We have adopted a very nervy bunny!

My boyfriend and I adopted a beautiful black rabbit from our local Pets at Home store a few days ago. He's a gorgeous boy and generally very sweet tempered, but absolutely freaks out from time to time when you go near him! We have been told he is 7 months old, and has been in the Pets at Home store since he was brought in at 10-12 weeks.
He also has a bit of an unusual condition... the reason he has never been previously sold/adopted is because as a baby, he got into a fight with another male rabbit who bit his willy! Said bite ended up getting very infected and produced necrotic tissue, which resulted in the vets having to cut the tissue away along with the tip of his willy! So now he pees from a hole that was caused by the injury, and even more bizarrely (something which apparently baffled every vet and rabbit specialist he was admitted to) he has a very thick, coarse hair growing from a hair follicle that has developed under his foreskin, so to speak. And so every 3 weeks we have to trim said hair for him so that it doesn't cause any pain/infection.
So, as I'm sure you have gathered, we have adopted a rabbit that has had little to no contact with humans besides the ones that have picked and prodded at his privates! As a result, although he isn't aggressive, he comes across as near on terrified whenever we get too close to him and it takes him a good while to calm down. He is now a house rabbit - he has an indoor cage that is available to him all day and which he sleeps in at night, whilst literally having the run of the mill in our flat, no room is out of bounds besides the bathroom! And so obviously he will have to get used to being around us on a day to day basis, and whilst I am completely aware that it will be a lengthy process, I was wondering if anyone else had any tips or previous experiences to share that will help us bond with William (ironically named?) as quickly and less stressful as possible for all parties involved.

I adopted a bunny from pets at home that was one that had been there too long so was put into the homing section. When we adopted her she was absolutely terrified of everything and everyone! When we saw her at the shop and wanted to know a bit more about her the assistant at pets at home trapped her in a corner with the roof of one of those wooden houses and got her head stuck in the side! I was horrified! The lady then preceeded to try and grab her to pick her up and wondered why the bunny freaked out. After seeing all of this I decided she had to come with us so we adopted amber she was extremely shy for the first couple of weeks but we worked on her handling really slowly so she could get used to us and I spent weeks just sitting on the floor next to her cage reading and just talking to her and eventually she got curious and started to climb all over me. Since then her confidence has grown massively and she's a really friendly affectionate bunny now! We also found a massive scar down her ear which we checked with the vet and he said it looked like she'd been attacked by another bunny and hadn't had any treatment so it had healed funny (its all lumpy now). This was not something pets at home ever mentioned and having seen the handling of her I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't treated. But on a positive note im so pleased we adopted her because she is fantastic and is so so affectionate now!

Aw bless him. So pleased you have given him a loving home. I'd suggest lots of lying on the floor quietly & letting bun get used to you. Make sure he has a space he can hide in (cardboard box with exit & entrance holes are popular with ours) & don't invade that space. Joey has always been on the nervy side but is coming out of his shell more all the time which I attribute mostly to his copying his very confident & people sociable wife. Offering treats such as herbs to hand feed might win him round to. Good luck

joey&boo said:

Aw bless him. So pleased you have given him a loving home. I'd suggest lots of lying on the floor quietly & letting bun get used to you. Make sure he has a space he can hide in (cardboard box with exit & entrance holes are popular with ours) & don't invade that space. Joey has always been on the nervy side but is coming out of his shell more all the time which I attribute mostly to his copying his very confident & people sociable wife. Offering treats such as herbs to hand feed might win him round to. Good luck

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He does have an edible tunnel he hides in and in his cage he has a shelter on one side that he can go under so he can go and hide if he wants to. He doesn't actually spend much time in either though which I suppose must be a good sign? I'd love to eventually introduce a girlfriend for him but I don't think our flat is big enough we are moving at the end of September though so will have to see how he is then! What kind of herbs do you mean? We've been reading around on the internet and broccoli and bananas seem like a popular choice! We hand fed him some broccoli earlier, and although it took him a little while he eventually took it from us thanks for your help.

Rabbit-mummy said:

I adopted a bunny from pets at home that was one that had been there too long so was put into the homing section. When we adopted her she was absolutely terrified of everything and everyone! When we saw her at the shop and wanted to know a bit more about her the assistant at pets at home trapped her in a corner with the roof of one of those wooden houses and got her head stuck in the side! I was horrified! The lady then preceeded to try and grab her to pick her up and wondered why the bunny freaked out. After seeing all of this I decided she had to come with us so we adopted amber she was extremely shy for the first couple of weeks but we worked on her handling really slowly so she could get used to us and I spent weeks just sitting on the floor next to her cage reading and just talking to her and eventually she got curious and started to climb all over me. Since then her confidence has grown massively and she's a really friendly affectionate bunny now! We also found a massive scar down her ear which we checked with the vet and he said it looked like she'd been attacked by another bunny and hadn't had any treatment so it had healed funny (its all lumpy now). This was not something pets at home ever mentioned and having seen the handling of her I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't treated. But on a positive note im so pleased we adopted her because she is fantastic and is so so affectionate now!

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That sounds really horrible I've always been a bit iffy about what Pets at Home staff tell you as a lot of the times I've been in for supplies (we also have a hamster and fish tank) and asked for advice we've had 3 different members of staff telling us 3 different things! But as a nationwide company I suppose we're led to believe that we should trust them more than our local pet store? Stories like yours just go to show that it's not all that meets the eye though! We had a slightly similar experience when we went to purchase our hamster. The lady who was attempting to sex the hamsters were literally hoisting them up by their tails to look under their bums whilst they were struggling on their front paws and she ended up sexing our hamster as a female when in actual fact he has a very large manhood :lol:
But your post has given us hope that William still has time to develop trust and affection for us how old was your bunny when you adopted her?

ljbamford94 said:

He does have an edible tunnel he hides in and in his cage he has a shelter on one side that he can go under so he can go and hide if he wants to. He doesn't actually spend much time in either though which I suppose must be a good sign? I'd love to eventually introduce a girlfriend for him but I don't think our flat is big enough we are moving at the end of September though so will have to see how he is then! What kind of herbs do you mean? We've been reading around on the internet and broccoli and bananas seem like a popular choice! We hand fed him some broccoli earlier, and although it took him a little while he eventually took it from us thanks for your help.

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Rabbits can have herbs such as coriander, parsley, mint. Our rabbit loves rosemary . Banana is a popular choice, but does have a lot of sugar which can upset your rabbit's stomach so should be given as treat. Our rabbit was from the adoption/ rehome section of P@H and was very nervous to begin with - although she did binky on our first day but that was probably the joy of escaping P@H :lol: Like Joey&Boo said, lots of time sat on the floor quietly can work well. We found ignoring or rabbit (read a book or like I did unintentionally fall asleep) and they'll soon get curious and approach you. Resist the temptation to handle them when they first come to you. Eventually you'll build that bond. Good luck :thumb: