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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
› Forum › THE LOUNGE › bunnies who don’t like being touched
Is it normal for a rabbit to not want to be touched? I don’t think Lily’s afraid of me. She’ll approach me and she’ll almost always take treats from my hand, but she almost always hops away when I try to pet her. I figured this was probably just a quirk of hers, but I’m curious about whether anyone else has a rabbit who does that.
Bam is the same way. He will hop all over me and follow me through the house. And when I reach to pet him he, a lot of times, hops just out of reach. I don’t pursue it. Because he also will sometimes lay with me for a long while getting an occasional neck or ear rub. So I know he does enjoy pets. Just not every time I want to pet him lol he’s just letting me know, ‘not now’ but I do appreciate the times when he does let me pet and massage him. He gets so sleepy when I do it so maybe it depends on if he’s done playing or not lol
Ellis is like that too, so it sounds like this is pretty normal for some bun personalities. *He* decides when it’s time for loving and for how long. About half the time, he likes me to pick him up and cuddle him under my chin while I pet him. I think the longest he’s gone for that is about 10 minutes. But 20-30 minutes isn’t unusual if we’re just sitting together, either on the recliner or the floor.
Harley is a whole other story. He’d be passing through and if I even accidentally touched him with like my foot or something he’d immediately stop and just Kay there. For hours if I would continue petting him. That’s all he lives for lol
My female rabbit is like that.. She obviously enjoys our company because she voluntarily jumps up onto the couch with us (where is play mat is on the ground) and hops all over us and nudges us. But she doesn’t really enjoy being petted too often unless she’s really relaxed and flopped over. She also HATES being picked up which is difficult because her hutch is outside, and the way that it is built I have to take her out to clean it.
My male on the other hand is sooooo cuddly and loves being petted and held. I’ve taken him shopping with me on a harness and you can walk around with him in your arms for hours. He loves it!
I think they all just have their little personalities and quirks and I wouldn’t worry to much about it. I used to get really upset over my female and think she hated me but I’ve learnt to accept that is just how she is.
Yeah, for a while I thought Lily hated me. If so, whatever dislike she has is overpowered by her love of Oxbow barley biscuits. I just wish I could touch her, she’s so cute and soft.
I have a female rabbit who sounds alot like your bunny. I have had her since Aug and I still haven’t totally figured her out. Most of the time she barely sits still to let me pet her and sometimes I wonder if she only tolerates being petted when I do pet her. Only a handful of times did she put her chin down and seem to enjoy being petted. Mine seems really happy and loves to play and explore. I know she likes me because she is always running to greet me and plays around me and with me when I spend floor time with her. Maybe its a girl thing because my male rabbits LOVES to be petted and cuddles up against me.
Our rabbit wasn’t very keen on my husband or I petting him when we first got home (he was 7 weeks when we got him, he’s 12 weeks now), but did let my kids pet him. After lots of sitting on the floor doing my own thing while he hops around he doesn’t mind so much and I think he’s slowly warming up to us. He does like to hop on and over me, pull at my shirt or pants, and if I move slow enough he loves his ears rubbed, even closes the eye on that side and just sits there lol.
Henry HATES us picking him up, so quite simply we don’t anymore. Since we stopped ‘trying’ to pick him up we have a much better/trusting relationship where he will follow us (ok, my hubby – not me) around, and will let us (ok, my hubby – not me) pat him on the floor. I picked Henry up ‘weeks’ ago to do a flea/mite treatment and he still won’t let ME approach him, dam bunny! Lily sound perfectly ‘bunny’ normal to me! Cheers Diamond.
ok… I finally have something to add here. I’ve had Bumpy since August. He was neutered in October and has always taken treats from our hands, but as soon as we reached to pet, he’d hop just out of reach. For the past 3 days, I have stopped feeding him his daily pellets completely as a “meal”, which used to be given to him in a cat treat ball so he couldn’t just sit and pig out on them. Now I give him his daily pellets throughout the day as treats. I feed them one at a time, then put a few cupped in my hand and while he munches on those, I give him soft and slow pets from head to butt. The first few times of doing this, he started to hop away sorta.. but the pellets were calling him! So instead of running away, he transitioned to making his skin jump when I touched him.
He now hops up into the chair beside me and begs, climbs onto my legs, and licks me frequently. Last night after hand-feeding about a tablespoon of pellets, I began petting him and he put his chin completely down on the chair, flattened himself into a nice loaf, and closed his eyes. I even got a short and quick tooth purr from him, which he has not done since September! This morning, when I got up, he ran to the door of his pen and stood waiting for me to open it. I wasn’t quite sure if I was really going to stay up, but I knew I needed to feed the dogs and that Bumpy would be expecting some pellets. I walked past Bumpy and went to open the door to let the dogs out. Bumpy rattled the bars, so I decided to let him out while I was up regardless of how long it would be. Opened his door, went to the kitchen to get the dog food, and when I came back…. there Bumpy was… sitting in the chair beside my computer chair, waiting for his pellets. I reached down and gave him a few pets, head to toe. He didn’t flinch or do that silly spin where he’s battling himself on whether to hop away or stay still because food might be coming. He sat there with a look of expectancy. Food? Yes? Where is it?
So for me, food was the answer! Sorry for so much babble!
