Ideas on helping a rescue bun to settle in.

[Tracybeakerisland]

Any suggestions for dealing with a stroppy doe?

The only thing Doodee is willing to do is take food. If she could extend her lips any further to increase the distance between her head and my hand I am sure she would.
She really does not like me cleaning her cage; stamps and goes into the aggresive rabbit pose on the other side of the room. She even tried edging close with her body well down ears back, muttering and yawning but I suspect that was so she could show me what a nice set of choppers she has.

I have provided rugs, vet bed, hidey holes, tunnels you name it around the lounge so she does have access to an enriched envioronment but right now she has staked a serious claim on that cage to the point she will fight over it. I suspect this may be because any where new has quickly become a battle ground for her. I would like to keept my fingers in one piece.

Touching of any sort is something she will NOT tolerate at this stage and I am not going to force this.

Any ideas on how to help her feel more settled and safer. Previous attempts at rehoming this bun have failed - she was more settled in her RSPCA home but it took her time to settle there too. From her behaviour she does not appear to feel safe, she has been spayed, efforts to introduce her to male buns in her past have failed.

Any ideas on getting through to her I do not see her as bun on toast or that I intend to hurt her. She is behaving like she has been dropped or hurt in the past and learnt humans are really not nice. She is not directly attacking but she is still sending out 'I will have you if you come near me' body signals.

Going to deliver another peace offering of munchy hay and buy more parsnips as those seem to be the unresistable treat. Hoping those of you who have had very unhappy rescue buns might have some suggestions I have not thought of or know about I can try.

She is lovely rabbit in lots of ways but I can see why she can be a handful and was considered to be unsuitable as a pet for a home with children. I just wish she could relax a little.
Thankfully my lot are teens and have grown up with buns and are old enough and bun friendly so can let her sit and grumble in peace and keep the noise levels down.

 

[Elena]

Do you ever sit on the floor with her? Just letting her explore you?

 

[Tracybeakerisland]

Hi Schutte,

At the moment if I do sit on the floor she hides behind the sofa and will not come out even for the wafted smell of a fresh piece of parsnip.

She has occasionally stuck her head out of her cage provided I sit very quietly on the sofa the furthest away from her cage. The door of the cage is only closed during 12pm- am so she can choose to come out or not.
I suspect the journey home left her exhausted and too tired to be jittery.

Her behaviour does not strike me as that of a nasty natured bun; it makes me feel something in her past has taught her to be very scared- almost all of the time. I did ask the RSPCA if anyone knew all of her history but they only knew the problems they have encountered whenever anyone has tried to re-home her in the past.

IF no one is around and she thinks no one is watching her through the window she sneaks out of her cage and onto the rough textured mat she seems to like- she is not totally relaxed on this but has less of that wary stance when she is on it- is there a way I could use this texture more?

She is also backing form her water bottle since she clipped it with her foot and it made a noise. I am going to put a water bowl out for her and see if she gets on with that better. Its too hot for her not to have water.

I would let her have a go in the new run outside but right now I doubt I could pick her up without causing her extreme terror and risk being badly bitten and kicked by a terrified bun.

 

[VickiP]

:wave: Was she an indoor rabbit previously? If not then that will make her very unsettled especially at this time of the year. I would aim to get her outside if thats the case. To improve the bond and build trust, I would lie on the floor and don't move when she approaches you, rub your hands in her litter hay before you start touching her and let her see your hand coming and let her smell it, don't go over her head, come round the side, always talk to her on approaching her aswell if she is nervous, she may feel alarmed if she thinks you are sneaking around. Hand feeding is a good way of getting her to come to you but, it's not a dog so you mustn't tease her just let her take the food.

It sounds like a bunny that is stressed and bewildered so frightened and that is what is promoting the aggressive behaviour, it's all bravado really bless her. She is trying to adapt to her new surroundings and sounds, smells etc so I would be really patient with her as you don't know the background on her, she may have been neglected and not interacted with much so doesn't know what to do or how to behave.

If she like grass/mat surfaces, the Hayexperts.co.uk do grass mats with are good for lying on and nibbling, mine love them.

Best of luck with her, lots of TLC, talk quietly even sing to her aswell, she will eventually trust but, if she has had a rough time I don't blame her being wary. When you do get a good bond it will be really rewarding and lasting.

