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BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

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.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BEHAVIOR Stupid pretty, or maybe pretty stupid.

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    • Hira
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        Hello all, I’ll get right into this. I’ve grown up with rabbits and have had them for quite a few years now. My rabbits are all direct rescues so I’m used to them being a little off until they settle and adjust.

        The rabbit I’ll be asking about today is Grove. I got Grove about a year or so ago while I was out and about and saw a person selling rabbits in abysmal condition. The mother, a lionhead, was well kept, but all the babies looked awful. The sign advertised them as “nice and fat bread-fed rabbits”. Using these poor babies as food for snakes or people is unfortunately more common than keeping them as pets where I was at the time, so my heart sank as it usually does. I got out of my car, and when I came to them they understandably all backed off and thumped at me, aside from one, who toddled right up to me like an idiot. Self-preservation skills and general survival instinct = nil.

        This guy swore up and down that they were all lionheads, showed me the mother who was a white lionhead, showed me the father who was an orange lionhead, all of the babies matched, aside from one. The one that stupidly walked up to a possible threat. As skeevy as that guy was, I was inclined to believe that maybe he really didn’t know what happened with that one. He was clearly the same age as all of the others, they treated each other like brothers and sisters, all of the other ones looked like the mother and father. This one stuck out like a sore thumb, was over-friendly, and by far the fattest. He’d be an easy target for anyone, so he was in the most immediate danger. 

        That rabbit is Grove. I bought him, and checked him over when we got in the car. Short fur, cinnamon coat. Not a hint of his parents in him. His fur is too short to have tangles, but he had a cut on one of his paws and another on his nose, both have since healed. I called the local SPCA on the way out, which hopefully did some good. In the car, Grove was alert, and even started cleaning himself and stretching out. The amount of trust I saw in this rabbit right off the bat was unheard of to me, especially in a moving car. I don’t think even rabbits with cushy lives were this trusting, and his brothers and sisters were clear reflections of the stuff they’d already gone through.

        Over the year I’ve had him, he’s had other weird behaviours. Not even my other rabbit knows what to do with him. He doesn’t seem to register thumps as a threat, instead responding better to actual commands, much like a dog. Max would thump and he wouldn’t acknowledge it until I give him a firm “No”. Him and Max got along amazingly well until Max figured out something wasn’t right. Grove wouldn’t really respond to a lot of the bunny talk Max tried to do. He didn’t seem to know what tooth purring was, and only sees grunts with curiosity. He only really responds to chinning and nose bumps. For the rest of it, I have to practically interpret what Max wants to say as a command for him to register it.

        He hates clover, loves dead leaves [only the deadest ones], attempts eating everything that can’t [or shouldn’t] be eaten, adores hot sauce [which I put on Max’s bars to keep Max from chewing them], falls asleep with half of his body in the food bowl and the other half flopped out, and continues to wander up to possible threats like my dog and unruly children that stomp around the rabbits until I get them to stop. He’s quick to chin me whenever I do anything around him, which feeds into that unnatural affection. He also sometimes tries to eat my nails. My hair, I’m used to it, but I’ve never found a rabbit that wants to have a taste of my nails.

        What I’m left wondering is if this is normal behaviour for a normal house rabbit [since I’ve never had one, they’ve all been rescues] or if this is maybe some rare, odd way of dealing with trauma? Maybe some form of rabbit autism or other mental problem? At first I thought it might be some parasites doing it, and he had some when I rescued him, so I went to the vet and we cleared them away, but he still acts the same. I deworm once a year to be on the safe side but he’s still ridiculously dumb. He’s even scared of tile flooring, but not a big loud dog knocking things over and barking for his food. He barely even uses his little hole. It’s almost like whatever sense of fear he has is non-existent in the places it matters most.

        What is up with this silly little guy? Is it normal for them to act so dumb? Is this just an odd quirk and I’m reading too far into it? I don’t know, but I do know that I’ve been typing for way too long and everyone is probably bored out of their minds if they’ve made it this far. Thank you for reading all of this! Sorry if this is actually totally normal and I’m wasting everyone’s time, it’s just completely unusual in the circumstances of the rescue and my past experiences with my rescues.


      • Gina.Jenny
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          As mother of an autistic teen, and someone who worked with autistic adults before I became a mum, I was thinking autism as soon as I read ‘not even my other rabbit knows what to do with him’. Reading to the end, It really sounds to me as if autism is a very possible explanation for his behaviour. Autism is well known in mice, and I’ve always wondered if our first rescue bunny was somewhat autistic, rather than all her behaviour being down to being badly traumatised before we got her. If he seems happy in himself, then I would just let him be himself and not worry, just continue doing a great job keeping him away from anything dangerous that he doesn’t recognise as dangerous. And thank you for taking in this special little guy xxx


        • Hira
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            Yeah, he seems happy, even a bit hyperactive. I wasn’t sure if rabbits could get autism so I could only wonder if that was it. I’m glad I got such a quick answer! He’s honestly melted my heart a little and I couldn’t be happier having him and knowing he’s safe. He’s such a loving bun and he’s provided plenty of laughs. There was even a time where he started chinning this piece of hay that Max didn’t finish eating, and when Max saw that he humoured it. They went back and fourth chinning that single hay piece until Max decided to just eat it. It was probably one of the weirdest things I’ve seen two bunnies low key “fight” over.

