just yet, it's early days for her though only been with us 5 weeks..
 
Neither of my two like being picked up. In fact as far as Alfie's concerned he'd much rather I stayed out of his pen altogether. You'd think he's be used to me after 5 odd years but he still comes up at dinner time, takes a sniff, realises there is a hand underneath the food and skips off in the opposite direction :roll:

Gypssy will let me stroke her and marks me but on the whole both of them are quite happy without me getting in there way :lol: I agree though, watching them is what I enjoy most about having bunnies so I don't mind their quirks :D
 
I totally agree, I don't pick my bunnies up much at all - Princess barely at all, she hates it! And Amy only if I have to health check her! Or sometimes she will let me pick her up in the garden to put back in her hutch but not often!! My two love being stroked though and will sit there for ages, Princess practically falls asleep bless her!!
 
Mr Chambers and Joey do not like being picked up, they prefer just to be bunnies and doing bunster things. Louis and Lottie dont mind being picked up and having the odd cuddle and nose rub. Sir Reuby Doos likes a cuddle before going into his run in the morning. Some bunnies just arent cuddly buns. I know they love me ! :D I adore watching their antics :lol:
 
I totally agree. I pick mine up when I need to or when they want to be hugged, they soon let me know if they want a hug. Otherwise I let them get on with being rabbits!! You are def not wierd!! :D
 
I love climbing into my lots enclosure as they just ball around my feet thinking they are getting food, Charlie especially climbs all over me when I'm cleaning out, the Beatles eat my wellies - think they have a pink obsession! - and they jump on my lap for cuddles but I don't pick them up much. I'd rather watch them chasing and binkying than sit watching tv with a bun on my lap. I have one house rabbit Max and sometimes I bring him downstairs and he'll sit on the sofa with me but he's half human I think.....
 
Cookie really hated being picked up and I only ever picked him up once, when I rushed him to the vet the day he passed on. The fact that I could pick him up and he didn't struggle said more than any words about how poorly he was. I do pick Twix up, but not to cuddle her. She gets carried to the garden and back for playtime/free run time and get picked up for bottom checks.

As for the new bun, he is a very lively little guy and the trick is being able to catch him first! He doesn't seem to mind being cuddled once I pick him up, but he struggles against being picked up. Once he is neutered and bonded with Twix (if it works!) and they are living in the shed (aiming for spring time), they won't really be picked up at all unless for health checks. They seem more willing to come for some love & strokes when they aren't being picked up all the time.
 
Ive always tried to avoid picking up any rabbits Ive had as they all seem to hate it so much and Audrey especially has a proper strop if I attempt to pick her up. And I must admit Im quite clumsy so I worry about hurting them :oops:

I just sit on the floor with her and she comes and lies next to me.

Only thing I would say is though, Jenny is quite young so I guess maybe it would be good to get her used to being picked up now as when it comes to summer you'll want to check her for flystrike and if she learns to tolerate it then it wont be such an ordeal.
 
Mine is handled everyday - because he is an old guy, I have to check to make sure he is clean everyday. He doesn't seem to mind too much but like a lot of rabbits, he is happier with his feet on the ground.

I don't pick him up for cuddles though - he is a very cuddly bunny and will climb onto my lap for nose rubs etc but apart from moving him from hutch to run and vica versa, I try to avoid walking around carrying an animal. I had an experience when I was carrying my rabbit years ago and I tripped on a shoe left in the garden. I didn't drop him but because I made sure that I fell in a way that ensured he was OK (i.e. I didn't put my hands out), I did a lot of damage to one of my knees.
 
Taz and Maisie are inside, and will jump up onto you, so you get cuddles if you want them or not :lol: :lol: :lol:

The others are outside, and are only picked up for checking teeth, nails, bum etc or for being put into the carrier for a vet trip. They don't hate it, but neither do they enjoy it, so I dont do it unless I have too. If I sit in the run or shed with them I get bounced on and sniffed at, and an occasional lick, but that is on their terms, and thats how I think it should be. They all like noserubs and tickles behind the ears, but I let them stay in their hutch or run while I do it
 
Phew... glad it's not just me then!

mandy said:
Only thing I would say is though, Jenny is quite young so I guess maybe it would be good to get her used to being picked up now as when it comes to summer you'll want to check her for flystrike and if she learns to tolerate it then it wont be such an ordeal.
Click to expand...

That's a very good point mandy :D Actually Jen is pretty good about being lifted out of her hutch and carried to her run, and she'll let me sit her on my lap so that I can groom her mane and check her claws etc, so I'll definitely carry like that and hopefully as she gets older she'll continue to be happy with it :D
 
I love picking mine up but they hate it. Rory will cuddle for a few mins but Lola hates any sort of human contact.
Tracy
 
Bindi isnt keen on being picked up...but she content when shes being cuddled. She will snuggle right into my jumper, and go to sleep!!

Maya doesnt seem to mind being picked up, and well he loves his cuddles too. He'd sit there all day if he could. :lol:
 
I don't pick my two up very often. They don't like it, and it's much more rewarding when they're climbing all over me in enthusiasm of their own accord anyway :lol:
 
I have only ever had two rabbits who liked to be picked up and they were both male, I have always found does much more skittish too.

I read that the sensation of being picked up was much like being carried away by a predator hence a rabbit is automatically panicked by the action.

That said you need to do it often enough that the rabbit will allow you too carry them in case you ever have a real emergency.

I only pick them up when they need to be moved ie: run to hutch or trip to the vets or to check them over/clip claws/administer medicine. I much prefere it when they come to me and thats the first step in trust building too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
New bunny owner with questions
Replies
5
Views
224
Shimmer
S
RosemaryBunny
Why is my bunny chewing on her water bottle spout?
Replies
3
Views
97
RosemaryBunny
RosemaryBunny
D
Poorly Freja :-(
2 3 4
Replies
69
Views
2K
joey&boo
joey&boo
Back
Top