 

[Elena]

At the moment if I do sit on the floor she hides behind the sofa and will not come out even for the wafted smell of a fresh piece of parsnip.

I would avoid making any sort of move towards her and let her come and explore you in her own time. You'll need a lot of patience by the sounds of it! I'd also, when she does approach, not raise my hand or anything, just let her sniff you, explore you, even jump on you.

That's what we did with Nutmeg. She had her cage by the sofa when I first got her and I'd just open the door and watch tv and just let her come to me as and when she wanted. Now she'll come up and sit on my lap whenever I get down on the floor. Especially if I have pellets!! When we first got her she wouldn't approach for anything. She'd been in a household where she hadn't been handled much and her cage was low and there was a dog around so naturally she was quite a nervous bun but she's really settled and come out of her skin now. The only thing with her now is she hates it when I move stuff in her cage and sometimes gives me a nip.

 

[Tracybeakerisland]

She is still as jumpy and nervous as heck but I had an inspired idea- I had a huge cardboard box, cut assorted bunny sized holes in the sides, left the top so it can be nudged upwards and filled it with hay.

She was curious enough to dare to leave the 1 metre square she has been in and nose around. She still will not let anyone near her and is starring at everyone from behind the hidey hole by her cage at the back of the sofa but for the first time in the week when I am not in the room I can hear happier bunny being busy noises. Right now she is having fun tearing strips of cardboard and throwing it about with the hay.

She even for two minutes assumed the bunny loaf position on the rug she has taken to when she thinks no one is there.

I think your right she has been so messed about in her life it will take weeks if not months for her to become settled.
She is litter trained so I suspect she may be a bun who has not been on grass much and her worry about moving and exploring may come from having not been able to.
She has fresh apple and pear wood from my trees but she chose to eat two skirting boards. I have given her giant pine cones to play with and nibble as an alternative in case it was the pine she liked. The science pellets are being hidden in the hay box and around the cage so she has to forage for them.

Parsnips are the food of the gods for her so I have taken to placing little slices just outside her comfort zone and leaving them for her to 'find' to encourage her to explore a little more.

I am spending frequent short periods of time in the lounge with her but allowing her to rest in between. Would love to be able to show her the garden but until she feels safe enough to let me near that is not going to happen. This clearly has to be at her speed not mine although I am trying to work out how to set up the panels of the outside run so I can open the french door and give her the option of looking into the yard and to the garden beyond.

Lovely rabbit but oh my her fear is such its made her unpredicatable and prone to attack and I can understand why so many who tried to rehome her ended up taking her back. With any luck she may be willing to at least come over and look at me next month.


:roll:

 

[prettylupin]

How lucky she is to end up with such a patient and understanding owner at last. This is the home she has been waiting for, you should be very proud of what you have achieved with her so far, it may not seem like much but to a damaged rescue bun it will mean the world to her to begin to feel safe at last.

Without wanting to disappoint you, just a little warning that gaining the trust of a very nervous rescue can sometimes take years, we have one here, but it is these little tiny changes and improvements that you come to realise are HUGE steps for your bunny and you will continue to be surprised by her in the months and years to come I promise you, it is very rewarding (and very frustrating at times too) but it sounds to me that you are right on track. She will trust in her own time at her own pace and all we can do is be patient as their carers.

A couple of suggestions that might help a little:
Don't clean her cage whilst she is in it or can see what you are doing. Close a door between you or put up a screen if she is in the same room as the cage and doesn't venture further than this yet. Or occupy her with something nice like a plate of leaves/veggies if she has this sort of thing. You will do wonders for her security internally if you make sure she has a space of her own that she never gets picked up from or that gets rearranged/cleaned whilst she is in it or can see you doing it. Poppy, our bun, loves her hutch, she feels SO safe in there - we never do anything to it or her whilst she is in it and this is her safe haven - it has made her feel much happier overall.

Another bunny, I know you say previous attempts have failed, but this may be just what she needs to give her confidence. Our male bun is very confident and she used to follow him around, still does, and get the confidence to go places and do things - like approach us - from copying him and seeing it was safe. If she was only ever bonded at the RSPCA - it will depend on the branch - but my local RSPCA where our two came from bonded buns by putting them together in non-neutral territory which is a recipe for disaster! :roll: You might find that correct bonding methods have a different outcome.

