How to Befriend a Shy Rabbit

Though rabbits can be highly social pets, many have a shy nature that you must overcome before you can truly interact with them. As long as you're willing to invest the time and patience, you can befriend almost any shy rabbit. Here is how to befriend a shy rabbit.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Keep your pet rabbit in your house. Though rabbits need a safe, rabbit-proofed area or home that they can be in when you're not around, they do well as house pets with a little training. Keeping your rabbit in your own living space also gets her used to you so she gradually loses her shyness.
2. Join your rabbit in his rabbit-proofed area, or rabbit-proof a larger area for training purposes. Make sure he has a way to hide from you if he chooses, preferably in his own home, which should be attached to the rabbit-proofed area if possible.
3. Engage in quiet activities in the rabbit-proofed area that have nothing to do with your rabbit for at least 30 minutes each day. You might read, write letters, work on your laptop or do anything else that doesn't create noise or much movement. Your rabbit might choose to ignore you. At this stage, you just want him to get used to you, so be patient.
4. Let your rabbit come to you and pay attention to her non-verbal communication. She'll probably look hesitant when she first interacts with you, reaching her head out to investigate you. Ignoring her can encourage her to get closer, as can talking to her in a soft, gentle voice.
5. Reach out to your rabbit after he consistently comes close to you when you're in the rabbit-proofed area by offering a vegetable treat or by petting him. Wait to see his response. If he doesn't run away, stroke him again.
6. Increase your interaction with your shy pet rabbit once she's comfortable with you. Let her climb or hop on you, and experiment with petting her in different places and in different ways. If you live with roommates or close friends and family members, start including them in your interaction sessions.
7. Determine your training goal once you have a good understanding of your rabbit's personality. Some rabbits enjoy being included in family activities, such as movie-viewing, while others prefer quiet attention from one person.

Tips & Warnings

• Adopting two companionable rabbits should make both rabbits more social and less shy because they'll be more content in general.
• The best place to stroke a shy rabbit is on his forehead. Just use one or two fingers and give him one or two strokes.
• Rabbits nip to communicate with one another, and your pet rabbit may nip you to tell you something. If your rabbit nips you, let out a high-pitched, sudden squeal, which is the sound a rabbit makes when she's hurt. Your rabbit will understand that he's hurt you, and the next nip he gives you should be much more gentle. Hitting or punishing your rabbit isn't effective; it just makes him scared of you.
• Don't leave your pet rabbit unsupervised in an area that you haven't fully rabbit-proofed. To fully rabbit-proof an area, you must remove all toxic substances and poisonous houseplants and secure all electrical wires so your rabbit can't chew on them.
• If you attempt to grab or pick up a shy rabbit, you violate the trust you've established.