Hey everyone-
I have a jersey wooly rabbit that is now 4 years old. She and I used to snuggle all the time but lately she hasn’t been the same. Don’t get me wrong, ever since she was a baby bunny, she has always been a little “sassy” and nipped a lot. For a phase there, I got her to quit nipping and just enjoy cuddles. It got to the point of her coming over to me on the couch on her own time and making an effort to spend time together and do binkys. Then, she figured out how to climb down stairs and found the dark basement couch to be her new “favorite” hideout. She would sit down there for an entire day in darkness by herself without food or water. Whenever I tried to go down to get her, she would run away from me. Then it would be a 45 minute chase to try and catch her. So, I had to wait until the next morning for her to decide on her own that it was time to come back upstairs to her cage. I then started blocking off the basement and the stairs, so that she couldn’t go down there anymore. Now, it has come to the point where it seems that she wants nothing to do with me. Everything is on her terms. If she sees me coming her way to try and pick her up, she will run and hide because she doesn’t want to be held. She has free roam but her cage is her “home base” that she chooses to stay by. Her cage door is always open so she can come and go as she pleases. If I put hay in her holder in her cage, she sometimes lunges and grunts at me. I will call her and try and talk to her to come snuggle on the couch like old times, but she just looks at me and then continues grooming herself in her cage. I’ve actually had to “trick” her into letting me pick her up for snuggles by giving her a treat and scooping her up quickly. I bring her over to the couch to sit and get her head scratched and she is free to do what she wants on the couch (I don’t hold her or restrain her, I just let her sit next to me and bounce around if she wants. She even has a bed on the couch that is hers) Most times, she will tolerate it for a few minutes, then take herself back to her cage. Or she will be all sweet and snuggly then all of a sudden nip me and run back to her cage quickly. We did foster 3 rabbits for a while about a year ago, and Mosley HATED it. She did not get along with them (we kept them separated in different spots of the house) but Mosley would purposely go find their enclosure and sit and glare at them and thump. We got rid of them, and she still hasn’t been the same. I’m not sure if it is related to that or what. She also hates when I brush her. She may be holding grudges about that as well.
Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem of their rabbits becoming anti-social? She has little tantrums where she will pick her food bowl up and throw it when she is done with her food and I haven’t cleaned it up yet. I try to make an effort, and she chooses to leave and go back to her cage. I just don’t know what to do. Is this maybe just her personality? I thought Jersey Woolies were supposed to be very friendly and social to their owners.