My Otto is like this and has been for most of his life. There were a few weeks there were he didn’t mind petting if you did it just right, but then he went back to hating it. Strangely, he loves to be petted if he’s snuggled with his bond mate and I’m petting both of them. Maybe he pretends she’s the one grooming him? lol Other than that he doesn’t like any physical contact ever. He’s a pretty independent little dude who just likes to sit back and do his own thing. He might lay down in the same room as you, but always at least 5ft away.
He’s very laid back and not at all afraid of anything really, but if you try to pet him he hops just out of reach and glares at you. When he does that my husband and I yell “No touching!!” (a line from the tv show Arrested Development) As soon as you sit back up, he will run to you and put his paws on your leg, begging for treats.
At one point I did a lot of clicker training with him and he loved it. It was a great way for us to bond where he could control the interactions, and for the most part I didn’t touch him (though I did teach him to let me put my hands around him and lift him slightly off the ground). He uses his tricks as a way to beg for treats which is adorable (“I’m spinning in circles people! Give me craisins!”)
I compensated by getting my super snuggly female. She hates to be picked up, but looooves to be petted on the ground. You can mush your hand around on her face and she just loves it. Such a weirdo.
Bailey really likes to spend time with me. She will sit beside me for long, long stretches of time, but she does not enjoy being handled. Occasionally, I can get a few pats in, but usually she runs away as soon as I touch her. If I don’t touch her, she will pick hairs or dust off my clothes, lick me, sniff me, sit on me, walk on me, etc. She just doesn’t like being touched. I think she just wants to be in control of the situation.
Sorry I didn’t get back to this thread guys. I guess its a common thing for bunnies. But haha Manic_muncher that may work on her. The way to her heart is definitely through her tummy.
My rabbit is similar. Pets are only on his terms. But I have been desperate for love & held a craisin in my lips for a fake kiss. Lol!!
lol I do that too!
My Dottie is quite similar. Every once and a while I can pet her a little bit, but mainly while she is eating or thinks she’s about to get a treat. I’ve only had her for about a month and a half so I know it might take her a long time to trust me (her pending spay will also help I imagine). She will choose a location close by me to flop down and lay, although not close enough to touch, even if there are other places that are more fun to hide or be. She seems to like my company, but either not totally trusting of me, or just not into being petted.
The other day I gave her her first Craisin. It was like I was giving her bunny crack. She climbed into my lap and even gave me a kiss by putting her little bunny face against my nose. I almost died I was so happy. lol It was like Christmas and my birthday all at once.
Diamond, thank goodness. Now I don’t feel so weird. lol!! The best part is you still get kisses even without the treat because they are looking for craisins around your mouth. haha!
DottieNLiz, don’t worry. It can take a while. I’ve had Ziggy since Aug 2013 and he was just fixed Jan 2014. After the neuter he snubbed me for a while but he’s coming around now wanting head rubs and cheek scratches.
Haha! Ray Ray I wanted to do that but thought I would have officially reached the crazy bunny slave level if I did….now I’m going to though since I won’t be the only one;P
What me and my bunny do in the privacy of our home is nobody’s business. lol!!
y’all have such pretty bunnies.
Cotton during the day if I hand him a treat he doens’t want to be petted he takes the treat and hops off to eat it. If its small he may eat it there and no pettings.
when I am on the floor divvying out my meds for the next day he will allow pets. When I am on floor he will allow pets for a certain short period of time.
In the evening he hops on top his cage next to me on the couch and demands pets for a long while then hops off comes back later. Its on his terms.
Your bunny may become like that in time
Oh goodness YES! Henry doesn’t get a craisin unless he takes it from my lip’s! And I do get a kiss – his soft lips touching mine…. I’m in LOVE! (just wish Henry would brush his teeth first, LOL!). And Henry always comes back to my lips on the chance he may get another one (I call that a ‘free’ kiss). Like rayray, it’s the only affection I get from Henry. Go for it BunnyLady! You’ll never be the only ONE! he he he he……
Kisses with no craisen?!?! In our house, those would be referred to as unauthorized bunny kisses! I’m jealous, Kieko gives kisses but I’m still having to bribe Marlee and Moshi with dehydrated carrot chips to get them to hop in my lap for even a few seconds. That sounds kinda mean now that I’ve written it — “if you want the carrot you have to get on my lap”. Once they’ve gotten a few carrot chips, I can lay down on the floor and have bunnies climbing all over me (I know they’re just looking for more carrots but I like to pretend they’re showing me how much they love me!). Oh well, whatever works!
‘Unauthorized’ bunny kisses! Tooo funny JR!
I haven’t gotten any kisses in a while. But lately Ziggy’s been going on the back of the couch to tickle my ears with his whiskers. If I turn my head (and I’m lucky), I’ll get a quick kisses. Or he’ll do a little binky and run away.
My two have decided if a human lays flat belly to the ground, it means hop on the humans back and see if there is anything worth sniffing up there. Otherwise, Stickers will only allow pets on her terms, I am lucky if I get to pet the little velvet rex brat once a week. Powder on the other hand, if you pet him five hours straight he will be very happy. Unfortunately for him, my arm tires out after about half an hour.
› Forum › THE LOUNGE › bunnies who don’t like being touched