http://language.rabbitspeak.com/

Saw this linked on these forums. Great website.

But no, I don’t think so, it means he likes the pets, especially if he puts his head really low. Koji will start in the meatloaf position and if I do it right (cheek and eyelid rubs for him), slowly get flatter and flatter.

 Did you know there is a bunny posture know as the meat loaf?

Your post reminded me of this captioned picture a member (Boston) posted way back.

It’s hard to say if Oliver is frightened or not. He might be bracing himself (grounding himself?) if he thinks your going to pick him up. If he pops his chin down though, he’s very happy to be pet! My bunnyboy is hand shy. So I rarely can lean down to touch him and he kind of freezes the hops off. I have more success if I’m lying on the floor and stroke his ear, then he settles in to be pet.  I guess if you watch Olivers eyes and ears they might give you more clue to his body language.

If you haven’t seen this site before, take the time to have a look!  language.rabbitspeak.com/rabbittalk.html

Edit: oops, misskris and I posted same time. So basically ditto what she said. lol

btw misskris, Koji is the name you settled on? It sounds really nice. I’m curious as to what it means.

Yes, sorry for the hijack, boyfriend and I deliberated long and hard but picked Koji, japanese boy name for child or little one. We thought with his HUGE eyes he had a sort of anime thing going on, and I like the way the name sounds, and of course little certainly fits the bill.

http://www.fuzzy-rabbit.com/behaviourfaq.htm
I also like the photos that go with these “behavior and body language FAQ” thing.

One other good sign that could tell you if it’s fear or enjoyment, I know my rabbit will vibrate his whiskers if he likes it. If he REALLY likes it it will graduate to an actual tooth pur you can feel and sometimes hear, but often it’s just weird shaking of the whiskers.

It depends what his body position is. Meadow puddles when I pet her. She gets very flat. Max who is a little more skittish will sometimes meatloaf, but sometimes he kind of rounds himself into a bowling ball (with loppy ears). The round ball shape can be a fear response, a flattened bunny is usually content. Ear position and rate of breathing can also tell you if he’s happy or frightened.

Lolli is afraid of being picked up and she kind of hunkers down – like she’s preparing for being picked up. It’s kind of like the meatloaf position only she’s not relaxed. Now if I just want to give her pets and she lets me, then she rests her chin on the floor while being in the same position as the pic above.

So from what you are describing, I would say he’s more hunkering down, preparing to be picked up which tells you he’s afraid. Also you can tell when he’s afraid he’s going to be picked up too from his eyes. Lolli gets the “deer in headlights” look – big, frozen eyes and body. lol

It really depends. When Otto doesn’t want to be petted, he lets me know by just running off. In my experience, most bunnies will just run away or do something to let you know they don’t want to be petted. If they hunker down and flatten out, it’s because they like it for the most part unless they’re really too terrified to move (in which case you’d probably know if they were that scared because there would be other signs)