Do you have wooden floors of lino that she is slipping on? This might be why she likes the mat. If so, I would think about carpeting the room or putting lots of rugs down - buns don't like to lose grip underfoot. Poppy will not touch our wooden floor in the corridor and will hop from rug to rug like stepping stones! :lol: And if one rug is missing she will wait for me to come along and put it down over the 2ft gap!:lol:

We also found a few other techniques we learnt by trial and error helpful:
Putting a tunnel or box next to the litter tray - being on the latrine is a vulnerable time for a rabbit - having a 'bolt' hole next to it can really help.
Picking Poppy up only once per day - same time and from the same place - which is NOT from her safe place (hutch or den in the sitting room). By making pick up time (for handling practice and an opportunity to health check daily and groom - a good bonding experience... Poppy loves being brushed by my OH - she prefers men!) part of a routine, bunny quickly learns that they only get picked up at this time once a day and from the same place. This has the effect of teaching bunny that at all other times of the day they are not going to be suddenly grabbed or picked up unexpectedly and helps them to feel much more secure around you and around the house/rooms they live in. It has taken us over two years to be able to stroke Poppy in the middle of the floor in an open room, or on the lawn, without her flinching under our touch or moving away. It took a year just to be able to touch her nose or head, this year she let us progress to touching her back, but sometimes she will still move away, we never push it, she is getting there in her own time. We still can not pick her up just anywhere... we use the same time same place method still and it has worked wonders for her trust.

I think your idea of allowing her into the garden under her own steam is great - we do this exactly! Poppy now comes downstairs (split level house) and sits by the backdoor around 4pm to say 'time to play mum' we never have to carry her out. Our garden is totally bunny proof and we just supervise - when she wants to come in she comes back in when she is ready. If a bun learns the way out - they can then learn the way back in. We also have a secure run if we can not supervise with lots of tunnels and boxes and dens to hide in. I don't put her in it.... We have taught her to go in it when we ask her - no handling and we both get what we want.
Hope some of this is helpful for you in some way.

 

[weedug]

Faith has given me loads of problems and there are a few things that I have found helped with her. She hated us touching her, so I eventually gave up and just offered her treats. She seemed to eventually calm down knowing that she would be left in peace.

The biggest change in her was putting her outside in a hutch. Before she would launch herself at me every morning when trying to feed her. Now she will accept very short nose rubs, and no more trying to attack.

I use a carry case to put her in the run. She just pops into it when I hold it up to her hutch. We are still at early stages with this, but she is getting the idea.

I think that she is just thankful that I am not going to be picking her up or trying to cuddle her all the time. Maybe Doodee just needs the time to realise that she will not be treated as a cuddle bun.

It is great that you are having so much patience with her! I know how hard it can be.

Keep up the good work!
________
CrystalCarrera live

 

[Tracybeakerisland]

Hi,
Thanks so much for the encouragement, it can be hard going when you know you have taken on a bun who is not happy with people and not settled enough to like other rabbits much either. Most people think I have to have been mad to take on an adult bun with known behaviour problems rather than a fluffy cute baby from the pet shop.

The big box full of holes and hay is still proving a big hit. My younger son has attached a run tube to it for her and its fun to see that hesitant head peer out for a second or two before she heads back into the hay to re-design the cardboard and rummage about for pellets and tasty bits from the wooldland forage mix. She seems to like timothy hay mixed with calendula too. I am using the fresh veg as a bribe to help her get to know that my hands are not after her.

As she likes the box she is more willing to let me clean that cage. She keeps a careful eye on my efforts from a distance, seemed to approve more of one cage cleaner than another and had a good go at killing the evil dustpan and brush when I left it on the floor whilst I took the old bedding away. She is costing me a fortune in yummy hay but its worth it as she loves the stuff.

Its strange knowing that their are beady eyes watching me from hidey holes. She seems a little more relaxed since she has not been dragged from her cage or her hay box. Still bolts, still thumps, still assumes the aggresive stance but is being a little bit quicker to drop it as no one is grabbing her or making her have cuddles.

The floors are wipe clean lino and solid floor with tiles but they are covered with large none slip rugs as well as the small large pile rug from the bathroom she fell in love with. She does seem to find being able to snuggle in it soothing so she can have that.
I have had house rabbits before but only Toffee was large enough and crazy enough to think building up speed to then slid across the floor was funny. A giant rabbit trying to do happy bunny dances across a slidey floor was a sight to behold. If I tried putting a rug down he just clawed it out of the way and went back to sliding on his bum.

