I agree, he sounds pretty content to me. It’s great he’s living out his years in a home where he can be relaxed and enjoy the attention.
1) Whenever I walk up to him, he doesn’t really move, but he does stand “at attention” by standing up, spreading his front paws, and pointing his head towards me.
I have a young rabbit with vision impairment and he does this also. He seems to know where I am on the outside of the pen and comes up like this. He’s asking for attention I think so I always say hello and give him some pets. He’s supposedly 100% blind but i’m not convinced!
Was Peanut ”periscoping”? .
The’y’ll do this to get an sense of their surroundings. Given that Peanut is blind, I’m betting he’s scoping by using his sense of smell and hearing
2) When I start to pet him and he gets really relaxed, he puts his ears on his back while either in loaf or sitting/laying form I hear that this usually means the rabbit is scared, but if there’s a situation Peanut doesn’t like, he straight up runs away from it. Also, he’s way too relaxed to be scared. He also does this occasionally while just sitting down,
Rabbits can lay their ears back when aggressive but this is usually with a different stance. Standing their guard, eyes alert, tail raised, they may be growling…:p If your bun is just laying them down while loafing, I’d say he’s settling in for a cosy nap. It’s all good.
3) When I try to put my fingers around his neck and give him a little jaw massage (a tactic that I tried and he seems to like), he purrs and grinds his teeth, but he also puts his head to the ground (and occasinally starts licking the carpet) which seems to send mixed signals
Again, I think he’s really enjoying this. : ) The licking is common and not exactly sure why they do it. The have a lick reflex but I think it’s also like return grooms. Grooming a proxy i.e. the carpet.
5) The most perplexing- occasionally, I kinda rub right above his tail. He puts his butt to the ground, gets as high as he possibly can by stretching his front two paws, and starts licking the air (…i know, right?). As I said, if he didn’t like it, he would be running, so he clearly finds some enjoyment in it.
I think here, you are touching one of his lick reflex spots. Some people find their buns have this near the hind end or above the tail. Others have discovered rubbing just inside the base of the ear does it.
The only thing I’d note here is if he’s breathing oddly when doing this because pointing the head up can show they’re having some respiratory difficulty. Also, buns with molar spurs might make funny mouth movements. But from what you describe, it does sound like it’s just his response to that reflex spot. So funny!