Scratchy rabbit

[LaBelleDameSansPatience]

My newish rabbit (female, not speyed yet) is very calm and friendly until you pick her up to carry her inside in the evening or outside in the morning. She statred with us very quiet, then got rather wriggly (so inadvertantly scatchy), now she struggles and fights the moment she sees the cage where we are going to put her. She is very strong and I can't let the children carry her. It is not that she doesn't want to go in/out; she will just hop in when I put her down. She just has to struggle when being put down. I hate her fighting me - I want her to be happy. Any ideas?

Rabbits aren't really keen on being held at all.

Can you train her to hop in a box or carrier for transport?

They are very smart, it won't take her long to cotton on. :)

how do you hold her?

you need to tuck her back legs up underneath her and have a hand underneath and hold her against you so she feels secure.

if you just have a hand either side of her then she will scratch and fight because rabbits aren't overly keen on heights and she will not feel safe.

alternatively you could herd her out/in without picking her up

Rabbits often struggle and scratch when picked up, I agree with PP that she needs to feel secure. You could try holding her scruff with one hand and tucking her head into your body while supporting her back legs and bottom with the other hand. Hold her fairly tight as rabbits can injure themselves if they kick out too hard ( they can also scratch you badly with the back legs ). I would also try putting her back into the hutch backwards, ie bum first.
How old is she? If she's over 4 months ish I would get her spayed as this can help improve the temperament.

It's in everyones interest -especially the rabbit- to get used to being handled. Not over handled.I can appreciate that alot of rabbits don't enjoy being lifted up (but many do).

But if they are able to tolerate being held and will sit still, it makes it much easier to check them over for lumps, bumps, bites, infestation, general overall body fat, flystrike maggots (which you need to do daily to catch early enough), yeeth and claws.

Makes life at the vet easier too.

My DD picks up our GPs and gives them a complete body check every day (good girl). They are used to it and allow without too much protest

yeeth , eh? teeth!

Rabbits don't like being held. As others have said, check the way you're holding her, she needs to feel safe. Don't know how old she is but you could try handling her a lot more often to get her used to it. The more she's handled when she's young the better she'll be. If you have the time, try picking her up every hour just for a 5 minute cuddle and give her a treat whilst she's being held. Don't let her get down until you decide to let her go. I have a struggler - when he wriggles like this he is told 'No' firmly and gripped more securely. It took a while but he learned that he has to wait to get down. Rabbits can be trained quite well but it does take a lot of time.

She may always struggle when she sees her cage and knows she's going to be put down (it's a thing they often do), but she'll get calmer the more she's handled.