Pets Asked by Netta on January 22, 2021
My 4 month old bunny has been traumatized. I was going in to clean his cage, it’s a 12 foot (3.6 m) enclosure. I went to pick him up to put him in his temporary cage and he was fine a first but when I was going out the door with him, he tried to jump out of my arms. I grabbed him up and put him in his portable cage.
He seemed to settle down and when I first put him in his enclosure he seemed “OK”. Since then he been stand-off-ish. I didn’t think too much about it at first. But now I can see he is traumatized . He won’t engage with me at all. He shies away from me and kind of turns he back to me. What can I do? I haven’t tried anything yet because I just don’t know what to do.
Rabbits in nature are only grabbed, if they are hunted down. Because of this they all have a strong aversion against being grabbed and carried around.
But if you do it gently and give your bunny time to became used to it, then it will be an unpleasant, but tolerable thing for your rabbit. You could help him by being calm during the handling and by giving him reward for it. The reward could be little amounts of the favorite food while he sits in your arms, or calm petting at his favorite spots.
(Additionally, you could train to slow your heart rate. Like the most prey animals, rabbits are sensible for the heart rate of other animals nearby. If your heart stays calm, you give the rabbits the information that everything is good and there is no need for fear.)
Answered by Allerleirauh on January 22, 2021
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