I covered the poo box area in her cage with a dark cloth over the cage from day one so she had a safe space to cringe on her first two days. Its under a large shelf in a corner as that was the space my previous rabbits prefered.

I would love it if she could have a bonded friend but its hard to know when would be the right time to introduce her to a male. I do not live near a rescue that I could take her to to check the local talent over and would not want to make her have yet another car journey just yet- she has had too many of those from previous attempts to rehome her. I know if I had another male and she hated him I would need to be prepared to make space for another bun on their own. Teasel would not take to another rabbit as she is not friendly with anyone or anything and its taken three years for her to let me pick her up without taking a chunk out of me. Sadly Teasel over seven years as proved herself to be one cranky and bad tempered rabbit. I love her to bits but I also respect her need for space and respect those bunny fangs of hers and its taken years to get her to the point she lets me groom her without trying to savage me or the brush.
Doodees behaviour does not seem to have the same cause as Teasel's grumpy stuff- poor thing got the worst bits of the old nethie temperament- Doodee is behaving like she has been neglected and hurt in the past. I was allowed to have Doodee because of the experience I gained with Toffee and Teasel and my vets reference.

Its great to have another bun in the house again- everyone thinks I was crazy for saying the house was too quiet without one.:lol:

 

[Tracybeakerisland]

Oh b* back to square one agian.

Shot into the lounge after I heard that high pitched squeal. Doodee must have been following essence of Fred around the lounge and had tried to push herself into one of his old fave small hidey holes. She is twice the size Fred ever was and bless her she got well and truly stuck. Had to grab her by her scruff so I could squeeze my hands under her chest and back legs to gently ease her backwards as she was trying to go forwards and getting even more stuck. It took two of us to try and hypno her so we could check the squeal was terror at being stuck and not that she had hurt herself.

She has safe and simply scared but has reacted by tearing everything up in the lounge - the mess is unbelieveable- she has gone back to the litter tray which she has tipped over herself and has crawled underneath where she has spent the last hour with much growling and stamping.

I have covered the 3/4 of the cage and left her a peer out space and the door open with a peace offering of chopped veggies but I doubt she will want to speak to me in any form for quite a while after this.

 

[Blackberry & Co]

Aw, bless her! So glad she has you now, it sounds like she needs a lot of patience.

I hope she settles with you. Please keep us updated on her progress. It may be slow progress, but it will be so rewarding for you when she starts to trust you.

 

[BattleKat]

couldn't be helped.
Of course she's traumatised by the experience but there's a chance she'll associate you with getting free rather than associating you with getting stuck.

 

[prettylupin]

I'm sure it's only a little set back. She will be ok. These things happen, she is clearly terrified of being trapped, but this experience will fade over time. You are doing all the right things, she is just going to need a lot of time. Setbacks will happen, and she'll come through them, each time more quickly, so just hang in there.

 

[weedug]

What a shame when things were going so well. Sounds like she has taken her frustration out on her surroundings and will calm down now.

I would just go back to treating her like you were before this and she will soon realise that everything is ok and hopefully settle down again.

She is so lucky to have found someone who is willing to be patient with her. Keep up the good work!
________
LIVE SEX WEBSHOWS

 

[Tracybeakerisland]

Left her with my eldest son today so I could go out.

When I came back she was snoozing doing the bunny loaf surrounded by confetti she had dragged over to the rug, familiar looking poppy red and cream confetti.
Yep you guessed it- my lounge curtains have been bunnied to death.

She also spent a happy five minutes chewing the rubber surrounds off my eldest sons van shoes whilst he was wearing them. They are an adult size 13 so she may have thought they were an odd sort of bunny, they still smell of Fred as he used to sleep on top of them. She spent two minutes trying to make friends with his shoes who refused to chase her. She now seems to think my hulking great son is some kind of male bunny with very big feet as long as he wears those shoes.

Not sure which one is the dafter- Doodee for chomping through the curtains rather than the huge pile of hay or my son for watching her eat through the curtains and sitting still whilst she chewed his shoes whilst he was still wearing them. :lol:

Hopefully this means she is beginning to settle in and not about to beat Toffee for home breaking.

 

[weedug]

Sounds like she had a busy day :lol: and is definitely settling in.

My son would have just sat and watched too :roll:
________
HornyLove cam