Equel Attention Among Rabbits?

[PaaigeyBearr]

So I’ve been comparing myself to some of you guys… I know, I know.. everyones circumstances is different… But I feel like I spend more time with one of my rabbits then the other… And you guys seem like you have equel distributation of attention among your rabbits, how do you do it?

I have “Baby” Bun, (She’s a lop –Not sure exact breed), Everynight I put them in their cages sense my kitten magically turns into a hyper spawn of Satan at night, I do it to protect both the small kitten and the rabbits. Anyways, every morning I wake up to her grunting and making noices and running in circles in her cage causing a huge sound ordeal (She knows when I wake up I’ll let her out) then I walk in and she’s all excited at the door. I love that. She’s so excited and runs into me when I have vegies and treats for her. She does hate being held, but as soon as she’s on the floor she runs up to me, loves getting her ears petted, and if I lay down with her (Hope that doesn’t sound weird? Hhaha) She starts licking my face and tries to groom me! I feel so close to her.

And I have Jack, (He’s a Lionhead). Every morning, he’s just chilling, not all that excited. But, I’m a meanie, and force him out of his cage! Jack, If I holdhim tight, he doesn’t mind it, he won’t fight me or anything. (I do love holding him haha!) But once he’s out of the cage, he won’t run up to me, he’s a total speedracer.. He insists on just doing his own thing. Occasionally I’ll roll a ball torwards him and give him a gesture, he does return it, but sometimes he totally ignores me. & He’s not all that interested in many of his treats that I give him throughout the day, he’s not excited to get them, he just chills, he’ll eat it eventually… but ya know?/:

I feel like I spend so much more time with “Baby” because Jacks totally not all that interested in spending time with me! Anyone ever feel like this with one of their rabbits?

[Valkyrie]

Yes and no.

Merlin was never one for cuddling, he was always off chasing the cat(s) or climbing things. I never forced the issue because I’m sure his previous owner dropped him because he was deathly afraid of being held and picked up when I first got him. I did work to earn his trust and pick him up at least once a day, but I never forced him to sit on my lap. When he was in the mood for human interaction, he would just race over me. Yep, just run across it. As he aged though, he spent less time running and started sitting on the floor beside me. When I first got him and he was still scared of being held, I would sit in front of his cage and just stroke him for at least a half hour before I had to leave for school. He would be let out when I got home. This eventually led to him crawling on my lap us having 30 minutes of lap time every morning. But only in the morning.

A few months ago, I got Bromley when he was only 5 weeks old. He was well socialized and I continued working with him. He is a cuddle monster! His favorite place is the back of the couch and he buries his head into my neck or climbs on my sizeable chest (we call it the bunny shelf now). When my spouse is playing video games, Brom gets mad and nudges his head for attention. When that doesn’t work, he chews his hair. Now the big reason that Brom’s favorite place is the back of the couch is because when I first got him I made the couch his free run zone. My house didn’t have the best bunny proofing because Merlin was a perfect angel. This also forced interaction with the people or other animals sitting on the couch. My 2 year old 70 lbs dog loves the rabbits, but he is still in the clumsy puppy stage so I was afraid he would accidentally step on Brom. If Brom was on the back of the couch though, he was at eye level with Chance. Nothing beats sitting on your couch with your dog, at least one cat, and one of your rabbits! But this also started to make me feel guilty. Poor Mer was either in his cage or on the floor when this was happening (the last few months he started prefering his cage to free roam and I would have to fight him to come out).

I couldn’t force Mer to spend hours cuddling with me every day like Brom does, so I had to do what I could. I eased my conscience by going back to the 30 minutes of stroking him every morning before work. Maybe this could help improve your bond with Jack? And when I would pull him out for a run around I would lay on the floor next to him for awhile (usually until he jumped back into his cage). I would stroke between his eyes and feed him treats and one of my cats would cuddle up against him. I also found that when I did this, he spent more time out of his cage than usual. When he had had enough, I would go sit on the couch with Brom. Mer was one of those rabbits that loved his humans, but he also liked space. Even just talking to him would make him feel special. Yes the one on one hours weren’t equal, but I felt I was giving Mer what he wanted: putting in an effort, giving him one on one time, and respecting “his terms.” Granted his cage is right beside my couch so that he is always near me even when he can’t be roaming free.

