New bunny here!

[selenaaahhh]

Hello everyone! My name is Selena I am new to this forum as well as a new bunny owner- I just adopted my first bunny, "Skylar" aka "Skye" she was purchased by her previous owner about 4 months ago from a pet store when she was small and her owner thought she could take her to college with her because she was soo small and cute..well she was wrong! Skye got much bigger so her previous owner returned her and then I found her They said she should be around 6 months old and a "Satin Lionhead mix" but I'm not 100% sure (shes my avatar pic) I got Skye a few days ago and she has made lots of progress so far! her nervousness has gone down and she loves my pets and head rubs! she is potty trained which is great! I am taking her on Tuesday to have her first exam and pre-op bloodwork for her spay (which I am VERY nervous about!) I work at an animal hospital with an exotics vet but he won't spay bunnies he will only neuter and he told me how risky it is so of course now I am a worry wart! I found a really good vet not too far from me and the girl told me he spays and neuters bunnies all the time so that has helped me calm down a bit- my main concern now is getting her out of her cage! The cage I have for her is tall and on wheels so I can't comfortably grab her from the top door (I'm short ), and the side door is a little too small to get a comfortable hold on her either. Of course when I try to pick her up she hops away so it has been difficult for me to get her used to being held- since her cage is higher up I purchased doggy stairs so she can hop out on her own but she doesn't seem to want to come out I know it takes time but I need to figure out how to speed up the process a little so when we need to go to the vet in 3 days she doesn't start a war with me trying to get her out of her cage and into the carry case. I also want her to come out on her own to get exercise and explore plus when she is out of the cage it will so much more easier for me to practice picking her up and holding her! She isn't aggressive at all which is great because I don't want a bunny bite anytime soon but I don't think her previous owner held her often so she is very weary about being grabbed any advice?

 

[Bville]

Most rabbits don't like being picked up or held so it's not just Skye. Are there any treats that she likes that you could use to lure her out? You could try holding the carry case in front of the door with a treat in it and see if she goes into it or use the treat to get her to try the doggy stairs.

 

[Azerane]

I've found that with carry cages, if they're dark inside, bunnies naturally want to go into them (unlike cats and dogs which avoid them at any cost). So if you put the carry cage in front of the door, she might just naturally be inclined to explore it. Put some sort of treat inside the back of it so that when she gets in there it's a positive experience. Then on the day, you can put the cage there again and hopefully she'll go in straight away.

 

[selenaaahhh]

Thanks for the advice everyone I managed to pull the bottom of the cage out a little so I could easily lean in and comfortably grab her. It worked! She let me pick her up- I made sure I was calm and moved slow and I picked her up and placed her gently on the ground and made sure to give her a treat and a pet and let her explore! Of course she loved exploring so much she played games with me when it came time to get her in the cage! So I took her favorite treat and put it inside the carrying case, she hopped right in! I lifted the carrying case very slowly to her cage door and she went back in her cage- I rewarded her again with a treat! I will do this again tomorrow-this time I will try and pick her up more so I hopefully don't need to trick her with the carrying case again. She is still very weary about the doggy stairs although she doesn't hop up and down them to get in and out of her cage she loves to hide inside of them! lol

 

[selenaaahhh]

I attached a picture to this post- here you can see just how tall her cage is and the doggy stairs- and of course you can see Skye in the back haha

 

[selenaaahhh]

Also what is everyone's experience with having a female bunny spayed? Like I said in my initial post I am pretty nervous about having it done but I know it will benefit her in the future...

 

[Azerane]

So glad that you got it to work and she let you pick her up Bandit is the same with being picked up, if he's in his little area, he's fine, but if he's out running about somewhere, it's often more of a struggle to pick him up because he doesn't want to be put away.

 

[BigBunny]

does the cage need to be on the stand ? I know i didn't bother even bringing the stand home because i had no intentions of using it. Boomer easily hops in and out of his cage and he is TINY, but because the cage is on the floor this isn't an issue. and i can ALWAYS reach him in his big cage.

So good you are making progress with Skye. Cute bunny.

 

[selenaaahhh]

BigBunny- unfortunately this cage is all welded together like this, I can't detach the legs unless I saw them off! I didn't purchase this cage I got it for free from my job so I wasn't going to be picky with what kind of cage it was but it definitely is a little inconvenient with how tall it is especially for me I'm only 5'1! lol

 

[BigBunny]

yes that is inconvenient. Oh well... We make do with what we got.

Well now she is making some progress maybe it wont become an issue in the end...

Keep up the good work. you too Skye

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Very cute--looks like our boy Hoppes. Everything with bunnies requires time and patience and they all try to train you. One of the easiest ways we have of putting them up--I cut holes in the sides of an apple box, the ones with a top and bottom and put a pan inside full of shredded newspaper. They will go in and hang out and play with the paper and when it's time to put them up I herd them into it--now, most will go right in and it's so much easier than chasing and trying to catch them. We've had more than 30 females neutered with no real problems--just make sure the practitioner has done a lot of female rabbits. We also take them in in their own hutch, but ours don't have wheels so it's not an option for yours.

 

[Tauntz]

You might want to consider getting an xpen. It can be used to add to her cage space to allow her a little exercise room addition without giving her full access to the room/house. I use one for my bunny girls (2 Jersey wooly sisters) as their cage. Gives them room for hidey boxes, litter pan, food/water ceramic bowls, toys & room to play. I bought mine at Amazon.com for about $40. I'm going to buy another one soon so I can either expand their "cage" or use it for outside or other backup cage! Best wishes with the spay! Yes, I understand about being a worry wort when it comes to bunnies & with spays. Praying all will go well with your little bunny girl.