            Thank you so much!!


          • LittlePuffyTail
            Moderator
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              Not sure what the situation with your bun is but I’m so glad you rescued him and he is in a good home now.

              I’ve always wondered if animals can be autistic as I have a cat that makes me suspect that as well. She’s been with us for 9 years and is unlike any other cat I’ve ever known before and I’ve always had cats. Very strange social behaviour.


            • Booplesnoot
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                I’ve no idea how to explain your bun’s behaviour either, but that was a marvelous read! I laughed out loud a few times. Do you have a picture of this goofy guy?


              • Hira
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                  Posted By Booplesnoot on 3/26/2016 12:10 AM

                  you have a picture of this goofy guy?

                  Pictures are actually quite rare with Grove because he never knows when to stop moving. Most pictures are of his butt since he always flips around at the last second. He loves showing the world his butt, I think he’s proud of it. The other ones are all blurry aside from this one, which I was lucky enough to get a split second in between pettings to catch.

                  I’m so happy I could give you all something interesting to read. Maybe this can go towards something in the future. I mean, just yesterday he jumped up on top of my dog while he was sleeping and started cleaning himself! What kind of rabbit cleans himself on top of a dog? Though, he does that to me, too. My dog lifted his head like “What are you doing to me?” Grove didn’t care. He honestly cleans himself at weird times all the time. I’d be petting him and he’d start grooming himself while I’m petting him. When I stop to let him finish, he stops with me, and resumes when I do. It makes petting a little awkward. He’s also seemed to form an obsession with trying to groom my clothes. He tries so hard to get them clean! Why, there was even one point he forgot to put his tongue back into his mouth after grooming himself. I’ve heard of cats sometimes doing that, but rabbits, not so much.

                  Honestly though, from the way he looks, you’d never really know he was from an otherwise all white/light orange lionhead batch of kits. He’s even a little bigger than Max, who’s a Lionhead / Wooly mix. He’s such a strange rabbit.

                  Thank you all for helping me try to understand this silly boy! I’m glad some find it just as strange as I do. I do now think it’s quite possible that it is autism. It’s a shame autism in animals isn’t better documented!


                • Bam
                  Moderator
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                    In humans, there is actually a rare hereditary condition that make persons affected by it (it’s called Urbach-Wiethe disease) unable to sense or experience fear. Last year I took a MOOC in Neuroscience by Duke uni, and this was discussed there. Sufferers have atrophy of their temporal lobes on both sides, where the amygdala, the brain’s center for fear, is located. The patients are normal in all other respects, they are not prone to gambling or reckless financial och sexual decisions like people with pre-frontal lobe damage, but they tend to become victims of violence – both domestic and street-violence – sinmply because they can’t see danger. They don’t sense fear, so they don’t back away from potentially dangerous situations.

                    Rabbits don’t have temporal lobes but they do have the corresponding structures. 

                    Grove sounds like an absolutely madly charming little boy. So glad he’s found you who are really bearing with him and trying to understand him! 


                  • Hira
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                      That’s really interesting!! I had no idea. Maybe he’s got something akin to that. Recently, he’s finally started to calm down a little and now that he’s not running and wiggling all over the place all the time, I’ve started to notice that his reaction times to things are a little slow. I tested this with a small little butt nudge, and he took around five full seconds to react to it. I never really noticed it before since he couldn’t ever sit properly still for more than a minute, as he had to run around and see everything there is to see. Retroactively, though, looking back he’s always been like that. I always just assumed he was just so distracted that he didn’t notice what was going on.

                      Yesterday, he found the dog toys. Specifically, he found the tugging rope. Now he’s always dragging it around with him – I think he really likes it. It’s fine by me, since the dog never played with it, but it’s pretty odd that he went out of his way to dig it out of the toy bin and and now keeps it with him. Maybe he just wanted to steal something from the dog and that was the easiest thing he could get, despite it being his size? I have no way of knowing, but he’s started sleeping with it. I’m just waiting for him to try eating it, but surprisingly enough, he hasn’t so far.

                      Honestly, out of all of the rabbits I’ve ever had, he’s probably been the most interesting. I want nothing more than to be able to fully understand him and what he’s going through because I’ve really just never seen anything like it! I’m also grateful that Max is willing to entertain his weirdness [for the most part] – he doesn’t seem to really understand him and sometimes gets a little uncomfortable, but he’s trying and I think that’s the important part! Plus, it makes Grove so ridiculously happy when Max plays with him, though I’m sure Max just views him as an annoying little brother at best. 

                      I keep looking around for things regarding mental illnesses in rabbits, but unfortunately the most I can find are notes about mental health, such as why they need hay and how they need to socialise. I wish people would look into things like this more often, but I guess it’s just not something anyone really thinks about!


                    • Bam
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                        He really does sound like a thoroughly interesting bunny! And Max is so sweet for trying =)


                      • Niamian
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                          Your story put a smile on my face and wormed my heart.
                          I really don’t have any advice or similar experience, (except the grooming himself while being petted, Redford loves to do that) but would really like to thank you for sharing this story.


                        • RosieBunny
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                            hahah what a funny bunny. he must provide a lot of laughter in your home! what a blessing!

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                        Forum BEHAVIOR Stupid pretty, or maybe pretty stupid.