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Help a Bunny foster mum

FosterInOz

New Kit
Hi All,

A couple of months ago, our next door neighbour asked if we would look after her bunnies for a while. They had been living in her chicken coop, but had started beating up the chickens and put them off laying. We said sure, as we had an old dog crate which would fit them nicely, and could leave them out on the lawn to do their own thing.

We'd never had rabbits before. I gave them a cardboard box and a cover and basically left them to it, just moving the cage around to different places on the lawn. They seemed happy enough. I thought they were rather cute; they would stand up on their hind legs when I approached with pellets, and would sniff at my fingers.

Anyway, the other day I was surfing and I found the Disapproving Rabbits site, which had a link to some information about rabbits. I never realised that they could be trained, or live indoors, or be you know, pets.

So this evening I moved them upstairs, gave them some paper and a stick to chew on. I fed them some carrots which they ate out of my hand. They are rather sweet, a little shy but very inquisitive, looking around and standing on their hind legs.

So, to my question! How do I go about making friends? I don't know how long I will have them, but there's been no date set to take them back, or even mention of it. I would like to make them part of the family.

Does anyone have any tips? How do I pick them up? I tried it once when we originally moved them and he scratched me. Is there a special way to do it?

Any tips would be very welcome. I'm in Australia, and of course when I typed in "rabbit forum" I got about a thousand pages on "how to control the rabbit problem". Bunnies aren't popular here :)

Cheers,
Mez.
 
Bless you, there are certain ways to pick them up. You need to make sure you support thier hind legs. One way is to put one hand under thier bum and the other hand in their midrif. If that makes sense?

Some bunnies just don't like being picked up and wriggle all over the place bless them.

They will get more and more friendly the more you handle them really. One of my bunnies is a rescue one and she wouldn't go near me at the start but gradually they learn to trust you.

You can litter train them too if you get a litter try and but some of thier mess in it gradually they'll get the idea thats where they are supposed to go. I'm sure some of the others on here will give you some tips too.:D Good luck:D
 
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