Nervous bun

I adopted a little girl bun -Ally- a few months ago as a companion to my male houserabbit. She and Thumper have bonded really well. She is a lovely inquisitive little bun, but is very jumpy and I am now finding it quite difficult to bond with her. Because she now lives as a houserabbit with Thumper she has a lot of freedom/places to run which makes her difficult to "catch" and its almost impossible to get close enough to pick her up- because she's off like a shot when she thinks we are getting too close. I want to address this before it becomes an established pattern for her to steer clear of her human companions- does anybody have and tips to help me bond with my nervy little bun? :? Have tried treats, games, just being close at hand but nothing working so far....

Would appreciate any advice

I had exactly the same problem with my house bunny Benji - for the first 4 months we had her. After much attention, giving her a more structured routine, and structuring where she had access to she became more friendly and less nervous.

Also as she has grown older she's calmed down a lot and now really enjoys our company - she will even sit with us on the sofa to watch tv.

I hope this helps some, Emma

Sooty runs when out in the living room but will happily sit for ages being groomed when we are in his pen. Probably need to enclose her for set times and you can be closer.

ginnymac said:

I adopted a little girl bun -Ally- a few months ago as a companion to my male houserabbit. She and Thumper have bonded really well. She is a lovely inquisitive little bun, but is very jumpy and I am now finding it quite difficult to bond with her. Because she now lives as a houserabbit with Thumper she has a lot of freedom/places to run which makes her difficult to "catch" and its almost impossible to get close enough to pick her up- because she's off like a shot when she thinks we are getting too close. I want to address this before it becomes an established pattern for her to steer clear of her human companions- does anybody have and tips to help me bond with my nervy little bun? :? Have tried treats, games, just being close at hand but nothing working so far....

Would appreciate any advice

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Have you thought about taking her to the bunny playgroup at companion care? Angela is great with this sort of thing

Cheryl

For what it's worth...

I had one the same and it took some time for me to realise what's nervousness and what is simply mischievious.

The solution for me was to spend a lot of floor time with her.
We were lucky in that they had their own room in the house :shock:

It was my excuse to spend an hour or two reading in that room, just lying on the floor on a nice rabbit friendly duvet (with a few cunningly placed rabbit toys around)

It took some time, 3 steps forward 2 steps back, but gradually she got to the stage where she was quite comfortable using me as a pedestal to view the room with. I guess the psycology is - if you're relaxed they will be too. Just takes a little time.

She still would run away when it was time for bed though...

Rob

sgprescue said:

Have you thought about taking her to the bunny playgroup at companion care? Angela is great with this sort of thing

Cheryl

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Ooooh really? Nala is just the same. She will come to me for a treat or piece of fruit/pellet, will grab it out my hand and run away, but try and catch her and its pretty impossible. I have given up trying and when i do have to try it can take me almost 30mins of chasing her to eventually get her in a corner that i can grab her from, which obviously isnt ideal. Usually i dont give them any pellets/veg when they are running about the lounge and when its bedtime i put it all in their cage and they both hop in so i rarely have to catch her. She will happily come up to my feet/hands for a sniff but as soon as i move she runs off.
Luckily i dont have to groom her too often as she doesnt seem to get knotted so i usually pick her up out of her cage give her a comb through then a cuddle and a treat then let her on the floor for a run about.

My smudge is very shy and nervous, he shivers when he encounters new people and if you don't whisper to him.
He's quite a loner, and will often go an sit on top of the hutches to get away from the others . I wish he was more bubbly in character but I'll just accept him as he is. He's still my little cutie

ginnymac said:

I Have tried treats, games, just being close at hand but nothing working so far....

Would appreciate any advice

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I would persist with what you are doing :wink: they are clever little critters and your bun will see the caring side of you by what you are doing :wink: Also, not sure if you are doing this but presume you are, I would constantly talk to her, even if you are reading, read out loud (well not literally loud, but you know what I mean :wink: :lol: )

I think it was Luvabun once suggested for car journeys that classical fm channel on the radio is very helpful in relaxing a bunny and I have to say, I did tune in on the bunnyrun with Pie and Mash and it did work :shock: perhaps you could pop the radio on when you are not there :wink:

I got my rabbit from a rescue. She wasnt handled by her previous owners so she doesnt like being picked up. I lie on the floor and she comes and investigates,chins me licks and nibbles!

Thanks for all your advice

Thanks everyone for the advice- some really good tips! I have been spending quote a bit of time with little Allly on the floor recently and we are beginning to make a bit of a breakthrough! She likes to stand on me (if I'm lying on the floor) to get a better view of the surroundings and I do talk to her quite a bit She'll hand feed quite happily now too. We'll take it slowly and hopefully little by little she'll become more confident.

Thanks everyone - will let you know how it goes..

Have you thought about taking her to the bunny playgroup at companion care? Angela is great with this sort of thing

Cheryl[/quote]

This might sound a little ignorant but I am sure I am not the only one to not know ... where / what is companion care?

Janice

Re: Thanks for all your advice

ginnymac said:

Thanks everyone for the advice- some really good tips! I have been spending quote a bit of time with little Allly on the floor recently and we are beginning to make a bit of a breakthrough! She likes to stand on me (if I'm lying on the floor) to get a better view of the surroundings and I do talk to her quite a bit She'll hand feed quite happily now too. We'll take it slowly and hopefully little by little she'll become more confident.

Thanks everyone - will let you know how it goes..

Click to expand...

:thumb: sounds good She will become more confident as time goes on, it does take a little longer with some buns, especially when they have to learn to trust again :wink: your doing great and so is your bunny by the sounds of it

jrn1310 said:

Have you thought about taking her to the bunny playgroup at companion care? Angela is great with this sort of thing

Cheryl

Click to expand...

This might sound a little ignorant but I am sure I am not the only one to not know ... where / what is companion care?

Janice[/quote]

Companion care is the vets in norwich inside Pets@Home. There is a pet behaviour nurse there that does lots of groups for puppies and kittens and bunnies. I thought the playgroups were for children who had bunnies tho.