How do you know if a bun is bored?

[Quartz]

I can’t seem to interest my bun in anything other than food.  He free-roams my apartment and is welcome to flop anywhere he wants, so he seems to have taken that as an excuse to be meditating or flopping in different spots, but I never see him try to play with anything.  He’s even lazy enough to not run around much, though we have a nicely long hallway that connects our bedroom to the long living room.  He does maybe one series of back and forth dashes a day, either in the evening or early in the morning.  I’ve gotten him a tunnel, I’ve tried chew logs and chew toys.  I have a nice soft plushie toy I thought he might be interested in (he’s been pointedly ignoring it completely).  The only thing he’s interested in playing with is something he can eat, like a paper roll stuffed with hay–that’s the only situations in which he perks up (along with my significant other coming home or us getting up in the morning which is his breakfast time, or before his salad time in the evening… or when I add fresh batches of hay…)

Should I take it that he’s bored or that he’s just a very chill lazy bun who is perfectly content with his freedom to flop around in places and not explore much?  I’ve yet to see him try to get to our living room windowsills, which I’ve made safe for him to sit on if he wants to look out.  He only hops onto our living room couches or our bed in a drive-by manner, not wanting to linger.  He’s hopped onto the top of one long couch a couple times but not the other couch, which would get him to the windowsills.  

I’ve read about some toy options that can be interactive with humans, and I’ve tried rolling a ball to him (I have 2 smallish nice rubber exercise balls, and he was only mildly interested).  I’ve given him paper supermarket bags filled with shredded paper–didn’t care.  I’ve given him boxes–didn’t care.  The only boxes he likes are those that I fill with hay, which he can eat (again, food).

Been thinking of getting him a wooden bunny castle, but again I wonder if he will care, since he already has various furniture at his disposal.  

He’s 2 years old, in good physical shape, not at all overweight.  Has good appetite, appears overall healthy (he’s just had an annual exam and all checked out great).

If he’s bored, I need to do something about it.  If it sounds like its’ just his laid back personality, then I can relax a bit.

[Bam]

I think if an animal is bored you see unwanted behavior. My Bam is like your bun, he loves food, toys he completely ignores. He runs through his tunnels a couple of times every morning and night, but he doesn’t really play. He likes to be pet and he likes to eat and apart from that, he mostly lounges. He can remodel his boxes a little bit, but not every day, maybe once a week. If he wants attention he slams the lid of one of his litter boxes.

So I think you can relax a little bit.

[Quartz]

Good, thank you! Phew. I love my bun so much and really want him to be happy. I’m looking into pairing options for him, which has been a gradual process as I want to get it right. But in the meantime, I really want him to feel comfortable and not bored. He’s certainly friendly enough and likes some pets when he’s already lounging around, but he seems to not express interest in playing otherwise. Guess he’s just an all-around lazy chill bun.

[Bam]

He sounds a lot like my Bam. One toy he does “play” with is his treat-ball. I serve him his pellets in it. I think the exercise is good for him + it slows his eating down.
It’s not really playing, of course, all he wants is to get the food out. But it is enrichment, he has to work a little for his food.

[Love4Bunny]

Gosh, I can so relate to this. Kinda funny that our bunnies have similar traits, and they’re all dark bunnies <3 <3

[narkut]

My bunnies are the same! They have so many toys but they’re not interested! I worried for a very long time that I wasn’t entertaining them and that they are bored, but I’ve just come to realise that they just aren’t interested in those things. Every so often, try introducing a new toy and see if it takes his fancy. Rabbits interests change over time and with age, but otherwise I wouldn’t worry.

Apparently, if a bunny is bored you know about it. They’re more likely to be destructive and chew things if they’re bored, so look out for those signs. Sounds like your bunny is just very chilled.

[Muchelle]

Same here! Mine’s so lazy that even if I open his pen he just sleeps inside and comes out only every now and then to check territory, then back to his fave spot.

My first topic on this forum was more or less about the same issue… now I’ve given up to the fact that my bun is lazyer than me XD

[Quartz]

Now that it’s been significantly cooler and with lower humidity, my bun’s been more lively in the early mornings, jumping on my bed repeatedly to check if we’re awake (hard to sleep with a bunny running past your face ), doing fast dashes across the hall. Trying to chew on/scratch carpeting along the bed side where he usually sleeps at night. That usually lasts about half an hour, untul we get up or until he gives up (who wants to get up at 7:30 in the morning on a Sunday?). His pellet breakfast is at around 8:30am, and he gets impatient (however even if I give him pellets and go back to bed, he comes back). Still lazy and not doing much during the day and evening though.

[lavendarlapin]

My bunny Lola is the exact same way and I worried too! Don’t worry as others said you have a chill bun. I know my bunny is bored because he tries to chew on everything he knows is a no-no and starts spraying everything. Sigh. My rabbit perks up when I rearrange furniture maybe once or twice a month. He’s an adventure bunny. My bun will also do “mad ears” when he’s bored and in his cage where his ears are folded down tight on his head and he turns to look at you an squints. It’s pretty funny.

[Bam]

lavendarlapin, my Yohio is exactly like that, he loves it when I rearrange furniture or bring new stuff into the house. He’s so interested in everything new! Strangely he absolutely hates to be let outside in the garden run, so his adventurousness seems limited to the indoors.

Quartz, it is normal for buns to be more or less inactive when it’s hot. They don’t cope well with heat. In nature they spend hot days below ground where it’s cool. All buns mostly lounge during the day, their periods of activity is at dawn and dusk.

[LittlePuffyTail]

My two bunnies pretty much think they are cats. Except for the very odd binky or zoom. They just eat, poop and lounge about.

[Quartz]

So my lazy floppy bun has turned into a daredevil dashing bun in the past week! Wow, what a change! I guess it might be related to temperature dropping to his more comfortable level from around 78-80F indoors during the past hot summer months to more like 70F.  Though when we first got him, it wasn’t that hot for a while, and he was still very calm.  He’s FAR more active now than he’s ever been in the past 3 months, and he’s actually exhibiting some behavior of what might be boredom or agitation? He’s chewing on carpet in some spots, has chewed through protective ribbed covering on an area of coaxial cable (replaced with thick vinyl/PVC plumbing piping now), and has been for some reason every once in a while chewing on his metal pen bars, although the pen is perpetually open and he free-roams to his heart’s content. He plays with random stuff a lot more, like a large paper shopping bag I left for him on the floor, which he used to ignore and now spends considerable amount of time sitting in and ruffling.

Could it be he’s also getting bored now that he’s learned where everything is in 3 months of being with us?

I’ve been looking for a pair for him for a while, and it’s been a difficult process to find The Right One.  I’m hoping having a nice bunwife will calm him down and will give him an outlet for his newfound energy (someone like him to pay attention to and play with), because we don’t seem to cut it as humans.

[Love4Bunny]

Could it be he’s also getting bored now that he’s learned where everything is in 3 months of being with us?

Yes, I think that could be happening. My Thor will run to the OUTSIDE of the cage just to rattle the bars, even when he has chews, Crysta, and tunnels. Such a weirdo. It’s taken my bunnies almost year to get on the same communicating wavelength, so just be aware that a bunwife or bunbro is awesome, bun it won’t always curb non-ideal behaviour. I also do supervised run time in a rabbit-proofed backyard so that works really well for Thor. He is always tired after that.

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