is my rabbit wild?

We went to the RSPCA 2 weeks ago looking for a female bun to pair up with our male housebunny. There was a rabbit there who looked like a wild bun (same colouring, pointy face and very nervous). We were assured several times she was not wild as she was picked up in an inner city area so we adopted her and now have her home. she is currently in a large hutch and run while we wait for her spaying wound to heal. However she is absolutely terrified and has eaten an enormous amount of the hutch in her attempts to escape. She plays dead when we approach and darts for cover at amazing speed. As we are convinced she is wild we went for a drive into town to see where she was picked up only to discover it was 2 streets away from an enormous park! We are sure the RSPCA have dropped a right clanger here but it is too late to put her back now so she will be staying with us. Any ideas on how to gain her confidence? We feel this is going to be a long road but we are committed to her welfare. Her name is Betty.

it sounds as though she may be wild, but even domestic buns can be nervy.

My Bunny was very anxious, I tried some flower therapy (can't think which one just at the moment) and I regularly sat in or near the run, just reading a book or whatever, not actually trying to engage him at all. In time he began to approach me and not see me as a threat, although he is still the most anxious of my bunnies

Sue this story is sounding very familiar! I hope Betty bun settles down soon.

Its unlikely they'd have caught her if she was wild Pet bun behaviour is very similar to wild.

Tam

I had people at the Blue Cross telling me that Polecats are just coloured Ferrets... they wouldn't believe me that they're a native wild species (although the coloured Ferrets are referred to at 'Polecats')
I was shocked - does it mean that they're re-homing a native wild animal as a pet??? :shock:

Doncat5 said:

Sue this story is sounding very familiar! I hope Betty bun settles down soon.

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Similar? :?

Maybe she'd been a stray for a while or treated very badly in her old home so does not trust people yet Give her some time i would say.

Thanks for your replies, I will take things slowly with her and hope that she builds up some trust over time. The more I look at her the more I'm convinced she must be wild. she is very slender and petite with the pointiest face I've ever seen! We live in the Leicestershire countryside and her doubles are everywhere! Yesterday we tried an introduction between her and Skippy our male Nethie and they got on okay initially but he is a real bossy boots and his attentions were just too much for her so we will try to take things more slowly as she is so freaked out. I will try and post a picture of Betty if I can get near with the camera!

suffolk sue said:

Thanks for your replies, I will take things slowly with her and hope that she builds up some trust over time. The more I look at her the more I'm convinced she must be wild. she is very slender and petite with the pointiest face I've ever seen! We live in the Leicestershire countryside and her doubles are everywhere! Yesterday we tried an introduction between her and Skippy our male Nethie and they got on okay initially but he is a real bossy boots and his attentions were just too much for her so we will try to take things more slowly as she is so freaked out. I will try and post a picture of Betty if I can get near with the camera!

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Ahhhh so you are in Leicestershire, thought the story sounded familiar.:wave:

Aww I hope she comes round soon, Is Skippy the nethie found by .... a forum member *Sorry!!* and taken to jill? X

yes, Skippy did come from Jill after he was found in a skip! He is a fantastic little chap with so much character and we all love him to bits. My 11 year old son is away on a school trip for the week and insisted on taking a photo of Skippy with him.... but not one of me!

suffolk sue said:

yes, Skippy did come from Jill after he was found in a skip! He is a fantastic little chap with so much character and we all love him to bits. My 11 year old son is away on a school trip for the week and insisted on taking a photo of Skippy with him.... but not one of me!

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Aww how lovely. IsabelM, a forum member found Skippy i believe so I bet she'd love it if you posted some pics

suffolk sue said:

yes, Skippy did come from Jill after he was found in a skip! He is a fantastic little chap with so much character and we all love him to bits. My 11 year old son is away on a school trip for the week and insisted on taking a photo of Skippy with him.... but not one of me!

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Awwwww, we need piccies too!

Oooooooh I didnt realise it was Isabel!!!!

:wave: Hello

It was quite complicated really, it was the parents of my friends boyfriend :? they found him in a skip and left him with my friend but she had two buns already so there was no room for him Glad he's got a loving home now. I loved him, soooo gorgeous.
I thought he'd gone to live with another nethie lady that looked like him?

How is the little chap anyway? And yes I would love pictures
Some buns are really nervous. I hope she settles in ok.

I will post some piccies of Skippy as soon as I've figured out how to transfer them from MAC to PC and thenfigured out how to upload them! Computers were never my strong point. He is absolutely brilliant and working from home I get to see him all day! He settled in really well and gets on very comfortably with Gemma and Ernie my two rescue pooches.When the dogs are having their dinner Skippy always rushes to his bowl so he can eat with them, identity crisis I feel! He really has got so much character and we can't imagine life without him now. He did originally arrive with Twinkle, a beautiful female nethie but she died suddenly just a week after arriving. We rushed her to the vets but it was too late and we are still puzzling over what happened. She never seemed unwell but was very grumpy with Skippy all the time. It was a terrible shock and we felt awful for ages even though we did everything we could. We have been on the look out for a girlfriend for Skippy for a while but he could do with a bossy lady as he has bags of confidence. I think that really, Betty is too timid for him and she tries to avoid him at all costs much to his frustration. We need to go slowly with her but maybe a more nervy male bun would be a better option for her. I can see that i'll end up with 2 houserabbits and 2 outdoor rabbits! It's a good job that my husband is a real rabbit fan now!
p.s my daughter loves telling everyone that I have a photo of the buns in my purse rather than a photo of her !:lol:

Hi Sue
heard you'd found a girl bun at the RSPCA and sorry she appears to be a bit nervous ..hope she comes round..she should do in time and with lots of TLC.

however if you're looking for another female housebun..we have a few! and lots of boys including 2 young and very cute boy-buns!:lol:

And so it's clear to everyone about Twinkle..Sue rang me as Twinkle died very suddenly 2 weeks after being adopted..she had been eating cardboard so a blockage was a possibility..Sue rushed her to her vet and did all she could.
I would have happily let Sue adopt again as she is a brilliant bunny owner but we haven't had any small and friendly housebunny types in since Twinkle passed away..so after waiting quite a while Sue looked at the RSPCA....then we had in Flossie and May..typical!:roll: :lol:

anyway good luck with Betty and look forward to piccies

Hi Jill,

being a bunny expert, do you have any ideas on how to stop Betty eating her way out of her hutch and run? So far she has not chewed anything in the house but I think that's because she's too busy getting away from Skippy! I'm watching her now out of my studio window and she is tearing huge pieces of wood off the hutch doors, I've never seen anything like it.:shock: She has got loads of toys and willow sticks etc but she just seems intent on eating her way out. It is upsetting as she is obviously intent on escaping and at the rate she's going it won't take long which makes me even more convinced she is wild and pining for the life she's lost. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

God it would be awful if she really was wild I can't see how you can ever know for sure though :?

Surely the rspca wouldn't catch a wild bun??

That's what we thought but we have since found out that Braunstone Park which is two streets away from where she was picked up has rabbits living in it and it is a vast area of grass and mature trees. My only thoughts are that they didn't investigate where she was captured and perhaps presumed it was a totally urban area. The people that found her apparently kept her for a couple of days before taking her to the RSPCA but I still can't imagine how they caught her as she is like lightning although she is very good at playing dead when you approach her. The rabbit carer at the RSPCA said that she didn't think she was wild as she would bite if you tried to handle her, is this true? I don't know. This whole saga is giving me sleepless nights as I am so worried about her being unhappy.