Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

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.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

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 Bunny suddenly acting different?

Viewing 1 reply thread
  • Author
    Messages

    • Lexi!
      Participant
      2 posts Send Private Message

        I’ve had my little Vincent for about a month or so now, he’s an adorable broken chestnut holland lop, almost 5 months old and is scheduled for neutering in a couple weeks. The breeder I got him from was an ex-good friend of a friend, and she told me how this bunny absolutely loved attention and would sit and watch TV with me, let me pet him and how he is by far the most social and cuddly rabbit they’ve ever raised in their 2 years of breeding etc etc. Of course, moving to a new home would be stressful so I didn’t have my hopes too high for the first couple weeks. I did take him out a lot to get used to me and I’d hold him against my chest but most of the time he would just be terrified. It wasn’t until last week that he started showing interest in actually coming out to see me and sniffing my face and hopping on my shoulder if I let him out. He also just recently started purring if I tried to pet him, but only if he’s in his cage. This is because recently when I’ve started to let him out (he’s mostly free range but I keep him in his cage when I’m not home) he will absolutely not let me even come close to touching him and when I let him out he cowards away under my bed (a completely new place to him, meaning he never realized he could go under there until very recently). Usually he does binkies and all the happy signs when I let him out but for the last 3 days he’s been hiding and I’m not sure why. I give him lots of attention and I try not to pick him up unless he comes to me, so I can’t think of any other reasons why he’s suddenly terrified to even be pet by me while he’s out. Yesterday, I tried letting him hop around on my bed (he usually loves this) but he looked straight at me as soon as I put him down and he peed (he’s litter trained fairly well)! That’s when I decided this might be a sudden yearn for dominance on his end but even still, I’m just looking for answers as to why he’s all of a sudden seemingly scared of me :c I wish he could start to be close with me again because it seems all the progress we made went down the drain DX any suggestions as to what I can do to re-bond with him or why he’s suddenly hiding away?
        Oh and PS, a couple nights ago my brother called me to say the bunny got out of his play pen while I went out to run errands and I told him to please put him back in his cage as gently as possible. He did it, but I was thinking maybe the way my brother handled my baby could have spooked him? My brother isn’t used to handling bunnies. Maybe it had to do with this?


      • Bam
        Moderator
        16838 posts Send Private Message

          Is he eating, pooping and peeing like normal? If he is, that more or less rules out sickness.

          It sounds to me like he’s getting into puberty for real. It can be rather like flipping a switch and we hear about it a lot on these Forums: Sweet cuddly baby bunny suddenly doesn’t want to be lifted, held or even pet and seems scared of people or shows aggression. It’s a phase that young animals go through, and it will subside as he matures, but adult bunnies most often don’t like to be lifted or held. If you are planning on having him neutered, you can start thinking about that now.

          The super-good relationship you and he has developed is not down the drain. It’s still there, all of it. This is just hormones and the process of growing up. If you have him neutered, this phase will be done with sooner than if you keep him intact, but intact animals do progress out of this phase too, it just takes them longer. 

          So be patient and kind, don’t force yourself on him, pet him mostly on the head, reward him when he approaches you – he’s like a teenage kid now more or less, which in many cases means confused and overwhelmed. 

      Viewing 1 reply thread
      • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

      Forum BEHAVIOR Bunny suddenly acting different?