Hi, everyone!
I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who dealt with my little panic frenzy, I feel a lot better now but I’m also keeping a close eye on my fluff ball. His name is Dudley, he’s a mini lop (he doesn’t look like it at all yet) and he’s only 5 weeks old. I know he is veeeeery young, so I have questions regarding the behaviour of baby bunnies. I’m sorry if I’m annoying, I didn’t seem to find exact answers to some of my doubts.
1. He spends a lot of time napping/sleeping, is that normal? He eats his hay and pellets, he drinks his water, his poop is nice and squishy now (was a bit harder before), he comes out and hops around my room for a bit, chews on this and that, pees in the corners, then goes back to munch on some hay. He spent a big part of the day sleeping and at night he was incredibly calm too (also assumed he was sleeping, as he didn’t create a racket to come out). He was a lot more active a few days ago when he became my roommate, he always wanted to come out and now he seems a lot calmer/lazier. The cage would be open and he would sit there eating his hay. Could he be possibly bored already? I do have some toys for him (cat and bird toys), although he never showed interest in them but I plan on getting more. But I also read that babies need more sleep which seems logical to me.
2. Someone mentioned that as a baby that was weaned too early, he probably needs a lot of affection. But then someone else said that I shouldn’t pet him unless he decides it’s pet time (I only pet him when he seems calm and when he’s eating, I leave him alone when he’s playing because he runs away from pets then). Pets or no pets until he asks for it?!
3. He pees outside the cage almost every time he’s out. Too young for litter training maybe, but I am still trying… and I wouldn’t be so mad if it was at least in the cage. Should I get him softer litter? A litter box outside the cage? Is he protesting, does he hate me because he still sees me as a stranger or he needs to smear his pee on every possible trace of human scent to establish his kingdom? He hides when he does it now, he doesn’t directly pee in front of me, ha! I keep cleaning that with vinegar like a maniac. The rest of the cage isn’t covered with anything soft, he usually poops on it. He poops all the time. Everywhere. But I read that’s harder to control.
I’m obviously still a stranger but he doesn’t seem scared of me, he comes and sniffs me, places his little feet on me and sniffs, looks, investigates.
4. He sits/sleeps in his litter box all. the. time. Is that normal? I read that some buns do it, others don’t, some outgrow the habit but he does it all the time. Sometimes he stands on top of his shoe box house and stares in empty space, probably thinking about the meaning of rabbit life. Does he feel safer in his litter box and thus, prefers to spend most of his time in it?
5. Duddy is an independent bun who needs no owner. He’s mad I took away his yoga mat. It’s his now because he peed on it. He has already flopped twice in my presence, so I will still take that as a good sign!