New rabbit father in deep confusion

[Alishaq]

Hey, I hope everyone is doing well

3 days ago I rescued a gray chinchilla rabbit, he is very sweet and likes to explore and is very active.

I took him to the vet and he is 100% healthy and is one month old.But I have been confused about a couple of things and I hope someone could help me out

first of all I need to know how long will it take the rabbit to be potty trained I’ve been scooping his poop and wiping his urine and putting it back into the litter box, When cleaning it I put back some of the old poop and urine but he still refuses to use the litter box, he’d rather do it everywhere else instead. He was in a bad condition before I got him in a very small cage with six more rabbits, none of them are potty trained or handled well.

Second he keeps pushing and pulling on the cage trying to get out and I need him to stay inside until he is potty trained how do I stop him from doing that

also the rabbit has always used water bottles to drink water and now that I provided him with a bowl he refuses to drink from it and I’m afraid he’s going to get dehydrated

One more thing is that he is not afraid of me he likes to sniff me as soon as he sees me walking around and he runs right towards me and asks for attention but as soon as I try to pet him he runs away???

I feed him Timothy Hay Fresh veggies and sometimes some fruits. he adores strawberries and will only eat them from my hand but I’m very confused about his behaviors and what I should do to make him more comfortable and let him forget the old horrible life he used to live in

 

[MuddyFarms]

Hi there, @Alishaq ! I don't have any experience with house rabbits, so hopefully some others will have a few ideas for you, too.

Is it possible for you to get a water bottle for him? If you can, it might work for you to have the water bottle for him and the bowl so he can gradually learn to drink from the bowl without getting dehydrated.

I have rabbits that will act like they are dying for attention, but then not really appreciate the petting. Sometimes they like it, and other times they don't. I just try not to push them too hard. I usually try to get them used to having their face rubbed gently while they eat a treat from my hand first. They will learn to settle for petting after a while of doing that for short times. Then after I have their trust, I gradually add in petting the rest of their body. This is all done gradually and in short sessions. It works pretty well for my rabbits and doesn't take a huge amount of time every day.

With him pulling on the cage, does he have some little toys he can pick up and throw around? Sometimes you can use some hard plastic baby toys for them for play with.

How is he doing now?

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Did you tell the person that you got him from some ideas to take care of rabbits better? 1 month old is too young to sell rabbits

 

[arachyd]

The rabbit running up to you sounds like a greeting. Rabbits will do a nose bump and go on about their business unless they want to groom or be groomed. Just give him a light bump above his nose with your fist instead of trying to pet or cuddle him right away. If a rabbit wants another rabbit to groom him he'll crouch down. It looks submissive but is actually a confident position. If he does this start rubbing his face like MuddyFarms suggested and don't try to rush into more too soon. Also watch his ears. If they're toward you he's interested. One turned back means he's unsure of you. They have a lot of ways to communicate how they're feeling and what they want. They prefer to potty in places they've chosen. It may be easier to put the litter box where he's been relieving himself most often and when he's begun using it, move it a little at a time till it's where you want it. If he flatly refuses to go in it you might try newspaper like for housebreaking a pup.

 

[Lewis]

Can you share your setup? 3 days isn't long at all for adjusting to his new environment and bonding. You may have gone too big too soon. First maybe put around pen connected to his cage.. in his cage have a tray with a grate where his food (pellets veggies hay) and and water is. Under ther grate use horse pine pellets or a puppy pee pad. If he has a big area, multiple stations maybe needed ( just pee pads in the other areas). Litter training is pretty easy once they get the hang of it. Just make sure you have the initial station very accessible. And maybe put a pee pad on in the play pen area if he is decides to go in that area. Rabbits are clean animals and they want to keep their area clean. Normally onces litter trained they will go in their areas. If they start going everywhere (once they learn) it's an indicator something is wrong.

Bunny are different from a kitten and puppy for when they are weaned... I heard 6 weeks- I've never had pregnant does so maybe someone can chime in when a rabbit can leave its mom and siblings?


Congrats on your little guy!! And please share photos of him too!

 

[hotzcatz]

Generally eight weeks is considered minimum age for going to a new home and in some areas it may even be federal law? Bunny mums will wean their offspring by four weeks sometimes, but the baby bunnies are still very young. I'll leave them with their mums until two months old if not older.

Bunnies generally eat pretty low on the food chain. Grasses (hay is dried grass), leaves, twigs and such instead of fruits and nuts. If there's a carrot around, feed them the top and you can eat the root. Bunnies have a fast metabolism, they don't really need sugars and there's a lot of sugar in the most amazing things that you'd not really expect to have a lot of sugars.

Around here, we feed the young bunnies as much as they want to eat until they're about six to nine months. They get lots of grasses and fresh forage (ti leaves, mulberry leaves, strawberry leaves, etc.) along with 18% pellets (these are angora, they need higher protein for wool growth) that has been mixed with either rolled barley or "dry COB" (Corn Oats Barley without molasses). The young ones are pretty much fed however much they want to eat. The adults are fed enough to keep them in condition. Feel the backbone of the rabbit, it should be fleshed over but not fat and you shouldn't feel sharp bones. If it's a specific breed, there may be a breed standard which suggests a good weight for the bunny, but he may not have gotten the breed specific memo and have a different weight that would be best for him.

He sounds like he's going to be a great rabbit, keep up the good work in finding out the best way to care for him. Does he have a name yet?

 

[Preitler]

Hey, I hope everyone is doing well

3 days ago I rescued a gray chinchilla rabbit, he is very sweet and likes to explore and is very active.

I took him to the vet and he is 100% healthy and is one month old.But I have been confused about a couple of things and I hope someone could help me out

first of all I need to know how long will it take the rabbit to be potty trained I’ve been scooping his poop and wiping his urine and putting it back into the litter box, When cleaning it I put back some of the old poop and urine but he still refuses to use the litter box, he’d rather do it everywhere else instead. He was in a bad condition before I got him in a very small cage with six more rabbits, none of them are potty trained or handled well.

Second he keeps pushing and pulling on the cage trying to get out and I need him to stay inside until he is potty trained how do I stop him from doing that

also the rabbit has always used water bottles to drink water and now that I provided him with a bowl he refuses to drink from it and I’m afraid he’s going to get dehydrated

One more thing is that he is not afraid of me he likes to sniff me as soon as he sees me walking around and he runs right towards me and asks for attention but as soon as I try to pet him he runs away???

I feed him Timothy Hay Fresh veggies and sometimes some fruits. he adores strawberries and will only eat them from my hand but I’m very confused about his behaviors and what I should do to make him more comfortable and let him forget the old horrible life he used to live in

"Potty training" is kind of a a misconception regarding rabbits, that's not how it works. It's about arranging their habitat in a way to take advantage of a natural behaviour, that they prefer to use one spot. That behaviour emerges roughly with puberty, I would guess between 3 and 6 months, and varies individually. And then hormones can make things interesting again since they don't consider marking or spraying as "going potty". How do you want to keep him, as house bunny, alone or with another, free roam or in his pen/room/whatever? (my free roam house rabbits are an intact buck and a spayed doe)

That he runs away when you try to pet him is normal, something big is descending on him - they are prey animals and their flight instinct is easily triggered. Better start with your hand on the ground, and start giving him a head rub around the ears with a finger from this position, when eating is an opportunity. Patience. You'll need a lot of that.

I wouldn't overdo it with the veggies, and use fruit as very rare and small treat.

You may have noticed that here pets are just one of many rabbit related topics, if your interest is solely in pet rabbits I would recommend to have a look at Rabbits Online Pet Rabbit & Bunny Forum too.