Alanna
Well-Known Member
You might remember me posting on here a little while back about the two baby lops we got from a local rescue. They were brothers from the same litter and had been desexed early but one of them was displaying aggression and being quite territorial, peeing on the couch and the dogs bed etc.
We went back to the rescue, spent ages going over everything, vet checked them (yes they are definitely desexed) and came home with a new approach to reintroducing them to gradually larger sections of our house, not letting them onto furniture or in the dog's bed etc etc. It's been six months now and I'm beginning to think these rabbits are just never going to be good pets. They are not afraid of us or the dog or the children or even the vacuum cleaner at all, but they want absolutely nothing to do with us. They are free range but will never seek out our company, will never allow themselves to be petted, do not display any desire to even be near us. They happily binky around together and groom each other etc etc, but they just don't like us. If we get the food or treats out, they will happily climb all over us to get the food, but as soon as it's gone so are they. There have been times when we've had to pick them up, one of them just goes limp and waits to be put down again (and if you don't do it pretty quickly he will start biting you) and the other one launches straight into attacking you with his teeth and claws. That's the territorial one, you can't even change his water dish without him grunting and charging you. He grunts at us even when we walk past him. And he STILL insists on peeing and pooping in the kitchen corner where he knows we keep the sultanas. There is absolutely no way we can stop him from doing it, except fencing off the kitchen permanently and who wants to live like that?
The thing is, I wouldn't mind all the pooping and peeing and fluff everywhere and half our house dedicated to being rabbit proof if they were actually NICE! But they're not, and I'm beginning to think they never will be. I have spent hours lying on the floor, I have gone through kilos of treats, I have been suuuuuuuuper patient. At what point am I allowed to say this isn't working? My husband feels like when you get a pet you have a responsibility to them for life, and of course I agree with that, but with these guys it doesn't even feel like they are our pets. This is an absolutely one-way relationship. We feed, clean and look after them and share our space with them, and in return they are hostile and aggressive, and completely disinterested at best. The children don't even get anything out of them, they're cute from a distance but they can't have any kind of relationship with them. I feel so sad, our last house rabbit Thumper was our best friend! We loved him! He was so affectionate and full of personality and loved cuddling up with us on the couch and followed us everywhere. We used to set up obstacle courses for him and play all sorts of games. These guys in comparison are just like really grumpy deadheads. It's like they are a completely different species.
What should I do? Should I talk my husband into getting rid of them? Or am I stuck with them until they die?
We went back to the rescue, spent ages going over everything, vet checked them (yes they are definitely desexed) and came home with a new approach to reintroducing them to gradually larger sections of our house, not letting them onto furniture or in the dog's bed etc etc. It's been six months now and I'm beginning to think these rabbits are just never going to be good pets. They are not afraid of us or the dog or the children or even the vacuum cleaner at all, but they want absolutely nothing to do with us. They are free range but will never seek out our company, will never allow themselves to be petted, do not display any desire to even be near us. They happily binky around together and groom each other etc etc, but they just don't like us. If we get the food or treats out, they will happily climb all over us to get the food, but as soon as it's gone so are they. There have been times when we've had to pick them up, one of them just goes limp and waits to be put down again (and if you don't do it pretty quickly he will start biting you) and the other one launches straight into attacking you with his teeth and claws. That's the territorial one, you can't even change his water dish without him grunting and charging you. He grunts at us even when we walk past him. And he STILL insists on peeing and pooping in the kitchen corner where he knows we keep the sultanas. There is absolutely no way we can stop him from doing it, except fencing off the kitchen permanently and who wants to live like that?
The thing is, I wouldn't mind all the pooping and peeing and fluff everywhere and half our house dedicated to being rabbit proof if they were actually NICE! But they're not, and I'm beginning to think they never will be. I have spent hours lying on the floor, I have gone through kilos of treats, I have been suuuuuuuuper patient. At what point am I allowed to say this isn't working? My husband feels like when you get a pet you have a responsibility to them for life, and of course I agree with that, but with these guys it doesn't even feel like they are our pets. This is an absolutely one-way relationship. We feed, clean and look after them and share our space with them, and in return they are hostile and aggressive, and completely disinterested at best. The children don't even get anything out of them, they're cute from a distance but they can't have any kind of relationship with them. I feel so sad, our last house rabbit Thumper was our best friend! We loved him! He was so affectionate and full of personality and loved cuddling up with us on the couch and followed us everywhere. We used to set up obstacle courses for him and play all sorts of games. These guys in comparison are just like really grumpy deadheads. It's like they are a completely different species.
What should I do? Should I talk my husband into getting rid of them? Or am I stuck with them until they die?