[Deleted User]

I can understand where you are coming from. Where you feel like you find yourself spending more time with one bun over the other.

I have three unbonded buns right now. So that means hauling them all out one at a time for play time. I try to be as fair as possible with my buns. I allow each of them the same amount of time. Being strict with play times really helps with allowing them equal play time. Also, I make sure to rotate who comes out first. One day Skipper will come out first, then the next it will be Ian, and the day after that I take Hugo out first. I have a diva, Skipper, who likes to give me a big attitude when I don’t take her out first. But she’s learned that if she is being extremely insistent she’ll have to wait for play time. It comes down to being fair with the buns. Despite their varying personalities I want to make sure that all of them are healthy so I keep a strict time table to make sure that all of them get equal amount of play time.

But I understand the frustrating nature of loner buns. My Hugo is a very shy, nervous bun. I have to force him out of his cage for play time. It is frustrating because he loves his out of cage time. He will binky and do zoomies. Except getting him out is very stressful for the two of us. I found that having patience with Hugo is the best thing. The more patience I have with him the calmer I am and Hugo responds more positively to my mood/behavior. I have found that during play time Hugo will not spend time with me. He’s just more preoccupied with playing. So I spend time with Hugo in his cage to give him his prescribed pets and love for the day.

I agree with Valkyrie that the one-on-one times may not be equal. But it is important to give them the same amount of out of cage playing time.

[Stickerbunny]

Powder gets more attention than Stickers, because he likes it more. Stickers is more prone to run away from pets, whereas Powder will run up to me and flop down and be like “Ok human, pet me”… it just happens sometimes that one is more into attention than the other.

[bullrider76543]

It depends on personalities, some of mine are attention hogs and others like Baby don’t want any attention. but they all beg if the treats come out LOL

[LittlePuffyTail]

Sometimes I end up spending more one on one time with Bindi since he is a snuggler when he’s out. Olivia mostly wants to explore during her out time. And Bindi sometimes gets more out-time since Olivia, once in a while, doesn’t want to come out. I don’t force her to come out for play time. I open her door and if she runs back in her house, I let Bindi out.

I do feel guilty if I spend more time with Bindi. It’s hard not to. But some bunnies just enjoy their human more than others. In my case, that’s Bindi for sure.

[Beka27]

Some rabbits are fine with being loved “from afar”. I always gave Meadow more physical attention, but I talked to them both all the time. And since Max and Mead were bonded, I felt secure in the fact that he received physical interaction from her.

[hannaroo]

Buttons probably gets a little more attention because he’s more high maintainance. His coat needs grooming constantly while he sheds (he’s not even long haired!) And he can get mucky from lying in his ceceals (he over produces a few) so needs cleaning up about once a week depending on when he gets messy. He enjoys lap time and cuddles so he gets brought out for that than Suri. She just tolerates lap time and nips when she’s had enough. Suri will nudge for attention, let you pet her for 30seconds then hop away. She enjoys training much more than button s though and I spend more time playing with her toys and teaching her tricks. I do try and give them equal attention but both buns are very bonded towards one another and prefer attention from one another than from me!

[tanlover14]

I have five rabbits and sometimes it’s very difficult to spread the time out evenly between them – especially when I’m exhausted and home from work. Mainly because my two Lionheads will just lay around and hang out with me on the couch (as long as I give them pets) while I read a book. My Tans are completely different and are much more hyper. So usually I try to spend a good amount of time just hanging out in the x pen with them reading also. They spend the entire time digging into my clothes and yanking on my clothes but I give them pets while they run by and it seems to keep them happy and interested and social with me!

Although, I’m recently begun working with one of my Tans on them being able to hang out on the couch also. It’s been going well but he’s been spending a lot of the time digging into the blanket I put down over the couch. But he’s finally been just laying around and hanging out although he doesn’t like to hang out on my lap – which is fine with me! I just like being able to spend time with them when I just want to relax.

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