My bunny stopped licking me!

[Pebbaroo]

Hello everyone! 

I’m new to the forum and to bunny keeping. I’ve had my Lop girl (Floof) for about a month now. She’s settled in extremely well, and is generally a very curious and confident bunny. From week 2, she started licking me (hands, face, clothes). She licked me a lot! Every time I went to pet her she couldn’t wait to get her head around so she could reach my hand to lick it.

For the last week or two that has stopped. She still licks my face when she can reach it, but she has stopped licking my hands completely. She sniffs it for a second and then turns away as if there was a bad smell. I thought at first that’s what it was, but she hasn’t done it since no matter how clean my hands are. She will still lick my fiance though (which is making me quite envious )

Does anybody know what this might mean? And if there’s something I can do to win her affection back? 

[Bam]

Bunnies do show affection by licking, but it is also a signal of appeasment/submission. When I found my Bam in the woods, he immediately started licking my skin. He certainly had no reason to be affectionate towrds me, a stranger who came by and picked him up (he’d been dumped in the woods). So I think he did it to say sth like “I’m harmless and won’t start a fight”, kind of like dogs do when they show submission to another dog that they meet for the first time. (These things are done “unawarely” of course, not as a concious choice following reasoning.)

So maybe her not licking you means she’s not scared of you anymore.

It might come back though, but then as a sign of affection. My bunny Yohio sometimes lick my hand after I’ve been petting his head for quite a while, like he’s reciprocating.

These are just my thoughts. Others may have different views and ideas.

[Pebbaroo]

That does make sense combined with the rest of her behaviour. Thank you!

[PeachyCream]

I am with bam on this one, it might be that you have been demoted to the bottom of the grooming chain and your fiance is now top bun in his mind, lol. See if he acts differently at all when you pet him, or if he still seems to enjoy it (you can tell this usually by if they relax and begin tooth purring and stuff, and if he is mad at you he’ll likely tense up, turn away from you and hop away, sometimes with a foot flick) rabbits have very rigid social values.

[Pebbaroo]

Oh! Is that likely to be due to something I or he has done? As far as I know he’s spent most time simply ignoring her whereas I’m the one giving her the most attention (and food!)

[ilovebabethebunny]

When I first got my rabbit she would lick me. Now she has a giant lamb stuffed animal, whom she sits on and licks instead of me. That lamb is her life!

[Eepster]

It’s probably what Bam said, but just to be sure you don’t taste different can you get your fiance to lick you. I know it sounds really weird, but change in the taste of your sweat or skin can be a symptom of a medical problem.

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