Advice for a first time owner and their unusual rabbit?

[Lord Bill]

Hi there so I’m a first time rabbit owner and I have just adopted my rabbit (Bill), he’s a house lop rabbit but we are planning on getting him a hutch and/or run for outside. When I adopted him I was told he used to be a very affectionate rabbit until one day he was randomly attacked by his (male) cagemate. He was quite badly hurt and even has part of his ear missing as a scar. Since then he has had antisocial behaviour, I was told he bit one of the carers at the pet store but another told me he loved being held every night.

I’ve had Bill since march and have gotten used to his behaviours, we have him on his own but are considering getting him a friend as he has been recently neutered and may be more likely to get on with another rabbit. Since day one from what I have looked up he has shown very relaxed behaviour, flopping his legs out, doing binkys, he has only ever nipped when being picked up and has access to the crook of my arm. However he loves to spend every day sitting under my bed, and he will not come out. I have tried countless times to block off under the bed and every single time he can find a way in. He likes to sit right in the middle where he knows he cant be reached, and just spends all day sitting there staring ahead, or laying down with his legs flopped and probably sleeping. I’ve spent too much money trying to get him chew toys that he shows little or no interest in, in fact his favourite toy at the moment seems to be his foodbowl. He likes to chew on it and throw it off of his house every night- when he is most active. He will come out for interaction when pellets are involved, he has always let me pet him without much complaint but he never seems to actively want any attention or interaction. He will step onto my lap but never sit, and this is only in the early hours of the morning when he is most active and wants to play. I knew I would be getting a strange rabbit after what happened to him, but can anyone help me figure out how to maybe turn his interest to his toys and not his foodbowl? Have any of you ever had a similar kind of rabbit and found ways for him to get healthy amounts of social interaction and exercise- he is not running as much and hasn’t done any binkys in weeks and I’m worried he’s going to get fat just sitting around all day- I try and take him outside on a lead but its hard for him to run around and he seems more interested in chewing the foliage.

[Wick & Fable]

Your rabbit doesn’t seem unusual. He seems quite normal actually.

It sounds like it was the pet stores fault that he was attacked by the cage mate. He should not have had a cage mate at all, as rabbits will attack each other out of instinct unless the rabbits are bonded, which requires them both to be fixed and a multi-month long process of swapping items, spending time in territory with neither of their scents, etc..

His sudden change of behavior sounds more like it was hormonal, not because he’s a strange rabbit. A neuter helps those behaviors, but keep in mind there is a hormone spike that occurs after a neuter for upwards of 3 months, which means those hormonal behaviors of aggression still linger.

It is not unusual for a rabbit not to seek attention from a human owner, especially since it seems he had a bad, traumatic experience at a pet store. Give it time. Don’t force interaction with him and let him get more comfortable and feel more secure in your home. Some rabbits take months or years to trust their owners. It’s not strange, it’s quite natural because they are prey animals.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Wick & Fable]

It’s also not unusual for rabbits not to play with toys bought. Handmade ones tend to work better because they don’t cost you anything and you can customize it. Paper towel and toilet paper tubes can go a long way when you hide food and hay in them.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[kurottabun]

It’s not uncommon for rabbits to lounge around and sleep all day unless it’s their active hours or unless you have food. I’ve always wondered what my bunny does when my husband and I are away at work, but last week I was sick and had to stay home for a few days so I checked on Kurotta frequently, only to realise that he pretty much just slept/rested 90% of the time.

Like Wick says, you don’t have to spend money on pet store toys. I’ve also bought a fair bit and my bun, like yours, don’t play with them. He will however “play” with a treat ball made from toilet paper tubes lol (thanks Wick) when I hide pellets in it. It does get him moving at least until the pellets are all gone, so you could try that As for his food bowl, maybe you could get a heavier one (ceramic?) so he can’t toss it around.

Instead of a leash (which are not ideal for bunnies anyway due to their fragile spines), you could try bringing something like an x-pen and putting it up in an area of the garden so he can freely run around in it. Being more interested in chewing the foliage is no surprise as a lot of bunnies are food motivated, as long as you make sure that he doesn’t have access to plants that are poisonous to rabbits.

[Taloan7]

My bunny is similar too. We keep her in a pen at night and when we let her out in the morning she may run around and binky, but before too long she settles down in her “den” which is just a low stool with a blanket under it in a sheltered corner, and then she spends most of the day in there. She’ll come out to eat sometimes or if I have the front door open with just the glass door shut she’ll come out and lounge with the cats in the sunshine, but other than that she mostly just chills all day. If anyone in my family go sit on the floor she’ll come out and investigate, but other than that she seems to be content to hang out in her space. The only “toys” she really seems to like to play with are blankets which she’ll dig at and bunch up. She was already fully grown and mature when we got her so I think she was just past her playful, energetic stage.

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