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nervous rabbit

22 11:18:15

Question
You can tell he is just really scared of people, hes let me pet him but only when hes backed into a corner and you can tell hes just scared witless! you can see him tremble and he puts his head down to the floor. I cant get hold of him to pick him up coz he just wont let me, i take it hes still getting used to me? Should i take some time out to just stroke him and let him be or should i try and handle him everyday coz at the moment thats becoming an impossible task- i think hes better than he was he just still doenst trust me though, i have just bought a him a massive run but cant get hold of him to get him in it, i think-it cant be good for him to be stuck in his cage all day?
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Followup To

Question -
he just doesnt seem to be getting any better-how long should it take for him to get used to me? he has a big habit of tearing his hutch apart and tearing up newspaper laid underneath everything, he tips his bowl over so i cannot tell if he is eating the food and he seems to be drinking very little-i cant get hold of him to do any thorough checks on the little guy and i want to make sure he is ok and it just seems he hates me. i got him out onto the grass earlier and he was so scared, he didnt move and was shaking really bad? whats goin on!
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Followup To

Question -
i have jsut bought a dwarf lop eared rabbit, he is a year and a half old and was taken back to the shop by its previous owners because they did not want him.  I know he has not been neutered-what age should this be done? And the main concern is that he is so nervous-everytime you go near his hutch hel race to the other corner-i have been advised to handle him slowly but evry day but i cant get him, he has not been aggresive towards me he just seems really nervous of me, i know the previous owners did not care about him much-could this be the case that he is scared of humans or hes only been with us 2 days-is he getting used to his surroundings?

Answer -
I would guess he is still getting used to his new surroundings, give him some time to settle in before trying to interact with him above feeding him.

Since he may be shy, you could read information on how to work with shy bunnies at http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#aggbun.

Any age from 4 months old and up is ok to neuter a rabbit, once their testicles have dropped.  Give him some time to get used to you before taking him to the vet, some bunnies are very stressed out by vet visits.  

You can read more information about neutering rabbits at http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html#spay.

I've had a lot done, and it's a fairly safe operation.

Kim

Answer -
I would say that he is very scared, and you need to give him more time (weeks if not months).  Tearing up and tipping over things is normal rabbit behavior, so he is at least doing normal bunny things.

He may have had a lot of people grab at him or poke at him before, and he may just be scared of people.  Once he learns to trust you then you will be able to check him out.

Kim

Answer
I know you may not like this answer, but he may need to be left alone for a while.  If you just feed him and then leave him alone, he will eventually learn that you are a source of good things and generally rabbits will come around and let you pet them.

I would not try to pick him up at all.

Is there some food he particularly likes that you can coax him out of the run with?  Or, can you put his cage in the run so he can go in there voluntarily?

Good luck, these rabbits take more time but in the end their personalities make it all worth it.

Kim