Strange Behaviour Issues?

[Butterfinger]

Well, you know how when I was introducing Butterand myself, I said he had a phobia of being picked up? Well,there's more issues than just that, and part of the reason I wanted tojoin this forum was to see if any of you would know why he's acting soweird....I've read lots of books on rabbits, but he's just....well,here. Let's see if you can figure it out :?

Okay, let's say I want to take him in the house to play withhim. I go outside; he's jumping at the door, all happy to seeme....and then he realizes I don't have food, which could only mean onething....I want to take him out of his cage, and the only way to dothat is to pick him up. (His hutch is about three feet offthe ground for safety reasons)
He immediately runs to the back of the cage and hides behind his cardboard box.
So, I lean in there and pick him up anyway (Yeah, I feel bad aboutthat, but he would never come out of his cage if I didn't....And I meannever, as in NEVER. Not 'never' as in 'an hour')
Okay, rabbit out of cage. Now he's in the house, and I put him down.
He hops around and explores (But not without thumping his foot inprotest), but he doesn't really calm down, even though he seems reallycurious....
And he starts to....I don't know....hyperventilate? It's notpanting, because he doesn't open his mouth, so I guess he's justbreathing really fast, like he's too warm.... But even when the houseis cooler than the outside he still does it. I thought itmight be from stress, so I tried bringing him in the house every day(Instead of about four days a week) to see if he'd calm down.....Evenafter a few weeks....nope. Nothing. And even whenI'd been petting him for a while and he seemed about ready to take anap....still hyperventilating
I seriously don't know what it is.....
And then, sometimes after he's been in the house for a while, he hopsaround me making little 'oink' noises and tries to....well I figured this was because we haven't neutered him, though, and I thinkhe'll probably stop doing that once we do. But I still don'tget his hyperventilating.....
And I think the cage thing might be solved when I take him to collegewith me and get an indoor cage on the ground that I can just open up...
....
Oh, and as a side-note, have any of you ever used the product'Bi-Odor'? It's made of all-natural ingredients and says it'sfor rabbits as well....It's supposed to neutralize the scent of urineand fecal matter internally, so you put a few drops of it in thebunny's water... I was thinking about trying it, since especially bunnypee doesn't smell all that pleasant.

 

[naturestee]

He sounds pretty normal to me.

Mocha was the same way with being picked up. I used to insiston picking her up before I let her out to play but she would get reallyupset. Then I learned that rabbits usually don't like to bepicked up at all. It makes sense. They're confinedby you and they're in the air. Feels an awful lot like beingpicked up by a hawk, I suppose. Instead of picking him upevery time and getting him all worked up, why not train him to hop intoa pet carrier? Use a treat to lead him in. He'lleventually learn that the carrier means playtime and will probably hopright in.

It's even better if you can arrange it so he can come out of the cageon his own, but that's less likely since he's outside. Unlessyou build a secure run around the hutch, then put a ramp up to his door.

I'm not sure about the hyperventilation. He might be stressedbecause it's an environment he's not used to. Also, it's nota good idea to change temperatures on him quickly, whether hot to coolor vice versa. It does shock their bodies a bit. Sobringing him inside the house when the air conditioning or the heat areon isn't really a good idea. (I'm biased, but one more reasonto keep rabbits in the house.)

The oinking is a happy noise. They also use it when they'resexually excited. Before she was spayed, Mocha used to hop incircles around me and grunt very softly, then lift her tail up while Iwas petting her. I guess she didn't believe me when I toldher she wasn't my type (or species or gender preference).:huhNeutering will definately help with the happy-bunny-on-your-legsyndrome.

I wouldn't recommend using additives to solve urine odorproblems. What are you using for litter? I use woodpellet litter and I never notice urine smell any more. That'swith four rabbits in a small bedroom. Using white vinegar toclean also helps a lot. I just wipe the cage floors andoccasionally the litterboxes down with it and it instantly cutsodor. Although rabbits that haven't been speutered yet dohave stronger smelling urine. Nothing will help that otherthan spay/neuter.

 

[Butterfinger]

Thanks for replying so quickly!
And...yeah, I kinda figured about the rabbits not liking being in theair, but I didn't really know how to avoid that until you mentioned thecarrier thing. That seems like a really good idea; I'll haveto try it! (But he might just not like the feeling of not being incontrol of where he's moving, and if that's the case, I really can'thelp him much right now)

Hmm...The temperature thing seems reasonable, but in the summer thehouse and outside are about the same (With a difference of about onedegree) and he still does it...otherwise, I probably would have saidthat too He IS in his big poofy winter-coat rightnow.

Since he's a hutch bunny outside, we don't use litter; the droppingsand pee fall through the wire mesh we have on the floor of his cage andthat's worked pretty well (We have a big low-rimmed cardboard box tosit in, in case the wire hurts his feet at all)
And yes, I would agree with you about keeping bunnies inside and wouldkeep him inside right this very moment if that was at allpossible....but it isn't. My mother is deathly allergic toanything with fur, and she would probably end up going to the hospitalif I kept Butter inside....Which is part of the reason I want to takehim to college with me; so she doesn't have to be near him, and becauseI'll be able to give him a good indoor cage with a litter-box, andhe'll be a happy bunny because I could just open the door and he'd hopout (Instead of at my house, where if he tried to hop out of there,he'd fall about three or four feet and hurt himself )
The ramp and run idea is a good one for him.....but I wouldn't want todo it at this point, because I'd just be taking him away next summer,anyway. And...we get a lot of raccoons and skunks aroundhere, so that might scare him if he was out in a run at night...(Plus,there's a main walkway outside right in front of his cage and bushes toeither side of him, so there wouldn't really be enough room forsomething like that unless we moved the cage farther away from thehouse)