Why is my rabbit running away from me?

[Tinamoo]

hi all,

I bought a rabbit last week. He is 11 weeks
old. At the moment he lives outside in a hutch.
Every morning I go out to feed, clean the hutch
spend some time handling/stroking him
and then putting him in his run for some exercise.

The trouble is he will let me stroke him in his hutch
sometimes but the moment I go to pick him up
he goes into the far corner of the hutch. When I do
eventually pick him up he is fine. He will happily let
me stroke him & is not trying to get away at all. He
is also happy to sit on my knee and is relaxed.

Can anyone give me any advice/tips? I have never
owned a rabbit before.

 

[Sky-O]

Rabbits are a prey species so by nature do not like to be picked up. It will feel like they are flying through the air, at great speed, similar to being picked up by a bird of prey.

I would suggest working on building your trust with him with things you know he likes.

Rabbits are also creatures of habit, so you have to break the habit too as well as working on the reasons behind the behaviour.

How do you pick up him?

You've only had him a week, and its a big upheaval for a little bunny. Be patient with him. A Bond won't happen instantly, its something you have to work at with him.

 

[Tinamoo]

Thanks for the reply. I pick him up by
putting one hand under his tummy the
other hand supporting his bottom. I have
tried tempting him with food but he is not
interested.

I meant to say too that I have no problem
at all taking him out of his run and putting
him back into his cage.

 

[Sky-O]

You're holding him the right way which is ace

This may be a learned behaviour from wherever he was before he came to you, so you may have to work through that.

 

[HCB]

If hes fine in the run, but not in the cage, it sounds a lot like fear. He probably feels very safe in the cage as its smaller and enclosed, so by you picking him up it makes him feel very unsafe. But in the pen its more open so he probably feels just as insecure being picked up as being in the pen.

Iv been lucky in the fact all my rabbits have been fine being handled (i know for a fact most were handled from 1 week onwards, so probably felt quite natural to them).

I just have one female whos now nealry 8 months that has issues- shes still wary however, but has progressed massively. As you build a bond, and the rabbit learns to trust you and realise you are not going to hurt him, it should hopefully get easier, i used to end up in many deep scratches from pickign my female up, but now she doesnt do that, she generally sits still. Good luck!