Happiness or aggravation?

[countrybunny]

I’ve had my 13-week-old Angora rabbit for about a month. I’ve tried to be as respectful as possible and introduce myself very slowly. I was thrilled last week when he began responding to the sound of my voice with what looked like happy bunny antics. But tonight a worry struck: what if he’s actually royally pissed off at me? It was hard to get a good answer through internet research so I am hoping to benefit from other boarders’ experience. I’ll try to give background information to frame the situation.

Bun has free roam of my two-bedroom apartment, except at night when he’s kept in the bathroom. He litter-trained quickly and his only accidents have been scattered pellets along the outside of his litter boxes. He lives with my cat and they get along fine, mostly keeping to themselves. He’s fed timothy hay and alfalfa pellets. I groom him once every three days and he does not enjoy the event.

When I first brought him home he was pretty much frozen in terror. After a few days he became comfortable with his initial contained area and started going about general bunny business around me as I studied. He never approached me, though, and would scurry away if I moved toward him.

After I gave him free range of the apartment I hardly saw him for a week – he was almost always under the beds. I spend a good portion of my day in the living room area and he hardly ever ventured out from the hallway. And when he did, he’d usually high-tail it at the slightest provocation and race back to a bedroom. During this time I tried to give him soft petting and ear scratching when I could, but he’d often run away from me as I approached.

Now he’s less shy and doesn’t run away (unless I’m obviously going to scoop him up) but it still seems like I only see him incidentally. When we happen to be in the same room, though, he’s extremely relaxed. He sniffs around me, chews on toys, and performs big flops and yawns when he tires. 

But I’m confused by his behavior toward me and I’ve read conflicting things about what it could mean. First, I’m not sure if he likes being pet. He still hasn’t asked for it. I try to slowly introduce my hand for scratching his ears, but he typically ignores it until it’s pretty close to his face, then he sticks his nose out quickly (a lunge?), sniffs, and hops in the other direction. But since I want him to connect human contact to yummy ear-scratching (and not just stressful grooming) I continue to pet him without his consent. When I start scratching he puts his head down on the floor with his ears back and seems to zone out. Yesterday I thought I heard teeth grinding. After I finish he stays in that pose for a few second, then picks his head up and shakes it a little like he’s waking from a dream. I thought it was a sign he enjoyed it, but could it be that he’s too petrified to move while I’m touching him?

Second, I can’t tell whether his acrobatic stunts are fledgling binkies or angry kicking. Whatever they are, I recently noticed that they usually occur when I’m talking to him. (Yes, I babble like an idiot to the bun, I can’t help it.) He seems to become electrified with energy. He shakes his head a lot, jumps straight up in mid-air (no obvious twisting, though), and seems to kick out with his hind legs with every hop. He runs for little spurts but since the floor is hardwood I think serious running is hard for him. He also becomes intensely interested in his surroundings: periscoping, sniffing, and nibbling everything in sight. All of this happens around me, but he never runs directly to me. Also, the whites of his eyes show slightly (though they seem to all the time). I started worrying that he’s not pleased at the sound of my voice but stressed out or angry, since he might connect it to being picked up or groomed.

If anyone could shed any light on whether he’s warming up or completely terrified it would be so helpful. I don’t want to continue petting and talking to him if it’s upsetting. Thank you for reading!

Edit: I’m adding a screenshot of him during one of his acrobatic stunts. They happen so fast it’s hard to get a good shot!

[LoveChaCha]

Hi Countrybunny, and welcome to BB

Congrats on your bunny!

I have a 2 1/2 year old free range bunny. She spends most of the day hiding under my bed, under my desk, the dining room table, etc. Rabbits feel the most safe under something, as they are prey animals. To them, we humans are big scary monsters that are going to eat them!

Since your little one is very very young, it takes a lot of time for him to get to know you. I would do the ‘ignore’ and see what he does. It works wonders for building a trustful relationship with a rabbit! Lay on the floor, read a book, take a nap, and let your bunny approach you! It is indeed hard to not want to pet them, but rabbits are curious creatures! Another way that is pretty cool is to give bunny a treat or feed pellets using by hand.

There are rabbits that enjoy being pet anytime, there are some that only want it on their own time! Which is fine, because all rabbits have different personalities! I have a rabbit that likes to be petted on her terms. My rabbit even puts her nose under my hand for pets, or nudges me, gives me the dirty look, etc to let me know.

If your bunny has his head on the floor as you pet him, he is enjoying your pets! Also, if you feel tooth grinding, it is what is called ‘tooth purr!’ It means absolute contentment!

As for the attitude.. if he is flicking his back feet out from under him, he does not like something. It is equal to ‘LEAVE ME ALONE’ or ‘I don’t like what you just did!’

Wood floors are hard for most rabbits to run on. Perhaps put a rug on the ground for him? Hard wood floor = ‘lava’ to rabbits.

 

Have you rabbit proofed your apartment?

[Beka27]

He may be well-behaved right now, but I would not recommend having him free range yet. If he’s in his own space (like an xpen), that gives him a smaller area to become accustomed to, and he will get used to you in relation to his space. And having him in one area (at times) will allow him to be in your presence without you needing to approach him or scoop him up. At the early stages, some of the best bonding can occur through the bars of a pen. The rabbit still feels “safe” because he’s in his area, but you can still access him to give nose rubs, give a little treat, etc. Just talking to my bunny as I walked by got her used to the sound of my voice. My concern is that if you two are already living highly separate lives at such a young age, he will not warm up to you the way you’d like. Also, are you able to take control of him for daily grooming and for periodic health checks/nail trims?

[Elrohwen]

His jumps and stunts are absolutely binkies! Every bun has a different binky technique – the lazy ones might just shake their heads, while the really energetic jump and twist or anything in between. Bunnies who are unhappy will run away and hide. Can you put down a rug for him? Most bunnies prefer to have good traction like carpet.

It also sounds like he’s enjoying petting. Most bunnies don’t “ask” to be petted really – you just know they want it when they actually hang around and let you pet them. As soon as they’re done with petting, they’ll hop off. It sounds like sometimes he turns away and doesn’t want pets at that moment, but other times he really likes it and pancakes down to the floor to enjoy it. This is totally normal! Even bunnies who love attention aren’t always in the mood for pets. Some bunnies are only rarely in the mood for pets.

I do agree with Beka that I would scale back his freedom. If he’s required to be in a room with you, he’ll get used to you much faster and want to hang out with you. If he can always run and hide under a bed he might just decide that’s how he wants to live permanently.

Try treats too – I didn’t see anything in your post about hand feeding him, but it really helps to build trust. I keep a little dish of pellets in the living room at all times and randomly hand one out to the buns when they come over to check me out. It definitely makes them more interested in me and in interacting with me.

[countrybunny]

Thank you so much everyone for your replies! I am definitely going to spend more one-on-one time with him. Today we were in the same room and he started bumping me with his nose every time he passed! Then he figured out how to get on the bed and went absolutely insane with binkies, there was no mistaking what he was doing. I think what I see usually is him binkying as much as he can on the hardwood. There’s a big rug in the living room so I think I’ll contain him out there for now so he can run around, now that I know he likes it so much! I’ll definitely try pellets as treats – I figured I was out of luck until he could eat produce. Thank you all again for your advice!!

[Beka27]

I would love to see some more close-up pics of him if you can share! What type of angora is he?

[Author]

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